In today's edition, a father of two kids is upset about the monetization changes coming to Fortnite, a game that's otherwise been a fun and exciting space for his children.
I just had a conversation with my kid today about how he wants to play Roblox because his friends are playing it and he's feeling left out. This gives me the strength to stick to my decision!
The parental control comparison between Roblox and Fortnite really hits on something important about platform responsibility. Epic had a competitive advantge precisely because they built better guardrails, and now they're voluntarily dismantling that differentiation. The creator economy presure is understandable, but there's a middle path where you could enable monetization while still maintaining age-appropriate restrictions that actually work. What's frustating is that Sweeney has positioned himself as the advocate for fairer platform economics, yet here he is adopting the exact predatory mechanics he's criticized in other contexts. The irony is that by chasing Roblox's model, Epic might lose the trust dividend they've built with parents who saw Fortnite as the safer alternative. This feels like short term revenue optimization at the expense of long term brand positioning.
Go off, king. 👑
This seems to be another facet by which everything is gambling now and we're exposing kids to it earlier and earlier.
I just had a conversation with my kid today about how he wants to play Roblox because his friends are playing it and he's feeling left out. This gives me the strength to stick to my decision!
The parental control comparison between Roblox and Fortnite really hits on something important about platform responsibility. Epic had a competitive advantge precisely because they built better guardrails, and now they're voluntarily dismantling that differentiation. The creator economy presure is understandable, but there's a middle path where you could enable monetization while still maintaining age-appropriate restrictions that actually work. What's frustating is that Sweeney has positioned himself as the advocate for fairer platform economics, yet here he is adopting the exact predatory mechanics he's criticized in other contexts. The irony is that by chasing Roblox's model, Epic might lose the trust dividend they've built with parents who saw Fortnite as the safer alternative. This feels like short term revenue optimization at the expense of long term brand positioning.
Preach it, Peter!