Video game execs, publishers oligopolies and DEI hiring just for the sake of DEI hiring are the factors ruining video games.
Tradz-Om
I’m pretty sure this has been obvious ever since the golden era ended. Games had a mainstream popularity boom during the tail end of 8th console generation, which has been to the detriment of the passion and generally quality-focused mindset of studios in the 2000s. Mainstream has made games progressively shallower as executives try to appeal to everyone at once.
I’ve watched a bunch of BTS, makings-of and generally been very interested by game development for a long time, and the sentiment from the earlier developers(like Timothy Cain and such) is that while of course they were trying to make money, they were still very much invested in making great games and you could see their passion(see Old Bungie for a great example). Now you’ve got Rocksteady pooping out Suicide Squad and Warner Bros being disappointed when it doesn’t meet their ridiculous revenue targets for their incredibly bloated budget for a game with an average scope.
Obviously it’s not all doom & gloom. For instance, Santa Monica’s GoW reboot was incredibly well made & the Making of Kratos documentary was amazing, Cory Barlog clearly cared a lot about making the right game, and not just any game.
Mnoonsnocket
Hit the nail on the head.
BobLoblawsLawBlog_-_
Cut and paste headline for essentially all industries
halipatsui
In other news: Water is wet
ShakeSignal
Some developers make games they want to play. Other developers make games they think people will want to play. Patronize the former and avoid the latter.
Vv4nd
Publicly trades companies ruin lifes, economies, products and… the companies in the long run.
nerogenesis
We know.
Ambitious_Dig_7109
Always have been.
WackyBones510
Some of y’all need to explore other articles throughout Jacobin. Particularly if you’re someone that cheered industry consolidation.
elementfortyseven
execs are symptoms, not the root.
they are the pustules, but the sickness that causes them to emerge is engrained much deeper.
the issue are imho the dominant economic fallcy of infninite growth, and compounding it the preferred form of at scale funding: public ownership.
without shareholder interests and growth as prime success indicator, there would be much more space for devs to actually do their jobs, just like small scale/indie still are able to do.
Dryandrough
To be fair, executives are ruining everything.
Odd-Collection-2575
This isn’t news
FrequentistaYogurtf9
Please note the publication before flocking to the flashy title of an op-ed 🙁
Im_Ur_Huckleberry77
Late stage capitalism for all!
OrangeYawn
*ruined gaming since 360 days.
Wampa9090
“Later on at 6, is water wet? CNN’s own Hydro Hank is bringing you the real story behind the sinister moistness of life’s most important liquid.”
IlyasBT
More like shareholders. If we put you in their position, you’ll do the same thing.
TruthOrSF
This is capitalism. Execs have a responsibility to their share holders to make money not good games
thedishonestyfish
They’re ruining their companies. Games will be around long after they are.
Liobuster
They arent video game execs they are just execs who currently happen to sit in the chair of a game company…
Taco-Edge
Who could have seen that coming? Certainly not VG execs
RyunWould
No, greedy share/stakeholders are ruining EVERYTHING.
Annual growth is unsustainable. The only thing in nature that grows infinitely is cancer. Capitalism IS cancer.
glassgwaith
Am I the only one over thirty that actually thinks video games have never been better? For reference I haven’t bought a single Iteration of call of duty fifa nba etc for over 15 years
onlypham
What haven’t they ever ruined?!?
Old_Cheetah_5138
What wont they ruin.
MonkeyMercenaryCapt
Business executives still have no idea how to really make money in the creative space.
Dx1178
One of the best examples of this not happening is valve valve isn’t a publicly traded company so they don’t have a horde of shitty investors saying they need to make more and more money they can be satisfied with what they have and slowly make new games that for the most part are well received by valves rabid audience and sit back whole other company’s like epic who are publicly traded slowly shoot themselves trying to compete with valves hold on the game store landscape
Pure_Echo2747
“in other news, water is wet”
DamageInc35
The sky is blue
Das_Guet
Welcome to the conversation several years ago
Nalarn
Executives ruin everything
Dont_have_a_panda
Aside from indies, videogames is no longer a world of small companies or a bunch of friends working on passion projects (like old ID software)
When any form of media and/or entertainent grows so much and in so little time as videogames (that is now the Most lucrative form of entertaiment media in the world and by a long margin) things like this are bound to happen, and with videogames being so technological advanced that no company would dare to compete in the console market (because a failed console is hundreds of millions of dollars in losses) or develop a game in the same scale as big companies one (because that means hundreds of people for (at best) 6 years of game development with usually millions of dollars at stake) competition tends to be fierce
JollyGreenGiant_8
I’ll take ‘duh’ for $1000, Alex
mortalcoil1
~~Video Game~~ Execs Are Ruining ~~Video Games~~ everything.
KN_Knoxxius
Tell me about it. They killed the RTS genre. I miss it dearly. StarCraft, LOTR rts, c&c series and many more. Id kill for a new command & conquer.
ffgod_zito
This is a law of the universes at this point
Phinn78
People will shit on captitalism till you tell them yes capitalism is the problem
tranqfx
Video games execs are mostly finance bros. That’s the root of the problem.
39 Comments
Video game execs, publishers oligopolies and DEI hiring just for the sake of DEI hiring are the factors ruining video games.
I’m pretty sure this has been obvious ever since the golden era ended. Games had a mainstream popularity boom during the tail end of 8th console generation, which has been to the detriment of the passion and generally quality-focused mindset of studios in the 2000s. Mainstream has made games progressively shallower as executives try to appeal to everyone at once.
I’ve watched a bunch of BTS, makings-of and generally been very interested by game development for a long time, and the sentiment from the earlier developers(like Timothy Cain and such) is that while of course they were trying to make money, they were still very much invested in making great games and you could see their passion(see Old Bungie for a great example). Now you’ve got Rocksteady pooping out Suicide Squad and Warner Bros being disappointed when it doesn’t meet their ridiculous revenue targets for their incredibly bloated budget for a game with an average scope.
Obviously it’s not all doom & gloom. For instance, Santa Monica’s GoW reboot was incredibly well made & the Making of Kratos documentary was amazing, Cory Barlog clearly cared a lot about making the right game, and not just any game.
Hit the nail on the head.
Cut and paste headline for essentially all industries
In other news: Water is wet
Some developers make games they want to play. Other developers make games they think people will want to play. Patronize the former and avoid the latter.
Publicly trades companies ruin lifes, economies, products and… the companies in the long run.
We know.
Always have been.
Some of y’all need to explore other articles throughout Jacobin. Particularly if you’re someone that cheered industry consolidation.
execs are symptoms, not the root.
they are the pustules, but the sickness that causes them to emerge is engrained much deeper.
the issue are imho the dominant economic fallcy of infninite growth, and compounding it the preferred form of at scale funding: public ownership.
without shareholder interests and growth as prime success indicator, there would be much more space for devs to actually do their jobs, just like small scale/indie still are able to do.
To be fair, executives are ruining everything.
This isn’t news
Please note the publication before flocking to the flashy title of an op-ed 🙁
Late stage capitalism for all!
*ruined gaming since 360 days.
“Later on at 6, is water wet? CNN’s own Hydro Hank is bringing you the real story behind the sinister moistness of life’s most important liquid.”
More like shareholders. If we put you in their position, you’ll do the same thing.
This is capitalism. Execs have a responsibility to their share holders to make money not good games
They’re ruining their companies. Games will be around long after they are.
They arent video game execs they are just execs who currently happen to sit in the chair of a game company…
Who could have seen that coming? Certainly not VG execs
No, greedy share/stakeholders are ruining EVERYTHING.
Annual growth is unsustainable. The only thing in nature that grows infinitely is cancer. Capitalism IS cancer.
Am I the only one over thirty that actually thinks video games have never been better? For reference I haven’t bought a single Iteration of call of duty fifa nba etc for over 15 years
What haven’t they ever ruined?!?
What wont they ruin.
Business executives still have no idea how to really make money in the creative space.
One of the best examples of this not happening is valve valve isn’t a publicly traded company so they don’t have a horde of shitty investors saying they need to make more and more money they can be satisfied with what they have and slowly make new games that for the most part are well received by valves rabid audience and sit back whole other company’s like epic who are publicly traded slowly shoot themselves trying to compete with valves hold on the game store landscape
“in other news, water is wet”
The sky is blue
Welcome to the conversation several years ago
Executives ruin everything
Aside from indies, videogames is no longer a world of small companies or a bunch of friends working on passion projects (like old ID software)
When any form of media and/or entertainent grows so much and in so little time as videogames (that is now the Most lucrative form of entertaiment media in the world and by a long margin) things like this are bound to happen, and with videogames being so technological advanced that no company would dare to compete in the console market (because a failed console is hundreds of millions of dollars in losses) or develop a game in the same scale as big companies one (because that means hundreds of people for (at best) 6 years of game development with usually millions of dollars at stake) competition tends to be fierce
I’ll take ‘duh’ for $1000, Alex
~~Video Game~~ Execs Are Ruining ~~Video Games~~ everything.
Tell me about it. They killed the RTS genre. I miss it dearly. StarCraft, LOTR rts, c&c series and many more. Id kill for a new command & conquer.
This is a law of the universes at this point
People will shit on captitalism till you tell them yes capitalism is the problem
Video games execs are mostly finance bros. That’s the root of the problem.