Respectfully disagree. It's exploitive because they are essentially giving early access to those that pay. They don't offer the same to all at the same time, paid or not.
Yeah, it's early access. Really don't see who or what that exploits. I'm likewise unclear on the weight of this egalitarian idea you're appealing to – that they ought to give access to all at the same time the content they've compiled and arranged. In this context, with small sums of money involved, and with website costs to manage, I'm really not seeing the force of that point. It's
surely not scummy, as I think I've seen you call it before.
I also asked them numerous times if they've ever pocketed any of the money and they refused to answer. They're in it for the money and that's absolutely fine if they tell people that rather than feigning a sense of community spirit.
Can't speak for them precisely, but perhaps they're aware that a presupposition of your asking that question is a suspicion that they are devious actors in some way. If they've detected that, maybe they don't want to dignify it with a response. Or maybe, indeed, they've pocketed a bit. Who knows. But one of the kitmakers in that very Reddit thread linked above replied to the post, saying he's only ever personally seen a fiver of it, by way of a donation from PESEP or something.
Until they change their incentivised membership model, I'm always going to have a problem with them.
I just think this is way too hard-line given what they actually do. If it set a trend, and then prices went up, or free versions never got released, then I'd consider it either initiating or becoming an exploitative practice. But we're clearly not there yet.
I've said this previously too, although in less hysterical terms. I'm intrigued by the link and the quick rise to (relative) fame that PES Universe had, given that there were plenty of other sites with longer tenures in PES editing that didn't get half the fanfare from Konami that PES Universe did.
No 'corruption' as such but I wouldn't rule out an unofficial interest being there.
I think the mystery begins to defuse when you realise how PES Universe have grown: they use the popular platforms where people go to discuss, share, argue, and hype themselves up. Interest-group forums like the one we're on have largely been displaced over the last decade, as Reddit, Twitter, Twitch, and YouTube encroached on the space. It's now the natural place many will seek out news and discussion on what they like, instead of discrete forums which kids of the 80s/90s grew up with. So by operating on those platforms, they've had the most visible reach, and "the community" has naturally seemed to Konami to belong in those spaces.
By contrast, spaces like this are seen to become dominated by particular cultural tropes: e.g., endless tirades against scripting, detailed description of AI issues, adulation of former games. That's not a dig at this place; I do some of it myself. But you can see how it's not especially trendy. PES Universe, in comparison, are trendy enough. It's really no wonder they've had relative fame and Konami have sought to use them for PR purposes.
