Top all-time · #955
Matthew Ball
Personal blog · matthewball.vc/allbusinessgamesstartups
Matthew Ball writes MatthewBall.co, a personal blog at matthewball.vc about business, games and startups. Since 2019, 69 different Hacker News readers have linked it 107 times, most often “The Metaverse: What It Is, Where to Find It, Who Will Build It, and Fortnite”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Too few sampled comments (19) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Matthew Ball's essays and primers on Epic Games, Nintendo's IP, and the metaverse, often as background reading on platform economics and business strategy.
- Recommended for · 6 comments
- Called an excellent series and a good start; recommended on Nintendo's IP failures and Epic; essays enjoyed.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 19 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- The Metaverse: What It Is, Where to Find It, Who Will Build It, and Fortnite15 people · 15 mentions · first linked 2020-01-15
- Apple, its control over the iPhone, and the internet11 people · 12 mentions · first linked 2021-02-03
- The Tremendous yet Troubled State of Gaming in 20248 people · 8 mentions · first linked 2024-01-23
- The Epic Games Primer5 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2020-05-25
- Digital Theme Park Platforms: The Most Important Media Businesses of the Future4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2020-03-10
- What Is an Entertainment Company?4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2021-05-06
- Esports and the Dangers of Serving at the Pleasure of a King4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2020-04-22
- Nintendo, Disney, and Cultural Determinism4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2020-07-26
- Epic Games Primer (Pt I): Epic's Flywheel and Unreal Engine4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2020-05-18
- A Framework for the Metaverse3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2021-06-30
What Hacker News says?
I'd disagree here. Would recommend checking out this piece [1] on Nintendo's failure to expand as an IP brand. https://www.matthewball.vc/all/onnintendo
Comment linking /all/onnintendo
on “Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B”Submitted Video Gaming Will Take Over as a story · 198 points
HN discussionThere are still a lot of people, especially on the general web stuck in the Steve Job's era believing in bad developers, quote; "What happens sometime though is that some people, uh, lie. Some people use unpublished APIs and their app gets rejected. Some people submit an app that they say does one thing, but really does something else. They try to hide it from us, they get very clever about that. They try to hide it…
Comment linking /all/applemetaverse
on “Epic Games steps up Apple fight with EU antitrust complaint”Submitted Apple, its control over the iPhone, and the internet as a story · 94 points
HN discussionIt may not just be for a lawsuit. They may provide fuel for a change of law, as Congress bumbles through an attempt at anti-trust enforcement, maybe they can become a test case for lawmakers looking for loss of competition and consumer choice. (Although existing lobbying dollars from Google, Apple, Facebook, & company may be effective in holding back representatives. Money in hand, in election season no less.) Epic…
Comment linking /all/themetaverse
on “Fortnite seems to have been removed from the Play Store as well”Submitted Audio’s opportunity and who will capture it as a story · 94 points
HN discussionNot 100% sure I agree with analysis, for two reasons: 1. While the primary use case of Unity originally may have been game dev, the ubiquity of the software for other use cases (primarily VR/AR and other forms of online media) has been what's propelled it to this level. 2. Epic Games is much much more than the Unreal Engine. Highly recommend looking into Matthew Balls' Epic Primer [1], but Unreal is one corner of th…
Comment linking /all/epicgamesprimermaster
on “Unity Software Inc S-1”Submitted The Epic Games Primer as a story · 74 points
HN discussionTim Sweeney is really interesting. He coded Unreal Engine 1 and is controlling shareholder of Epic. He gave a speech[0] January at a game conference arguing against the App/Play store 30% mark. I think he has internalized Ben Thompson's FAANG strategy concepts and created the best denunciation of the mindset, in this speech attacking the concept of "owning the customer." He joins Shopify in trying to create platform…
Comment linking /all/epicprimer1
on “Epic direct payment on mobile”Submitted Disney, IP, and “Returns to Marginal Affinity” as a story · 70 points
HN discussionI think you might want to read this[1] excellent series on Epic and their ecosystem. It covers most of your questions. [1] https://www.matthewball.vc/all/epicgamesprimermaster
Comment linking /all/epicgamesprimermaster
on “Epic direct payment on mobile”Submitted A Framework for the Metaverse as a story · 32 points
HN discussionSeems pretty clear companies are talking about "the metaverse" as broad concept. https://tech.fb.com/connect-2021-our-vision-for-the-metavers... https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/announcing-a-1-bil... https://www.matthewball.vc/about
Comment linking /about
on “An Epic future for SPJ”Submitted The Flaws of “Subscription Fatigue”, “SVOD Fatigue”, and the “Streaming Wars” as a story · 25 points
HN discussionI bet it was Matt Ball. Maybe this? https://www.matthewball.vc/all/themetaverse
Comment linking /all/themetaverse
on “Roblox S-1”Submitted Epic Games Primer (Pt I): Epic's Flywheel and Unreal Engine as a story · 19 points
HN discussionLink from the tweet: https://www.matthewball.vc/all/digitalthemeparkplatforms Exciting, because I've been waiting for these platforms for like 15 years, since I played Warcraft 3. But also bittersweet, because I have already resigned to having to eventually make one myself, and now it's done.
Comment linking /all/digitalthemeparkplatforms
on “Roblox S-1”Submitted The Tremendous yet Troubled State of Gaming in 2024 as a story · 15 points
HN discussionInstead on only watching videos you can read about it, Matthew Ball is a good start https://www.matthewball.vc/metaversebook
Comment linking /metaversebook
on “Matrix: Third Room Tech Preview [video]”Submitted Matthew Ball: Why VR/AR gets farther away as it comes into focus as a story · 11 points
HN discussionThere's also the Epic flywheel as described by Matthew Ball: https://www.matthewball.vc/all/epicprimer1
Comment linking /all/epicprimer1
on “Why are toys such a bad business?”Submitted The Metaverse: What It Is, Where to Find It, Who Will Build It, and Fortnite as a story · 11 points
HN discussionYou may find https://www.matthewball.vc/all/epicprimer1/#section1 an interesting discussion of the interlocking parts of Epic's business plan.
Comment linking /all/epicprimer1/
on “Apple tries to get Epic to admit there's porn on its store”Submitted The Tremendous yet Troubled State of Gaming in 2024 as a story · 7 points
HN discussionhttps://kottke.org/ - love Jason's blog, https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/ - great news aggregator, https://pluralistic.net/ - another good one, https://www.drudgereport.com/ - as someone that leans left I sometimes check drudge out to see what my dad is reading, https://www.matthewball.vc/ - recently found this guy, been enjoying some of his essays
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: What are the other websites you visit daily?”Submitted Netflix and Video Games as a story · 6 points
HN discussion> [Microsoft] were even more obnoxious in their anti-competitive practices. I'd love to hear why you think that. Microsoft never stopped consumers from installing Linux on a PC. Microsoft never stopped anyone from installing software on Windows. You could always buy a PC and do whatever you wanted to with it. Meanwhile, Apple doesn't let you do anything on an iPhone if it isn't bought from their app store. The level…
Comment linking /all/applemetaverse
on “iOS developer who drew attention to App Store scams is now suing Apple”Submitted Apple, Its Control over the iPhone, the Internet, and the Metaverse as a story · 6 points
HN discussionMatthew Ball .. is responsible for the increased usage of "Metaverse" amongst investors, business strategists, etc. I think you're right.[1] [1] https://www.matthewball.vc/all/forwardtothemetaverseprimer
Comment linking /all/forwardtothemetaverseprimer
on “The Metaverse: A brave, new virtual world”Submitted The Tremendous yet Troubled State of Gaming in 2024 as a story · 5 points
HN discussion
