The Business: The Holdouts Always Lose

Mark Kern's going to make all the right people mad.

They want this narrative to be true.

That gamers reject AI therefore you should not use it.

But I haven't seen one game where using AI tanked sales:

- They tried to it on Clair Obscure, and gamers kept buying.

- They tried it on Crimson Desert. Gamers kept buying.

As much… pic.twitter.com/LpfilpsZZx

— Grummz (@Grummz) April 26, 2026

Not just Vidya. Tabletop too is like this. They just lie about it.

The reason is the same as it ever was: LLMs are such a massive advantage that you AUTOMATICALLY lose against someone using it because they can ship more product faster, find and fix issues sooner, and do so with less human talent.

Retards and hobbyists eschew competitive advantages, and end-users show via Revealed Preferences that they don't care about anything but the results. In media where speed of output is directly and immensely rewarded with user and customer loyalty and thus revenue--Vidya, Tabletop, Novels, Comics, etc.--you are going to see the adopters win and the holdouts lose over time, and sooner than later.

This is why Wizards of the Coast flat-out lied to the audience. They know what it takes, so they're going to do it and then lie about it until the stupidity burns off. Every other would-be competitors is going to do the same thing because that is what the commercial pressure will force them to do to stay in the game; holdouts get pushed out.

What will have to happen for a lot of people is to admit that they are really hobbyists; it is okay to be a hobbyist. Doing it for love of the game, and setting prices to just cover costs, is fine. Long-time readers know that I've said so for years, pointing to Basic Fantasy as the model proving this to be true.

If you want to be a commercial operation, you are going to use LLMs. This is no longer negotiable.

It's okay not be a commercial operation. It's okay to be a hobbyist doing this for fun. It's okay to just cover your costs so publishing isn't costing you money. This is your way out, holdouts: surrender your pretentions of commercial viability and return to hobbyist status. Otherwise WOTC crushes you, and the Clubhouse will not open for you.