This article coming out on the same day as another wave of layoffs, this time from Bungie, is an excellent view on the state of gaming criticism. Even if it were the best year for the products (there are several titles in the article that are curious), it’s definitely one of the worst years for the people who work on them.
I hope the current wave of unionizing keeps manifesting and spreads to the gaming industry, because this situation is dire and it’s only getting worse.
Even if it were the best year for the products (there are several titles in the article that are curious), it’s definitely one of the worst years for the people who work on them.
For sure. As an armchair analyst, it seems to be the result of getting out of the era of cheap credit and VC money. I don’t expect it to get worse, but I do think live services and enormous open world games ran out of money spreading their customers across too many games.
Just wait until the Discord VC really starts to squeeze
I’m not sure the worst year is specific to game developers though, the whole world is under economic squeeze, take a look at the layoffs in the tech industry.
Nobody in this thread mentioning Pikmin 4 💀
Good ass year for gaming, we don’t get to say that too often
our standards also went down over time
It is.
The last time the deck felt this stacked was 2017
Agreed. I’m putting 2023 in my pantheon alongside 1998, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. A great year for RPGs and fighting games, with the latter bumping up two of my favorites from previous years, Skullgirls and Guilty Gear Strive, a few notches via updates. Hi-Fi Rush is the first game in the character-action genre that clicked for me, and I’ve tried to make it click so many times before.
Hi-Fi Rush just consistently reminds me how comically bad I am at rhythm games. I love the game, but man I got burnt out because even though they made it “easier” for folks with no rhythm like myself, it’s still tough if you just can’t match the beat.
I am some kind of masochist though, because in the past I beat both Parappa the Rapper and UmJammer Lammy.
- Starfield
- Baldurs Gate 3
- Remnant 2
- Hi-Fi Rush
- Street Fighter 6
- Lies of P
- Alan Wake 2
- Laika: Aged through Blood
The list just keeps going, it’s been an insane year so far.
Strange. I can’t find anything good to play.
What kinds of games are you into?
