Summary
Microsofthas just announced a slew of horrific studio closures that have enraged seemingly everybody in the video game industry. Despite repeatedly saying that it wants to support smaller studios who make weirder games, Microsoftshut down Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and morein yet another round of brutal layoffs. Everywhere I look, developers and journalists alike are expressing their growing despair at the state of things.
It’s becoming a simple fact of modern video game development that making a good, unique game that people liked and spent money on won’t be enough to ensure job security. Anybody can lose their job, at any time. As many of my colleagues have already said, it feels like so many talented developers and studios are being put out of jobs that it’s hard to imagine the industry will be viable for employment at all in a couple of months, let alone right now. Who wants to join a studio when it might shut down without warning or reason?
I’m always surprised when I find out that my friends who play lots of video games as a hobby have no idea that the industry has been crumbling steadily over the last two years, hit bylayoffafterlayoffafterlayoff. It seems like all I ever hear about is another studio getting shut down, employee numbers getting decimated, and executives making ruthless decisions to protect their bottom lines and fat bonuses. It’s not just Microsoft, it’s any big corporation that acquired small studios just to shut them down.
In June, we’re going to see Summer Games FestandXbox Games Showcase, and there are rumours abound of a PlayStation Showcase taking place as well. I love showcases. I love seeing new, unique, innovative games and getting excited about weird and wacky indies. It gives me hope that, despite the ill-advised turn towards live service the industry has taken in recent years, there are still things to get excited about and look forward to.
I’ve always especially loved seeing studios showcasing debuts, because those developers are still developing their styles and it’s fun to watch them grow.
But it feels impossible to be excited for these showcases now. Not just because the vile mismanagement of studios has left a bad taste in my mouth, but because I know that there’s a good chance these could be the last games we see from these studios, even if they get played by millions of people and sell tons of copies.
On the triple-A side, so many companies have been acquired by publishers and shut down just years later. When it comes to indies, the state of the industry is so wretched that some studios can’t find funding, even if their debut is successful. Every type of studio is getting hurt by consolidation, and I simply can’t be excited about the future of an industry so completely broken.
I wish it was true that good games and good sales will be enough to get a studio through the bad times, but it’s not. As long as companies like Sony and Microsoft are cutting studios so they can justify their fat bonuses, showcases are times to grieve as much as they are times to be hopeful. I’m trying to be optimistic, but it’s hard to look forward to the future when the cycle is doomed to repeat.
Summer Game Fest
Hosted by Geoff Keighley, Summer Game Fest is an annual event dedicated to showcasing upcoming games, initially created as an online alternative to cancelled events during the pandemic.
