1000%. Roll7 was also one of my favorite studios ever. They didn’t quite make it as big as a Supergiant, but I am absolutely convinced they would have eventually. This whole industry is so busted.

Meritocracy is a scam and the richest people in the world move their money based on what some AI tells them while theyre brushing their teeth

To quote Stephanie Sterling, “corporations don’t want to make some of the money, they want to make ALL of the money”

Support the indies and stop preordering 👍

Just a quick correction but Arkane Austin did not make Dishonored.

Wonderful video and well stated. Luckily indies are getting much bigger and better while keeping it all reasonable and not needing to make ALL THE MONEY. The problem is that a lot of these companies are owned by a person or a few people, and since they can get generational wealth from selling to a large corp, they do it. It's understandable, but it perpetuates the cycle we are seeing. I'd love to see more studios pop up that are advertise as employee owned and/or affiliated with an external union. Build up via that way and then you can't have the 1 or 2 sell out. And you won't lose your job because your team probably can't go work in the Call of Duty mines and it's faster/cheaper to close it than sell you off (especially since anybody buying would want those potentially valuable IP rights that big companies will never use again). With that said, what was the car game with the yellow taxi at around the 08:18 point?

The indie scene is the real games industry. Triple AAA (barring a few exceptions) is no longer creatively or financially motivated to be considered part of the industry.

I'm done with modern gaming. From now on, I'm only playing old games and some indie games.

I’m saying this as a fan of video games these corporations along with the mainstream media are out of touch with what consumers actually want Microsoft although for the last 10 years their best ip is probably sea of thieves from Rare they’re the only company outside of Sega trying to keep the industry afloat with everyone trying to be the next Fortnite Nintendo although cheap at least they’re creating 1st party games Sony is in a position where like Microsoft they can’t create however unlike Microsoft they don’t have the funds to get triple A games via third party deals anymore. This will go down as probably the worst generation for gaming if we’re just talking consoles but if we’re talking about PC mobile free to play and throw in gamepass everyone can game now more than ever before

I think the Gamepass ecosystem is a big player in how crap things are today. Games themselves lose their true value and respect by simply being an acquisition for a library. The number of times I see "This would be perfect for Gamepass!" is absolutely disheartening.

evil megacorps have a lot less leverage than they think.

Last time I had to hear about video game employees worried about where they were gonna pay their rent the movie industry made seven marvel movies in a row and absorbed every single artist that was unemployed. They'll be fine. You'll be fine for another six months of doing special effects before Hollywood figures out how to do full special effects on AI.

I don't blame the corporations. They are just operating as intended under a capitalist system: making short term profit in a ruthless manner and ignoring all other factors. The real blame should be placed upon the players. It's very clear that independent games are of much higher quality for the last half decade compared to most of the big studio releases. Gamers should refuse to buy these bloated AAA dumpster fires and only purchase ethical independent games from passionate community-focused developers. The fact that gamers continue to pre-order the yearly failed COD/Ubislop/Activision releases is the reason why these companies continue the make them.

What I don't understand is why. Why **ALL** shareholders, without exception, are such moronic imbeciles making worst possible choices? I'm at the point where if it would be announced that public companies are going to be illegal from now on, I'd only said "good fucking riddance"

Are we seeing the next embarcer group with Xbox? This is depressing. Great video though. Thank you. X

The thing a lot of people don't understand is that this is the natural consequences of the market. Its how they function. Investors care about making the funny number go up, everything else are just means to that end. If you open up the company to public trading this is what shareholders do to it. Leaving it entirely private can lead to these same issues too but game studios are generally started by people who love making games so at least the first generation owner is usually alright, after that they can get scummier though as again, you'll get someone with the mindset of "max profit for me screw everyone else". Really the only way for a game studio to maintain good conditions for its employees longterm would be the same as most industries which is to put it under the ownership of the devs themselves. Own it collectively, profit from it collectively, contribute collectively. Isn't to say coops are perfect or anything, but its a model that has been proven to work in many industries already. An industry like gaming is perfect for it as it'd he the perfect way to blend larger projects, fair labor conditions, and creative freedom. For devs already in a studio, they should unionize. Its a highly skilled job, co-workers are often close, and its also been proven in other industries to help create better conditions. You'd think it'd be a slam dunk win. Especially with the industry in such a place where their jobs are that unstable, one of the things unions are best at is protecting a worker from unjust firing.

We're not even joking, it literally is capitalisms fault gaming is like this.

Shut up. You are going to throw money at the next DRM-infested locked down console running the next piece of crap skinner box grindfest. You are going to give it your credit card details to use dollars to buy gems that buy coins that buy shards that buy random lootboxes of weapons with slightly different numbers and you are going to regard it as normal when the entire full priced game is shut down after six months for having a player count that's too low. Unless you're willing to really vote with your wallet and stop buying consoles and stop buying games you don't own forever, you aren't doing anything about this problem and have no right to complain about it because you are the one driving and rewarding this behavior.

Hi-Fi Rush, a game about corporate mismanagement, turned out to be pretty prophetic.

Gaming is just a business, critical praise means nothing. Your game makes money or workers lose thier jobs or studios close. And with sooo many games comming out even good games can't pull the numbers needed to be considered a hit by the men in suits. Your game has to be GTA, COD or Zelda or BG3 or Eldenring level of sales for you to stand a chance of keeping your job or studio. Secondly making even AA games cost so much that one miss means huge financial loss, where as before a studio could make 3 misses and one average hit and still remain open because the cost of all four games might be just like 100m, now one game coats 100m or more to make so even on flop means you need two or three smash hits just to make a profit.

I think it's telling that even the infamous, libertarian Charles Koch is opposed to the myopic nature of public markets. From Koch Industries Wikipedia article: "Charles Koch has stated that the company would go public "over my dead body" and that the company has used its freedom from the pressures of public markets to make long-term investments and concentrate on growth" Look at Valve. Same thing. Sure, going public would result in a short term cash infusion... But at the cost of the ability to take chances. I highly doubt a public Valve would have ever pushed VR, developed Half Life: Alyx or released the Steam Deck.

While not really something that is discussed inside this context, the layoffs, acquisitions, mergers, and what not that has been happening in the gaming industry and the wider entertainment industry (such as streaming providers) really shows the issues in the current world economy and the incorrect incentives that are making these, objectively bad, choices profitable. We should not live in a world where a game that is critically well received and financially successful leads to the developers of said game being laid off because it generates more profit to do so. Even knowing that in the long run, this will likely backfire massively, the way that fiduciary duty works in the US requires that publicly traded companies make these bone headed moves, because they company heads will be legally liable if they don't. This is an issue that will continue to rear its ugly head until some major economic shifts happen, and unfortunately, that doesn't seem like it's every going to happen.

Great video, this NEEDS to be talked about

Heres the thing Gamers simply do not care. Creatives are not respected for their work, hence when the AI starts replacing us Gamers will keep on buying.

TL:DR Xbox bit more than it could chew and its choking on its food

While this week has been very upsetting, I think seeing games like Hades 2 and all the indies that released on May 9(Animal Well, Crow Country, Kitty game etc) I’m still, some could say foolishly optimistic. These big companies sadly will still operate how they do, maybe they change but that’s a big maybe. I feel all the games from May 9 will inspire more people to make their own thing and have control of their art. There’s a reality even those indies can fall, but I’d rather be in control of my destiny rather than it be in control of some suit who doesn’t give a shit. RIP Tango

During the 2008 financial crisis, video games were considered recession-proof. Corporations mentioning economic headwinds as a reason for studio closures and layoffs are full of shit and only have themselves to blame for destroying their developers' lives.

The main problem is late stage capitalism, to save video games we need anarchism, co op game studios

Hi-Fi Rush did not sell much, to be honest

two working theories for why this studio was shut down one this studio is actually an AI experiment to see if Microsoft's new AI software could generate a fully playable game from beginning to end from ideation to launch. And that now when it's time to do everyone's taxes and make sure that it's a real studio with employees the safest way to do that is by shutting the studio down and letting everyone go so that all that's left is paperwork. The other theory is that early on in development Microsoft decided to let this studio go due to its refusal to receive recommendations in the creative process maybe the design of the characters is too generic or not generic enough maybe the main character is not diverse enough and that the general generic style of the art is a symptom of the clashing design processes between publishing and developers that continues to wreak havoc on the creative process of the human race especially corporate efforts.

In the recent Microsoft leak during the Activision acquisition, there were plans for "Dishonored 3" in the future. But Microsoft decided "nahhh.... lets make another boring HALO". Hoping the laid offs folks find good jobs.

Tango and Arkane deserved better. They insisted on taking creative risks that most studios avoid. Their games will always be classics

There's allot more to it then people think. Arkane and tango weren't even the same game studios that they wer before most of the employees that made the games we love left already. And hifi rush didn't sell well neither did either of the eivil within games, redfall, prey, deathloop or ghostwriter tokyo. All either flops or maybe barely made money. Why spend to restaff a studio that isn't even the same studio we knew and loved anymore just for another dud when they re allocate them resources to other studios already spread thin (wich is what they did) some layoffs yes but not what everyone is making it seem

The other industry to look at is Boeing & the aircraft industry, which was captured by corporate raiders in the 80's and since then has had a steady & noticeable decline in quality and staff morale as they get ground up in a system that looks for constant quarterly profit improvements over EVEN THE PRODUCT ITSELF! These investor class only systems are toxic to every industry they get control over because they at the end of the day, do not care about the industry or understand it, they only care about profits. They are lords who make peasants plant cash crops on land that needs to lie fallow and over food crops, and then get surprised when the famine comes, and often get to bail while all the workers suffer. No industry should be run by people who's only motive is profit and only expertise in the industry is a business degree and friends they made in a frat at college. They are the NFT guys, looking to pump hype for the bag before dumping it in someone else's hands or into the river while they run off with the cash, and all of us get screwed.

I'll never understand chasing infinite growth in an extremely variable industry like games.

There is in fact a larger story underneath involving the tech industry as a whole and what hedge funds are doing that make these baffling decisions more common.

My goat

We need co-op games companies, where every worker gets a say in the decisions, including whether to sell the company

Arkane Lyon made dishonored, not Arkane Austin

Great video. So sad

You should be safe with a 3 trillion dollar company backing you!

While it’s always been an issue (as seen with the first game crash), in the modern era, it’s definitely gotten extremely bad. The signs could be seen all the way back in the 360/ps3 era with loot boxes etc., however, most wouldn’t have thought the gaming industry would become this profit driven. Cause while yes, profits mattered, there was still enough leeway back then where people could create interesting games or at the very least, good, if uninspired ones. Microsoft has been pushing away from game dev because it’s expensive and risky. Thats why as many have been predicting, they’re really pushing games as a service. PlayStation while still more traditional with game dev, will most likely follow suite at some point once the suits have a reason to stop producing their single player first party games. However, there is the chance they may see this gap in the market being created by Xbox and further push their games. But this leads to the issue of Sony owning a near monopoly of part of gaming. While Xbox does another. They would have very little competition in the areas of gaming they’re focused on. Nintendo has always been an outlier because of the way they’re managed, not being so heavy on profit growth. They definitely do make business decisions (like Nintendo online), but so far, and likely for a long time, is focused on producing Nintendo games and making hardwares for it to be played on. Which is why they’re less likely to follow suite on moves made by Xbox and most likely PS. Which sucks because Nintendo doesn’t fit me, but the PlayStation and Xbox of now that did is no longer the same.

surely it's an issue with game industry and not economy in general, when all that matters is profit and not quality of a product or anything else. what's the point in buying games if the money you spend won't even support the devs? just pirate anything not self published and don't even bother getting a console because why bother? It'll just line the pockets of 15 dudes on top and you'll have a console with no games or you'll have a studio where execs forcefully tear the creators apart from the game they've created and claim they have full ownership over the IP (Disco Elysium, please pirate it, devs don't see the money made from it anymore). What's the point in spending money in games when that money only goes to executives and devs are forced to overwork, burn out and laid off anyways. Why support an industry like this. There are enough games, I won't be buying any more until things get fixed for good.

Reading about the news yesterday legitimately bummed me out. It's just really sad hearing about more and more studios closing down because of bad decisions made by executives. So many people are put in difficult situations for the sake of chasing infinite growth. I hate the system.

yet another video lamenting the situation while skirting around the issue of monopoly and how it needs to be stopped with drastic regulation.

as the AAA industry eats itself alive, indies are proving beyond the shadow of a doubt they're the real future. Another Crab is rivaling the best of the Souls franchise for me and i couldn't be happier.

Hi Fi Rush wasn't woke enough for the clueless tards working at Xbox.

The shareholders need growth. Profits are not enough anymore.

I think that studios, gamers and media should promote game design and game designers as much as they promote film directors. Thanks to this, the very name of the creator will work as an advertisement, and games will have a greater focus on how the game is played, and not on the visuals or all sorts of gimmicks, which takes a noticeable toll on the wallet. It's really funny to say, but industry needs more people like Kojima

I really love your channel, and as someone who's spent the better part of a decade in the industry across both AAA and indie I'm acutely aware of how awful these layoffs are because they're hitting my friends and past coworkers. Real people are hurting because of poor corporate decision making coupled with short-sighted fears and an overcorrection to a slightly cooling games market post-covid, but... The central thrust of this video as "dodge corporate money if you're an indie" is, frankly, naive. Most studios signing publishing or acquisition deals aren't doing it because they think they'll be able to take over the world, they do it so they can try to avoid the same layoffs and studio closures we're lamenting. The problem is, "we ran out of money" is a lot less publicized than "Microsoft fired everyone", so people forget that studios and projects that are every bit the same passionate artistic endeavor die because they could never land a corporate deal. The dagger you talk about hanging over developers heads from acquisition? It's no worse than the dagger of running out of money before you hit the finish line and seeing all of your work disappear. I'm not defending the stupid layoffs or saying these studios should have been closed, but I DO want to defend the decisions of developers to try to do what was best for themselves and their studios at the time. The villains here are the mismanagers in those corporate entities, but it seems like you're backhandedly blaming indie developers with stars in their eyes for signing obviously bad deals with the devil, and that's just not the reality. Games are extraordinarily expensive, and require years of work and paid salaries and marketing dollars before they see a dime of profit. Pointing to the success of Supergiant and Larian and saying it's translatable is just, frankly, wrong. Supergiant's first game, Bastion, was published by Warner Bros (one of those big conglomerates), and BG3 had a 9-figure budget for hundreds of staff over 6 years and was built by a studio that's been around for almost 3 decades. They're amazing studios that made amazing games, but taking their success and trying to use it as a model for other indie developers is silly. Love your stuff, love the passion, but this was just a missed attempt to apply a simple answer to a super complex industry without really understanding the full scope of the problem.