[Mithaldu]

Their description of the business model is to be gamefaqs.com, only with videos instead of text. As an avid gamer, that sounds:

- very niche, their intended content would only be a small fraction of what yt gaming will offer (it focuses on live streams)

- very unattractive, since learning how to play the game by exploring it is the fun of it

- very unmonetizable, given that people can get the very same content, for free, in a format that's much easier to digest

I don't think they needed to invoke google to throw in the gauntlet.

[brador]

It's not gamefaqs, the business model was to be the Lynda of gaming (says it right in the article!). That is: Pro players teaching beginners who want to learn higher level play, through video and other rich media. There is demand for this in esports style games (LOL DOTA CSGO), but higher level players just start their own channel to do this through youtube/patreon.

[savanaly]

> very niche. Yes, but I don't think that means it's doomed. Every site doesn't have to be youtube or twitch.

> very unattractive. Your complaint is extremely subjective and evidently false for tons of people considering the brisk business game guide companies have done for decades and that streamers do on twitch and youtube today.

> very monetizeable. Yes.

[Mithaldu]

> Your complaint is extremely subjective and evidently false for tons of people

Possibly, but please consider this: Game guides and gamefaqs.com contain reference works wherein one can go and look up details when one is stuck. One doesn't usually read the whole thing to learn how to play the game in the most efficient way (unless it's competitive or has complexity on the level of a programming language, like Minecraft).

> streamers do on twitch and youtube today

I'm unaware of twitch streamers or youtubers who primarily teach how to play a game. Can you point out examples of those? I'm really curious.

[FilterSweep]

> One doesn't usually read the whole thing to learn how to play the game in the most efficient way (unless it's competitive or has complexity on the level of a programming language, like Minecraft). I'm not sure about game guides, but:

1) Walkthroughs are absolutely not the only type of guide that GameFAQs houses. It has never been only walkthroughs, even from its very early beginnings. The easiest example of this is Fighting games, which will have in-depth strategy and gameplay guides made specifically for each player.

2) GameFAQs has had a forum for ages, which also has this as the primary topic of discussion. It was in fact the first forum that I ever participated in as a young child, along with some #IRC channels.

> I'm unaware of twitch streamers or youtubers who primarily teach how to play a game. Can you point out examples of those? I'm really curious.

You're being facetious. Do you not know how to Google as well? I'm really serious. :edit:In the offchance you aren't feigning ignorance[0]

[0] https://www.youtube.com/user/OneHiveRaids

[Mithaldu]

> Fighting games

Those are competitive, which i addressed in my post. Note that the original article specifically mentions the Elder Scrolls series as an example.

> GameFAQs has had a forum for ages

In forums you go in and ask your question. Again, it functions like a reference work.

> You're being facetious.

That is a highly uncalled for accusation, and i am serious. (Though it may not have been entirely clear that i was excluding the two categories mentioned in the paragraph before that question.)

> https://www.youtube.com/user/OneHiveRaids

Again, that is about a competitive game.

[FilterSweep]

This took me no more than 20 seconds of Youtube search.

As it stands, the author did not provide a specific Elder Scrolls game, he generically referenced the series, but to take from the most recent RPG, Skyrim, here's the secrets of lockpicking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5fZobDqQbU

Heres how to make your wife hot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozn-byvM8GU

For their newer, online MMORPG game, heres some strategy to increase your income:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtZpUPGxWzg

Oh, it's specific users you ask? https://www.youtube.com/user/deltiasgaming

IGN Magazine has some good tips as well: https://www.youtube.com/user/IGNentertainment

Full disclosure: I have never played an elder scrolls game in my life. But my friends have. From the front page of my search results alone, I have a good feel of how it works.

I don't mean to offend, but your comment betrays either laziness or profound inability to run a search query.

[Mithaldu]

The middle two links are competitive, but the first two are legit.

I don't want to believe that there actually exists a market for people who'd subscribe to such, but you are right that such content exists, and maybe there is a market.

[savanaly]

> I'm unaware of twitch streamers or youtubers who primarily teach how to play a game. Can you point out examples of those? I'm really curious.

Picking three random games off the top of my head

- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvEIxIeBRKSjprrvlbAcb...

- https://www.youtube.com/user/foxdropLoL/featured

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbmd4eRNwnE

I did not pick any pure let's play-ers, even though those video/streams can be quite informative and serve a basically identical purpose to the Prima guides of yesteryear.

[mcv]

Exactly what I thought. Except they mentioned they did make over $1 million.

[caseysoftware]

Not quite:

"Our forecasts had us profitable as of summer, 2016, and closing our second year with nearly $1.2-million in revenue."

Those were forecasts, not actual revenue.

[mcv]

You're right, it does sound like they mean it's a forecast. But predicting that kind of revenue (and so specific) when you don't have any revenue at all sounds a bit odd. What's it based on, if not an actual curve of growing revenue?

[balls187]

> What's it based on, if not an actual curve of growing revenue?

It seems common knowledge enough that budget and revenue forecasts for seed stage start ups aren't going to be precise or very accurate. For investors, that part of a pitch would be meaningless.

"We forecast 1.2 in revenue by our 2nd year."

"How much revenue do you have today?"

If they had prior success, they could raise a round on that, otherwise it would be the standard pitch: size of opportunity, here is what we have so far, here is our team and how great they are.

[onion2k]

Like most forecasts, I guess it was based on magic and hand-waving.