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pixelbyindexHNSource author
Business & incomeExperience excerpt · English

In my case, however, I started a game company this year, and my goals are not profit driven

… In my case, however, I started a game company this year, and my goals are not profit driven. I haven't sat down to write things out but I probably should. Loosely, my company's two main goals: - To make fun/mindblowing/entertaining pieces of Art. This is done by working on the gaming dreams that myself and my employees have. - To give my employees a future where they care about the company as much as I do, feel financially well compensated and satisfied in their career, and have support for their aspirations and ideas.

Original discussionApple terminates Epic Games developer account, calling it a 'threat' to iOS1,000 source comments · at import
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usefulcatHN

It's entirely a matter of incentives. Companies are like machines whose sole purpose is to make a profit. Pretty much everything they do apart from that (make products, employ people, pollute, etc) is, strictly speaking, a side effect. If they could make just as much money (or more) without doing any of those other things, they absolutely would, and any company that wouldn't do the same would eventually be put out of business via competition, barring some kind of external intervention, say from the state. If you want companies to grow a conscience, you're first going to have to figure out how to change their incentives, which means changing the environment in which they operate.

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XajniNHN

Those are your goals, and your company's profits may enable you to achieve them. Your company's sole purpose is getting you those profits. That's economics 101, stop idealizing business entities.

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usefulcatHN

I agree, 'corporations' is definitely a better fit for the argument I'm trying to make. It's perfectly fine if making a lot of money is not the most important thing to you personally. However, your company will obviously have to at least be at least breaking even in order to continue to exist so that it/you can do the things that you do care about. From that viewpoint, profitability (defined as 'at least breaking even', as opposed to 'maximizing $$') is still the most important thing because the very existence of the company depends on it.

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