Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech

@samred

1/3 dog, 1/3 arts+tech, 1/3 something something. You may have seen my reporting at: NYT, Polygon, Digital Foundry, The Stranger, Game Developer, Games Radar, Ars, American Airlines, The Atlantic, Wired, Dallas Morning News. He/him, from Seattle. Zero AI.

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Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· 29d

ray tracing tech demo, note how the bounce lighting from the off-screen sunset impacts the curly fur fooled u, this is real life dog, you should always walk or drive dogs near sunsets

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jul 13

happiness is a new toy ~fang, fang, chew, cheeeew~

Black and brown dog smiles while gripping a spiky chew toy

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jul 13

I am huuuuuurting from how much I laughed at Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, my fave thing from @davidwain.bsky.social and co in years. Screening in Seattle at @siffnews.bsky.social this week! go see it!!

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jul 12

I feel like YT's algorithm accomplished more about today's news than any of my words or reposts possibly could

image of two comedians, Conan O'Brien and Johnny Knoxville, posing comedically in the YouTube interface, directly above a headline about "US Senator Lindsey Graham dies at age 71"

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jul 11

is this why I'm getting peppered with LinkedIn asks to write articles for Static Media? for a paltry $0.10/w rate?

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jul 10

stick your head out of the window on occasion

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jul 8

I'm not picking on the speech. It has great insights, including why Obsidian opted not to create satellite studios ("it would be pretty difficult for us to establish another location without fracturing our existing teams"). Really, 2025 VPs made GOOD points that, er, 2026 Xbox should listen to.

Justin: It kind of goes without saying, but when you're trying to build a plan that's going to last for 100 years, we keep a very heavy focus on self-sufficiency.
Marcus: If our studio can't survive without constant outside funding or a single big game, the studio is always going to be at risk. So we try to ensure that our projects are not only ambitious and creative, but also profitable.
Justin: Our internal greenlight process obviously focuses a lot on making great role-playing games, things that we're proud of, that we're excited about, and enthusiastic about. But we also spend a lot of time in the greenlight process talking about, are we investing the appropriate amount into each game, assuming that game is a viable success, not an exceptional one. We take this approach because we want to have the freedom to focus on the stuff that we're excited about, that we're passionate about, and not need to chase massive hits.

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jul 8

These two sections were spoken in order, not chopped out of context, and include a couple of haunting statements: "We take the phrase, 'people don't quit jobs, they quit bad bosses,' very seriously." "We all know how valuable long-term institutional employees are for creating consistent decisions."

Justin: For a 10-year goal for us, we want the lowest turnover rate amongst our industry peers. Long tenure is obviously an important aspect of stability and a key differentiator that will develop our studio. Now, on to our short-term goals, our five-year targets.
Marcus: So, this is the stage where we're stabilizing and then building momentum.
Justin: In the next five years, it's critical for us as we're thinking about what ultimately would lead to lower turnover rate and a tight-knit community. It's about being really mindful about how we're investing in our leaders. So, we want to create a very clear succession plan, not just for ourselves, but all of our leaders.
And then, keeping top of mind the people that we need to invest in with training, time, new responsibilities, and prepare them for future leadership roles. We take the phrase, "people don't quit jobs, they quit bad bosses," very seriously. And we need to be very thoughful about how we're investing in our next generation of leaders as one of the most arguably important aspects to making sure that we have low turnover over longer periods of time.

Marcus: Finally, that brings us to our immediate goals, the right now. The focus here is on solving more pressing issues and challenges, and laying the foundation for the bigger picture—and connecting to the goals we just talked about.
Justin: So, serving as the foundation, our immediate goal for all these people-focused goals that we're talking about here, pretty simply, we want to implement an HR system for being more consistent about how we're investing in people through feedback, reviews, career planning, all that stuff you might expect. You know, I personally try and tell every person that joins the studio, we hope that Obsidian is the kind of place that they can ultimately stay for the rest of their career and retire at. We all know how valuable long-term institutional employees are for creating consistent decisions across generations of teams, and we want that for us.
But, in order to retain people, they need to feel like they can actually grow with us.
Marcus: The beauty of working through goal-setting in this way is that it serves as almost an audit. It helps to verify that anything you're doing in the immediate is really connected to the destination that you're trying to drive for. It creates a nice discipline around all of your day-to-day activities.

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jul 8

I was at DICE in Feb 2025 when Obsidian VPs gave a presentation titled "Obsidian’s 100-Year Plan: Building an Enduring Legacy." I'm going through the tape now. It's, er, interesting to review 17 months later, in the wake of layoffs and a reported pivot to Fallout-branded games. 1/4

presentation at DICE 2025 gaming expo. L: Marcus Morgan, VP of Operations, Obsidian Entertainment. R: Justin Britch, VP of Development, Obsidian Entertainment.

Text on screen:

"100 years, long-term goals: Aspirational goals and big ideas
10 years, mid-term goals: scale your strengths
5 years, short-term goals: stabilize for next generation
immediate goals, right now: solve immediate problems, build foundation for growth"

Something like 50% of companies in the world that have been around for 200 years or more are based in Japan.
When we were looking into it and reading up on it, [we found] all of it had to do with a much different approach—kind of longer-range planning for a corporation.
--Justin Britch, VP of Development, Obsidian

Justin: At some point, we will be Obsidian's second generation of studio leadership. We didn't define what Obsidian was, we didn't create it, but we both fell in love with what was there, and we wanted to build upon that success that was already existing at Obsidian.
One day, it will eventually be our responsibility to carry that torch to the next generation behind us. For us, our approach to a 100-year plan isn't about buzzwords [or] ambition. It's about building resilience.
Marcus: Game development is full of unpredictability. There's tech changes, funding crises, market shifts. A long-term plan provides a framework to help navigate that uncertainty.
Justin: Exactly. A 100-year plan doesn't solve every problem. … It helps us prioritize what matters the most instead of constantly reacting to external pressures. It's not just about the business—it's about the people that we work with every day. A strong, long-term vision creates stability across our teams, and it lets us see the bigger picture—and hopefully let people feel connected to something more meaningful.
Marcus: Ultimately, a 100-year plan is about defining who you are as a studio. It's not just about the games you make. It's about the legacy that we want to leave behind.

Our first principle is building on past success. This is about iterating and improving on what works. It's a focus on creating scalable, repeatable solutions that get better with every game we create. It's about learning, not reinventing the wheel every time.
Our second principle is pushing the boundaries of world-building and player freedom. This means we don't just tell stories, we create worlds where players feel like they're the storytellers. It's about giving role-player agency and letting them shape their own experiences.
Finally, one that is a little less glamorous but is honestly my favorite, staying lean and invested. Staying lean means not overextending ourselves, not overextending our budgets, our timelines, our team sizes. And the goal is not just about profitability. By remaining lean, we provide everyone in the studio the opportunity to not be a cog in the wheel. They get to fully see themselves in the games that we create. It gives our games heart, and it makes our people care. Or one might say, be invested. –Marcus Morgan, VP of Operations, Obsidian

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jul 8

more Bricks & Minifigs: Provo, UT's Police Dept subpoenaed @newsfromgoogle.bsky.social, who apparently coughed up a massive amount of PID as part of the PD's efforts to charge Reckless Ben with a *second-degree felony*. that's not even the craziest move by said PD. new video up at Ben's Patreon.

screen capture from a video showing a copy of a subpoena filed by the Provo, UT Police Department on February 11, 2026, Google ref # 125037246, Search Warrant # 25PR26279

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jul 7

yeah, uh, @officialgdc.bsky.social, I can think of roughly 3,200 submission possibilities in response to your email today, maybe not the best timing

GDC 2027 Call for Submissions is Open! 🥳
GDC Festival of Gaming <gdc@info.gdcevents.com>
9:02 AM
to me

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jul 7

update, if the USMNT doesn't perform better soon, I can at least comfort myself in my new burgeoning friendship with Buck, aka Floor Dog (who is far easier to see than the screen here as the crowd balloons well beyond fire code standards)

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jul 7

I can see 25% of the usmnt game at the Seattle Armory rn, go sports team

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jul 6

This is the part that reads to me like "putting financial report docs into Copilot and asking how to make more money," rather than "understanding how and why Minecraft is beloved." If Xbox is in "reset" mindset, then Minecraft's player trust may be doomed. (src: @stephentotilo.bsky.social)

Franchise shift
Two of Microsoft’s crown jewels, Minecraft and King (Candy Crush) will be moved within the company’s gaming organization to report directly to Sharma, instead of to the division’s content and studios chief Matt Booty.

Sharma considers Minecraft to have been massively underinvested, a source familiar with Microsoft’s plans told Game File. They noted that Roblox, the hugely popular platform for player-made games, and Minecraft, more or less the virtual Legos of gaming, were comparable in size six or so years ago. But they estimated that Roblox has been investing more than five times as much in its business as Microsoft has on Minecraft. Minecraft was funding much of the rest of the Xbox gaming team, the source said, rather than being deeply funded itself. (Correction: The preceding sentence initially mistakenly started with the word “Microsoft”; that was a typo, as readers who noted it to me inferred. Apologies for the confusion.)

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jul 3

happy dog, big stick

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jul 2

TIL about a putting green in Seattle on the Tangletown outskirts, near Kirkwood and 57th, on the 62 bus line. Sure, why not.

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jun 28

happy Mt. Baker Pride from Seattle's @councilmember-amr.bsky.social who asked the crowd to vote against two bigoted bills on the November ballot

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jun 28

"sweating man with two buttons" meme:

button 1: hold global firms accountable for exploitative practices
button 2: make ppl expose their personal info all the damned time
caption: US CONGRESS

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jun 26

more of this public-space activation in Seattle, pls!! also, happy Regnbue (Nordic for "rainbow") from our Ballard neighborhood!

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jun 26

...and now I'm daring seattle's skies to pour down rain

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jun 25

indoor footie day in Seattle

three massive screens projecting a World Cup match

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jun 24

hi from the world's largest coffee carafe, touring through Seattle right now as part of a Bosnia World Cup celebration, and I gotta say, this cup wasn't shabby. I'm also never falling asleep tonight.

man stands in front of very large golden coffee carafe

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jun 23

fyi my session of Gunsmoke (Capcom, 1985) via RetroTink 4K would be a CRIMINAL ACT if I played it overseas

"WARNING
IF YOU ARE PLAYING THIS VIDEO GAME IN JAPAN, YOU ARE INVOLVED IN A CRIMINAL ACT.
STOP
USE OF THIS VIDEO GAME IN JAPAN."

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jun 23

Mabel would like the World Cup more if every match had a bright yellow bird to chase

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jun 21

Supergirl meets a super girl

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jun 21

happy father's day to everyone who has to brush an unwilling dog's mats out today

curly haired black and brown dog looks up at camera while standing between stools

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jun 21

asking for a friend

dog looking up at camera excitedly after hearing the word "bacon"

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jun 21

If you publish a sentence that starts w/ "But some people online criticized [person/thing]" , you are peak unserious. Did you know abolition has been criticized by people online? Does that make it a good idea to print 4chan's thoughts in the paper of record every Juneteenth?

A New York Times review of the game applauded its “stunningly realized depiction” of Japan, adding, “Shadows offers more, digging deeper to deliver a fascinating, grounded picture beyond the wild, natural world.”

But some people online criticized the game for having “gone woke” by creating a Black samurai named Yasuke. Elon Musk, the tech entrepreneur, said Shadows was an example of how “D.E.I. kills art,” using an abbreviation for diversity, equity and inclusion. Ubisoft reminded players that its games were works of fiction, even as Yasuke was an actual historical figure.

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jun 20

these absolute YouTube ass clowns, where in the anus is the "never suggest I talk to a text extrusion system as if it were a person" setting

"Search or ask a question" prompt and "Ask YouTube" button at YouTube.com

Sam.END.ICE.Machkovech@samred· Jun 20

yes that IS a naked man sunbathing on top of the Cal Anderson fountain today, which I believe means Seattle's hot rat summer has begun