That was exciting! By 30th April, afternoon at GMT+1 (some would say closed night, but I'm spaniard, right? I dinner very late. period) this came to my usual feeds:
https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/artstation-is-now-part-of-epic-games
My dream job: meme maker. Now you know why I'm not making a living from that.
original pic by Lothar Dieterich @ Pixabay
Epic opened up its wallet and purchased the most important platform for artist to promote its work. Kind of a linkedin for Artists. Rushed by a teenager flavoured excitement, I went to epic's forum to ask for new features like a stronger integration between stores (life of quality improvements for poor salesman like me).
Then I got an answer from a fellow seller covered with a dark tone that raised my eyebrows (at first). The most relevant quote was about "..Everybody (being) still upset by the acquisition of Substances by Adobe and what came after they did". and literally "The less things changes, the better".
Merge, acquisition, and similar procedures are done on a daily basis. The ones that reach mass media are obviously the bigger ones (microsoft & linkedin & github, Facebook & Whatsapp.. to cite few). And they are really interesting movements because it points very clearly why the whale moves. Sometimes the whale wants to eat a competitor, or just to acquire some new technology that finds interesting for its grow strategy.. these movements are deeply scrutinized by institutions and governments alike to watch out for a possible damaging disruption in the market. I know that these lasts lines are wishful thinking, but for the purpose of this piece, lets pretend that and move on.
Returning to the specifics of Artstation being acquired by Epic, I cann't stop thinking how much relevant is this movement. Let's process this: they purchased the most important portfolio and promotion platform for artists. Now Epic can get UP TO DATE, MASSIVE DATA regarding to creative industry, the most relevant artistic genres and styles.. and much more. They're ready to know almost in beforehand what will be the next art style to be on the spot.
Nice one Epic!, that was a smart move. About the consequences, I'm not ready to make predictions, but there are a lot of people that directly foresee this change as potentially dangerous or damaging on a diffuse way. Adobe case was even more passionate with lots of strong discussions going back and forth..
Let me say that I'm a substance painter user from the beginning. I love the workflow, and the good apples outweighs by large the bad ones. so not everyone is still upset. I'm not upset at all, just the opposite. If Adobe knocks my door with a hefty sum, I can sell my bussiness any day. because the most important word is bussiness. We're competing on a bussiness environment, that doesn't care a dime about your passion, preferences, old grievances against Adobe or whatever. Adobe wants to take seat on the 3d content creation teatre. The best they can pay. Meanwhile I can see that old substance subscription model is going out, and they're introducing the expensive adobe way. But make no mistake. There are strong competitors willing to fish all they can of substance users that cann't afford a expensive subscription model. And I'm ready to check em all to select my next texturing tool if my current substance painter perpetual licensed version is not competitive anymore. But I'm not upset, I'm just trying to move along the flow, and why not, improve my skills at the same time.
This Epic purchase is neither the last, nor the first on a long road that will surprise us with big movements. But "the less things changes, the better." attitude is very worriesome. Brain is our best allied, and a strong enemy sometimes. He likes to keep things as they are because he's on a seeking comfort routine almost 24/7. Don't fall on that. You're a small fish, swim along the whale, not on a wrong way. Embrace the change as an oportunity, not as a threat.
I can only say that this acquisition makes the most of senses to me, and I'm very ready to try improve my position, as a member of both platforms. Did I said I'm running a bussiness? yeah, I'm a 3d content creator that wants to maximize its profit and purchase the tools that makes me competitive and gives me an edge over my pals. Now change the bold text with your occupation. If you're a giant videogames and media company, I guess the quote is still relevant.
My take away is not exempt of side effects, take a look at this piece from Alex Tardif about in-house game engines vs UE, Unity.. It's a bit technical, but suffice to understand that it's equally damaging to the landscape to have everyone upset, that just the opposite, to have everyone in the same boat.
Whales also don't want things to change, they want to keep feeding themselves just opening the mouth.
But for now, I'll stay along the whale.