[madrox]

I think my favorite line of the article was knowing when to quit is its own kind of skill.

Shuttering my startup last year, I felt this one. I think I quit six months later than I should have. Knowing when to quit is difficult...especially when you think others are depending on you. I applaud this team for leaning into that instinct.

[schnevets]

Without knowing what your startup did, non-"As a Service" game studios are an interesting animal in the world of software development because their products have a clear Release Date. To me, this sounds like the developers didn't want to do more cerebral, optimization puzzle boxes, so they decided to close up.

Like someone else mentioned, it's more like a band breaking up because artists no longer want to follow the framework and expectations that they have progressed into.

[madrox]

I absolutely agree, and I think even bands can feel the pressure to keep going if they think people count on it as a livelihood. Making a collective decision to move on is brave no matter the context.

[eru]

Yes, they have a clear release date. But eg Klei keeps sending out updates and bug fixes and improvements for Oxygen Not Included, and they are well received by the community.

But, of course, if Klei was stopping updates to Oxygen Not Included tomorrow, you could still play the game exactly as it is now, and people could also still make mods.

[yourad_io]

My favorite was this:

"A game without someone to play it is hardly a game, and it’s only because of our players that our games have meaning and a life of their own."

[ianai]

(Money works on a similar principle. Only has meaning when used in commerce.)

[eru]

Depends. If you have a fiduciary money, it has some meaning even when not used in commerce.

Fiduciary money is basically when your note say 'the issuer promises to give the bearer X on request', where X can be a cow or certain amount of gold or some other base currency.

Without commerce, this kind of money essentially degenerates into a voucher. But vouchers have some (minimal) meaning, even without being used in commerce.

[remram]

Redeeming that token for goods or services looks a lot like commerce.

[eru]

Well, if you widen your definition of commerce enough: yes.

But to be honest, money that changes hands often looks a lot more 'commerce-y' to me than money that just sits in a drawer until it is redeemed once.

[remram]

From a global perspective maybe, from the spender's perspective any currency can only be spent once.

Whether you obtain a car by spending your bill or obtain gold by redeeming your bill... you gave your bill in exchange for the good.

[lukaslalinsky]

I think it would be fair to say that money is also a game. You need to play the game to survive in this world, but it's a game and there are many ways to play it.

[robbintt]

Getting within 6 months seems good to me.