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What good is brand value if you can't monetize any of it?


There's a false dilemma stemming out of the word "any". In reality there's an equilibrium between giving and taking.

If you don't monetize enough, you can't stay afloat as a developer and you're left with a brand asset for sale upon liquidation.

If you take control of community produced goods in order to take the entire pie for yourself, your fanbase will slow or stop producing incidental free value for your projects and your core evangelists will begin jumping ship to greener pastures. This doesn't kill you immediately, but it also doesn't position you for long term growth.


There are ways to monetize in a respectful way - for example, by making new games in the universe that your previous "platform" made so popular. You don't have to nickle & dime all the time to make a buck.




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