PCG Article Discussion for April 2026

[Pifanjr]

This AI open-source cloning software shows the gaping hole in code copyright

And the funny thing is, it seems like it's completely legal.

www.pcgamer.com

This article should've been much clearer about how the presentation, website and arguments against open source software are satire. Which isn't to say that companies wouldn't love to copy open-source software without having to adhere to their licences, but it obviously works the other way around as well. In fact, this has already happened:

https://twitter.com/x/status/2039028162755965197

View: https://x.com/cyberracheal/status/2039028162755965197

 

[Colif]

looks at date of post... looks at time article posted... oh, its real... just checking.
Can't tell today. Its bad enough on normal days to know what is true, April Fools just makes it worse.

Carry on 😀

I wonder if they used Axios as that was a little booboo this week

its download 100 million times a week so I expect it caused problems somewhere.

 

[neogunhero]

Garry's Mod successor s&box finally arrives on Steam on April 28

Still waiting for a price, but at least we've got a date.

www.pcgamer.com

I owe pretty much my entire existence as a PC gamer to Garry's Mod. That was the main reason why I made my Steam account and bought The Orange Box nearly 16 years ago. It's my most played game ever with over 1220 hours put into it.

Really hoping for the best with s&box. I've had access to the preview for little over a year now and I still occasionally stop by to play some games. I think it exudes the very spirit of PC gaming and community, as evidenced by Garry Newman's words here:

Newman is also grateful for the opportunities he's enjoyed through Rust and Garry's Mod, and wants to extend that to others as much as possible. "That's my main motivation now, is giving people what I've had, because I think Valve did it for me," Newman said. ..... "I think we should be the same, because everybody benefits."

An entire platform to make and play games for the community, by the community. A whole evolutional step up from what Garry's Mod originally was. Allowing developers to make games via s&box then either have them playable on the platform, or officially release it on Steam. It's basically Source 2 but modified in lots of ways. As a huge fan of the original Source engine, giving devs and players more access to Source 2 games is very exciting to me.

 

[Zloth]

Errr, release on Steam how? As stand-alone games or games you play via s&box?

(I.E. is the crazy flood of games coming in about to get 10 times worse?)

 

[neogunhero]

Errr, release on Steam how? As stand-alone games or games you play via s&box?

(I.E. is the crazy flood of games coming in about to get 10 times worse?)

There is a mix of both, games to play within s&box itself, and the tools to allow game devs to publish to Steam. I do worry about your last part, a flood of low-quality games made within s&box flooding Steam. I have no idea what the process around that really is, but I'd argue that most games will stick within s&box as it has it's own incentive program to get devs paid for their work. My assumption is that publishing to Steam would require more work, making it only appealing to more "full-fledged" games rather than simple one-off experiences.

They are also exploring the possibility of monetization for games within s&box, ala Roblox and Minecraft, so that may incentivize devs to keep their games on the platform, not published to Steam.

 

[Pifanjr]

There is a mix of both, games to play within s&box itself, and the tools to allow game devs to publish to Steam. I do worry about your last part, a flood of low-quality games made within s&box flooding Steam. I have no idea what the process around that really is, but I'd argue that most games will stick within s&box as it has it's own incentive program to get devs paid for their work. My assumption is that publishing to Steam would require more work, making it only appealing to more "full-fledged" games rather than simple one-off experiences.

They are also exploring the possibility of monetization for games within s&box, ala Roblox and Minecraft, so that may incentivize devs to keep their games on the platform, not published to Steam.

Considering you need to pay $100 to publish a game on Steam I would expect only the somewhat decent games to be released there.

 

[Zed Clampet]

A former GameStop exec thought building its Steam competitor would be his 'forever job,' but the retailer bet the house on digital distribution being 'a passing phase'

This Picasso hack will never make it as a painter!

www.pcgamer.com

Two short stories of how out-of-touch the top people at companies can be.

In the late 90s, I was in a meeting with the Board of Directors at First Horizon (I ran a department that reported to the Pres and usually went to the board meetings, but rarely said much) and I had to convince them not to cancel their so-far unsuccessful Internet banking. "Does anyone really use the Internet?" was the question posed that caused me to finally lose it and break my silence. (A couple of years later I actually left the company due to decisions the board made. It was the most dubious career decision of my life. I was literally in line to run that joint eventually.)

During this same time period, gigantic American retailer Sears was having problems competing with WalMart. One thing that Sears was really well-known for was their catalogue sales. They sent out quarterly catalogues, you phoned in and ordered something and it was delivered. It was shopping online before shopping online took off. They had all the infrastructure they needed to beat Amazon to world domination. When they announced they were simply closing their catalogue business to focus more on their brick and mortar business I knew it was over, and so it was.