Hasbro Failed Their CON Save

There is a concerning amount of science happening. Hasbro isn't feeling the spirit of the holidays. E3 is officially actually for realsies dead. Google was found guilty.

Endeavorance

Dec 14, 2023 — 4 min read

Too Much Science

Research takes time, right? If you wanna do A Good Science, you gotta put in the work and make sure things are ship-shape. Because of that, it can be a pretty arduous task to pump out a paper. So why are we suddenly seeing a massive spike in researchers cranking out way more papers than before?

According to an article in Nature, countries such as Thailand and Saudi Arabia have seen massive increases in suspiciously "hyper productive" researchers putting out dozens of papers a year, calling into question the integrity of the research.

My first thought was just "ChatGPT," but apparently some countries have been offering additional monetary benefits based on paper publications, as well as a major focus on higher education ratings by any means necessary.

One of the authors of this study asserts that "questionable research practices" play a large role here, and cites that Agriculture and Forestry were among the fields seeing some of the largest spikes in "super productive" researchers.

I can barely get a few newsletters out a week. I dunno how these people are out here dropping whole-ass research papers.

Congrats on the Success! How About a Layoff?

Despite the massive success of Dungeons and Dragons, Hasbro (who owns Wizards of the Coast) is laying off 20% of its workforce, about 1,100 people, announcing the layoff right before the holidays.

The layoffs will be done over the course of several months, but this announcement is pretty shocking, especially as we see major popular media featuring more and more Hasbro IPs. Hell, Baldur's Gate 3—a Dungeons and Dragons video game—JUST won Game of the Year. Granted, Hasbro didn't make it, but it shows how strong their licenses are at the moment.

Executives from the company who make millions of dollars a year cite "ongoing headwinds" as the reason for the layoffs. Despite having a smaller layoff already earlier this year, the "headwinds" have prevailed and so they "had to pull this lever". "The lever" being 1,100 people's employment.

Among those being laid off in the Dungeons & Dragons space are major contributors to the franchise, including writers, illustrators and game designers.

Pour One Out for E3

E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is officially dead.

For those unaware, E3 was the pinnacle of gaming announcements and hype for years. It is where new gaming consoles were first revealed, and where some of the most iconic moments in gaming presentation history took place (think, "my body is ready").

After being skipped in 2019 and then quite literally plagued by a pandemic, E3's future was already in question for quite some time. It had been tabled indefinitely, but has now been fully buried.

This won't have much of an impact, honestly. Over the years, companies began pulling out of the showcase, opting to go more for Nintendo's "Direct" style, or holding their own conferences, or simply just finding a new venue. The Game Awards, for example, are actively being criticized for being more of an industry presentation than an awards show.

But that doesn't change the fact that our beloved E3 is dead and gone. Like, for real this time. We knew it was coming, but it still hurts. Rippo.

Google Knocked Down in Epic Fashion

Epic Games (makers of Fortnite) won a huge victory in court against Google recently, as a jury unanimously determined that Google has been engaging in monopolistic behavior with their Android app store, as well as their billing system for app developers.

Epic had previously sued Apple on very similar grounds and lost their case. Epic's primary argument revolves around the fact that if you want to sell subscriptions, apps or really anything on mobile, you have to go through Google or Apple's payment systems, which take a massive cut.

Beyond that, it came out during the trial that Google had been cutting deals with potential 3rd party app store developers, essentially just paying them to not do that, or working with 3rd party OEMs to not include non-Google app stores on phones. Combine that with the mandatory 30% cut that Google gets via its app store purchasing and you've got yourself a helluva lawsuit with a jury finding you guilty on all counts.

Google plans to appeal the case.

On This Day…

On this day in 1903, the Wright brothers attempted their first flight with the Wright Flyer. The first attempt managed for the craft to go just over 100ft before crashing, sustaining minor damage.

But after just a few days and some repairs, the brothers would go on to try several more flights with increasing success each time, until eventually a gust of wind kicked up their craft, causing it to tumble and become irreparably destroyed.

And now we have baggage fees!