it's so cool that the games industry is consolidating & closing studios & laying off everyone & all of games media is consolidating & laying off everyone who does the most important work & actual reporting

BUT WATCH OUT GEOFF KEIGHLEY IS STILL RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER TO BANG OUT THE TRAILERS

IT'S GAMING'S BIGGEST NIGHT

LIVE

following this up with a little anecdote but

i've seen a lot of sentiment, on here, twitter, elsewhere, that the state of the industry is making people want to not bother with games or making them anymore... and i can totally understand that from a sentimental perspective.

but i also don't think the dire state of the industry has given me cause to give up on games as a medium. the issues we're dealing with here are not because of games. it's because of a capitalist-centric world & the way that money and advertising and the constant desire for number to go up every single quarter means that it stifles EVERYTHING.

looking beyond just the game industry, there's so much shit that's absolutely fucked right now & seeing how it's all connected is extremely important. it's easy to connect 'games' to capitalism from some not-insignificant origins in gambling (i remember when i couldn't even tell the government i worked in the games industry without them thinking i worked for the 'gaming industry' aka casinos) .... but also games come from fun, socializing, sharing experiences through mechanics design, writing, etc... there is SO MUCH to gaming that isn't rooted in making a number go higher, selling big numbers, making stockholders happy.

just like there is so much to life that is enjoyable without being drowned in advertisements, suffering with software that will never be good again due to an unreasonable attraction towards hostile updates, surveillance, and chasing tech buzzwords.

if you're feeling hopeless because of how the games industry is hurting, it's a good opportunity to look at everything else and realize how much needs to change on a much greater scale than simply video games.