<story><title>Unity&apos;s Self-Combustion Engine</title><url>https://www.gamesindustry.biz/unitys-self-combustion-engine-this-week-in-business</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>CamperBob2</author><text>Uber isn&amp;#x27;t a good example.  They came up with a business model that literally required customers to get into strangers&amp;#x27; cars.  Eighteen nanoseconds later, the taxi industry was dead.&lt;p&gt;There is &lt;i&gt;no&lt;/i&gt; other possible conclusion to draw, except that the taxi industry had it coming.&lt;p&gt;Fast-forward to today.  The venture capital has long since run out.  Taking an Uber costs at least as much as the taxis ever did.  Yet, do you foresee any way for the taxi industry to make a comeback, except by holding the rest of us at gunpoint?</text></item><item><author>mschuster91</author><text>&amp;gt; Unity lit money on fire for decades to buy a market advantage that overrules the basic economic incentives that supposedly ensure free markets work best for customers. It was successful in doing that because it&amp;#x27;s very hard for a sustainable business to compete against one that is fine losing billions of dollars.&lt;p&gt;This right here is the most notable part of the article, and it is entirely correct - it has been &lt;i&gt;for years&lt;/i&gt;. Venture capital is fine to use for actual ventures, to create new markets or hell, to break into a market with entrenched powers... but when it is used on a long time purely to undercut and destroy legitimate prior businesses (taxis&amp;#x2F;Uber, hotels&amp;#x2F;AirBnB, game engines&amp;#x2F;Unity), authorities should step in.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s time to revive anti-trust, anti-dumping and other anti-predatory politics.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>turquoisevar</author><text>That’s a decent amount of revisionism.&lt;p&gt;Uber used VC money to heavily undercut the taxi rates, heavily inflate driver pay and decided to speedrun breaking as many laws as possible&lt;p&gt;As for getting into strangers’ cars, getting in a taxi is no different.&lt;p&gt;Do you think Uber was able to become as ubiquitous as it is if it didn’t heavily subsidize both sides of the equation and abide by the laws?&lt;p&gt;I doubt it.&lt;p&gt;Like you aptly describe now the fares as on par if not more than taxis, because now that they’ve attained dominance over the market by burning VC money, they can squeeze the customers and drivers alike. 
I’m not even sure if they’re turning a profit yet.</text></comment>
<story><title>Unity&apos;s Self-Combustion Engine</title><url>https://www.gamesindustry.biz/unitys-self-combustion-engine-this-week-in-business</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>CamperBob2</author><text>Uber isn&amp;#x27;t a good example.  They came up with a business model that literally required customers to get into strangers&amp;#x27; cars.  Eighteen nanoseconds later, the taxi industry was dead.&lt;p&gt;There is &lt;i&gt;no&lt;/i&gt; other possible conclusion to draw, except that the taxi industry had it coming.&lt;p&gt;Fast-forward to today.  The venture capital has long since run out.  Taking an Uber costs at least as much as the taxis ever did.  Yet, do you foresee any way for the taxi industry to make a comeback, except by holding the rest of us at gunpoint?</text></item><item><author>mschuster91</author><text>&amp;gt; Unity lit money on fire for decades to buy a market advantage that overrules the basic economic incentives that supposedly ensure free markets work best for customers. It was successful in doing that because it&amp;#x27;s very hard for a sustainable business to compete against one that is fine losing billions of dollars.&lt;p&gt;This right here is the most notable part of the article, and it is entirely correct - it has been &lt;i&gt;for years&lt;/i&gt;. Venture capital is fine to use for actual ventures, to create new markets or hell, to break into a market with entrenched powers... but when it is used on a long time purely to undercut and destroy legitimate prior businesses (taxis&amp;#x2F;Uber, hotels&amp;#x2F;AirBnB, game engines&amp;#x2F;Unity), authorities should step in.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s time to revive anti-trust, anti-dumping and other anti-predatory politics.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>spondylosaurus</author><text>&amp;quot;Getting in a stranger&amp;#x27;s car&amp;quot; also describes taking a regular taxi...</text></comment>