Brian Fargo - Launching Robot Cache

@Venturebeat Brian Fargo and other game industry veterans are creating a new cryptocurrency called Iron that is an alternative to the app stores like Steam and GOG, through a new company called Robot Cache.

Veteran game publisher Brian Fargo and other game industry veterans hope to change the PC industry by creating a new cryptocurrency that serves as an alternative to the app stores.

Fargo’s new company Robot Cache will create a digital PC games platform, just like Valve’s Steam digital distribution service, but it will give game publishers and developers about 95 percent of the proceeds from game sales, rather than just 70 percent as Steam and others do. Robot Cache will compete directly with the likes of Steam and GOG, and it hopes to sign up the major competitors.

That’s one of the things that Robot Cache founder Fargo said will empower developers and publishers, and take away some of the arbitrary power over game distribution from the platform owners, Fargo said in an interview with GamesBeat.

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Cryptocurrencies = scam.

After insisting on multiplayer rubissh in WL3, Fargo seems on a path "from hero to zero".

Crytocurrencies are a wild west right now. Blockchains look like they could provide a structure for crytocurrencies to adhere to which is promising and what Brian is using. Time will tell I guess.

Reading up the terms and conditions on the site this screams scam. Not an illegal one, but you as a customer get shafted anyway. It just makes them earn double and you getting a measly 25 % "store credit."

And btw, if Fargo has money to put into this, he should have money to put into his games without new Kickstarters to finance the last KS game. But hey, I'm rambling…

Originally Posted by Darkheart
Reading up the terms and conditions on the site this screams scam. Not an illegal one, but you as a customer get shafted anyway. It just makes them earn double and you getting a measly 25 % "store credit."

And btw, if Fargo has money to put into this, he should have money to put into his games without new Kickstarters to finance the last KS game. But hey, I'm rambling…

No, you're not rambling. You are just putting 2 and 2 together.

I'm highly sceptical of cryptocurrencies, but I have to say Steams 30% cut is ridiculous. I'm all for the developers getting a bigger piece of the cake.

I'll need to look into more, but this sounds like a very interesting idea. I don't think it's a scam at all.

Blockchain technology is a very solid tech to be used in the financial market, but the cryptocurrency market right now is absolutely crazy.

Yes, that's the part I'm not clear on in this case. Any medium of exchange needs a degree of stability, and that's a problem with Bitcoin right now. I'm not sure what the properties of this new Iron currency will be.

Originally Posted by TomRon
I'm highly sceptical of cryptocurrencies, but I have to say Steams 30% cut is ridiculous. I'm all for the developers getting a bigger piece of the cake.

Refunds, support, forums, screenshots, big picture, friends lists, the whole SteamAPI… oh, and that international store front isn't a trivial thing, either. And lets not forget all those keys that developers sell to other stores that Steam then has to support with no cut at all.

That said, it probably could be better but there's no serious competition so all they have to do is be good enough that nobody wants to take them on.

Blockchain definitely is a good idea to track game ownership. What irks me is the 25 % store credit.

I never understood why no one was able to break Steam's (almost) monopoly. The reason most people prefer Steam over other services is because they want to keep all their games in one convenient place. If the game industry were to create a universal game library which is totally decoupled from selling games, is open to every developer, and if they would honor past purchases (giving people the opportunity to transfer their already owned games there), then I'd be pretty sure they could successfully compete with Steam. As it is right now, lots of people won't buy from places like EA or Ubisoft because they don't want to deal with additional download clients.

What? Brian Fargo transformed himself into a Robot and went into space to chase some Cache? HooOly Mooly..

Opportunism can take many forms

That said, I would gladly support a way to circumvent the traditional monetary system - however, I would probably need people with more game design talent and passion to believe it was really for the good of the industry - and not just another business venture.

I'm not sure I'd like to buy a game for X amount today, only to realize it would have been worth a car two years down the line. It's not likely to go the other way around, as games are cheap to begin with.

Also, the crowdfunding scene has removed much of what I don't like about the business side of things.

I would never have dreamed something like Star Citizen was possible through crowdfunding - so I'm happy as a clown with the future of the industry.

It's Fargo, so it must be scam

Clearly the idea is evil genius - straight out of the books of the most successful malware spreading scumbags.

In much the same way a modern computer virus will take control of your PC to join a bot net of miners, their robotcashe client can allow users to mine while idle and the games angle attracts the best GPUs.

5% is a very attractive cut which wouldn't be possible without the botnet income. While I can't imagine Blizzard or EA Origin titles, who refuse to put games on steam @ 30%, will be interested, I'm sure Ubisoft and Activision will give it a shot.

Also, I'm sure the user agreement won't hold robotcashe responsible for damage to overheated GPUs…

The good: any attempt at demonopolizing Steam
The bad: this whole attempt + crypto

I look forward to see how this turns out.
Though I'll be staying far back from it all ready with the marshmallows.