When the game is such a precious labour of love, so obviously cared for, and constantly improved, that there’s no way the dev has any time left for gaming.
I’m with you. Very puritan, kinkshaming article. Stellar Blade might not be my thing, but I know not to yuck people’s yum. One could take the opportunity to discuss sexual objectification, but apparently that’s off the table.
You sure are spending plenty of attention on defending that you don’t have attention to spend on this. We all vote with our wallets. There’s no opting out.
I understand how you’d extend reproach to the employees of a bad business. I don’t feel it personally though. Solidarity for all workforce trumps it in my heart. Maybe it’s my family ties with active union members.
In gamedev particularly, a lot of creators get in there mainly because of their passion for the medium. Then they get chewed up by shit work conditions. Ultimately dream job type positions are especially vulnerable to abusive management.
Oh no! Venture capital has moved to AI! (Anyways.) The article goes on to talk about humongous corporations making dubious decisions and toppling over themselves. Are we supposed to lament Ubisoft’s demise now?
Expedition 33 just came out of nowhere to great acclaim. Valve is hosting a thriving market & slowly but surely freeing PC gaming from Microsoft’s grip. SILK SONG IS DUE THIS YEAR MY FRIENDS. Everyone’s wishlist is as long as their backlog. The bar to entry for development has never been lower. Video gaming is an established medium at this point. A handful of corporative giants infected with a rotten management culture matters little. What essentially matters to me is for the creators out of a job to find new footing.
(A few days ago I skimmed a super cool post about Steam’s relationship with Linux that says what you’re saying and now I want to give it a thorough read but I can’t find it bee sob emoji. If anyone remembers and has a link to it I’d be super happy bee laugh sweat emoji)
I’m playing Cassette Beasts lately too! It’s such a good monster collector. The low poly 3D+2D aesthetic is on point and it’s real cozy. They don’t hide their Pokémon inspiration but they do their own thing with it and I really like their take. It feels both kinder and more stimulating. I love that basically all battles are doubles.