Great question! The person shown at 8:20 in the video is not the person that sent me that email. The person I was discussing wasn't shown in the video nor was the actual email that he sent. This is to maintain his privacy. The person in the video is the fabulous Gears Art Director Jerry and this is a motion capture session he did for Gears of War. Thank you for bringing this up so I could clarify!
@@laurafryer6321 petty people should not be protected, they thrive on your silence while they use their own voice loudly and destructively, that's how we got to this point, that's how we get public outbursts, like the one you shown on X, that damage an entire team of people
@@laurafryer6321 "they" or "those people" don't even know what GG actually means. Good gaming ya'll. Peace (CONTEXT: Asmongold just showed your video and performed mandatory 20 minutes extra "reaction" content) So that said, Asmon's chance to shine here, as the Lady Fryer be much to classy. So,...Zack your up!!! We need the finger diffidently pointing at who is to blame here, over and over, until executives get the point....
It's utterly crazy to see developers attacking their customerbase again and again, then saying "if you don't like it, don't buy it" after which they're surprised that people in fact didn't buy the game regardless of quality.
This almost never seems to happen with quality games, though, and I don't think that's a coincidence. When the team is mostly normal, you can't get away with that kind of anti-customer attitude. At the very least, they need to hide how much they hate their audience while at work, and this becomes a habit. The ones who can't control themselves are quickly weeded out from the dev team. When those people reach a critical mass, you can say anti-customer things in an official meeting and be met with agreement. There's no voice of reason keeping these people on the straight and narrow, so they feel free to attack customers in public. This attitude also affects their work, in both quality and direction.
@DZ-X3 There will also be an automatic reduction in the both way hostility because most gamers won't have any hostility towards a good product and for those hostile devs there's nothing to cope about that causes them to lash out and blame customers for a failure of their own product since most of the time good games are successful games.
@omgitsbees if you have missed the dozen other cases where devs openly hate their customer base and purposefully antagonise people, that's on you. This isn't an isolated incident.
@@omgitsbees This is what worries me about Lauras and many other takes here; Elon being Elon was being a childish prick, as he usually is. The thing is, just because of that alone, because of the millions of people who will get to see his post, the game is going to be review bombed by cnts. That's just the way it is, the mass of rabid people who will be offended and cry their hearts out because of literally nothing will be mad one way or another. So given that the damage is already done with no fault of the dev who responded, why should the dev not be allowed to respond? And why not in a manner that the person being butthurt, Elon, started out with? I get that being a professional sometimes means turning the other cheek, but at some point it starts to be unreasonable to expect of people to just take abuse.
Gamers made it possible for me to make games. I'm grateful to everyone that supported that journey! I worked many jobs before I made games and there's nothing quite like it. Thank you!!!
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, today is the darkest day of the year, the beginning of the return of the light. It's a good time to reflect on the past and look forward to the future. Thank you all for your support! I wish you the best in the New Year, and a brighter year for games!
I honestly forgot that fact and was having a bad day as I suffer from SAD. That message perked me up and was badly needed, things will literally get brighter! Thank you for reminding me and for the amazing content. Hope Christmas/the new year are great for you too :)
Thank you Laura, your insight was super important during my darkest time introspecting my perspective on my own story idea, which is very much a cross between Mass Effect’s focus on squadmates…but a much sinister other game besides it that I won’t spoil.
I served in the US Army- more than once, under non-commissioned officers (NCOs) whose idea of "boosting morale," SABOTAGED it instead. What we see in the "current year" video game industry, is the same kind of TOXIC leaders who make their subordinates want to do You Know What to them.
This is what games like Total War and Dawn of War get. Morale systems are in both games and they significantly affect a unit's overall performance. They're incredibly realistic in that sense.
If you call a viable portion of your customers a "talentless freaks" and actively hate them on social media or you make a design choices to specifically upset them, then those studios should not cry about hundreds of millions of dollars they lost while "owning the chuds". This is business 101. Imagine if a car company's people would actively talking down to you and openly hate you because you are not liking their product? Or if an electronics company will create a phone that would be designed to specifically upset a portion of paying customers... They'll be out of business pretty fast.
This is why I wish those people were removed from said studios/companies, because ultimately they don't appear to be in it for making good products/services, and are more in it for personal vendettas/social gains. I used to work for a very posh retail company, and while I wasn't a fan of retail, I slowly earned what we called "fave customers", ones that would personally come to you, because they liked the service you provided. I learned that though I wasn't a fan of retail, I was still liked thanks to the positive services I provided to my customers, and learned I was doing good. Seeing some devs/artists/CEO's taking to social media to personally spread their own hate onto their customers just tells me that they don't love what they do, and don't have the heart to be nice to their customers, which also tells me they just aren't cut out for that job, and need some time to self reflect. Treating your customers with disdain just isn't a positive ethic, and over time becomes self destructive for both the person being nasty to the customers, as well as the company image itself. The only way this is ever going to change is if the one working at the company changes themselves, and they need to actually do that, or face being fired again and again, all while being disliked even more. Some devs need to realise that we don't loathe them. We just want good games and not to be treated with disdain, and in turn we will shower said companies with money/praise, and then everyone wins.
@@dirge7459 Can't agree more. Through the years I've burned a substantial pile of hard earned money through specific customer service people because they've always offered me an exceptional service. I bet I could find things cheaper on the market, but the personal touch, respect and little extras here and there that what matters for lots of folks.
Ironic you mention car companies when Jaguar just did exactly that this year. 🤣🤪 Just proves how much this mental illness really has infected businesses today.
It feels like there is an ego problem and lack of professionalism in video game devs in this social media age. Maybe the video game industry has always had those problems, but in the past not every developer was able to communicate with potential customers. I feel like devs should be more professional now because they have a direct line to their customers. One dev running their mouth can tank a whole marketing campaign.
I agree! At Microsoft we used to gather the team together before E3 to remind them that they were representing the company and their actions reflected on the entire company not just Xbox.
@@laurafryer6321 Exactly! I think many people, even in high positions, don't seem to understand that their behaviour on social media reflects on their whole studio. I believe people have the right to be private, but also express their opinions. But if they put in their bio that they are in a powerful position at a studio, then they have become a representative of that studio.
I remember working somewhere that gave the staff goodies with the logo on because it was.cold.outside and sometimes you had to work outside. I remember the manager not handing it over until he looked me dead in the eye and said if I wear this, I represent the company: if he found out I got drunk and in a fight during a night out on the pub, he would treat it like I got drunk and in a fight during a shift. Probably not legal, sure, but he made his point.
It also feels like those problems used to be mitigated or addressed in the past, via healthier communication and people dealing with one another better. With time, it feels like issues were allowed to fester via a culture of not offending feelings and letting things slide instead of resolving them, further amplified when social media rose and provided echo chambers and fertilizer for people's issues to fester. Instead of people learning to overcome and solve their issues, work together for common goals and be comradely to one another, it's become a cloud of floating egoes reacting violently to collisions or obstructions. Not just in games industry, but in many other industries besides.
@@cattrucker8257 That also goes back to the toxic positivity issues in studios. People get better in their chosen field when they are open to (constructive) criticism. That goes doubly for creative field where there isn't really hard rules.
Problem with modern developers is their entire life experience is social media. No one wants to hear your social media spats in their games, we just dont care. Its boring. Its cringe. And most of all, social media does not reflect the world as a whole. There is no nuance in social media, and its starting to reflect onto game dialogue and story plots.
It's given fringe idealistic people the impression that their worldview was mainstream. It's why they keep doubling down. The reality is something like 1% of the population is on Twitter, only 10% regularly check their Facebook. Despite seeming universal the vast majority of people aren't online and think they've jumped off the deep end. It's only taken 15 years for this to play out but I think the veil has been lifted.
You are right it's the vocal minority that make the loudest noise and the problem is many work on the games, and then they wonder why the games do not sell as the writing etc was made for them
@@EastyyBlogspotReality is always stranger than fiction, and social media is a fiction. Social media is just a reflection of everyone's head canon on how the world ought to be, but never will.
Another very hidden problem is all the people that meddle these days in game development areas that they have no authority and experience to meddle in. Producers and other higher ups getting involved into creative (art direction, writing, sound etc.) thinking their „ideas“ are brilliant. The Dunning Kruger is real. And a lot of the times, artists experiences and knowledge are disregarded and ignored.
@@avalonjustin yes! And I can't stand people who are excusing this nonsense by saying stuff like "And why are activists bad?". AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
That one Obsidian dev, calling it "my game" in that tweet comes off as really narcissistic and disrespectful towards the rest of the Avowed team. And now, because of that single outburst, the whole team might end up paying the price. So unprofessional!
You're the only creator I don't skip ads for because you relay issues concisely. I'm a Filipino female nurse in her 30s who works for 12 hours, but I still love to play games; I feel like it keeps me young, coordinated, and creative, but I don't have a lot of time... so it saddens and annoys me if I play a bad game after being mislead by biased gaming journalism, I feel like it's a betrayal of my money and my time. Along with the "narrative consultants" that sanitize and homogenize (and bloats the budget) the stories of games, recycling the same themes that also echoes in tv shows and movies nowadays... all at the same time! There is fatigue among the broader audience and it really breaks my heart a little bit when I'm being shamed, ridiculed for loving my hobby by the very developers that made these games. Developers and gaming journalists were like rockstars to me when I was younger, and even if I chose a different profession, I still kept my hobby alive. I would often buy games I watched from streams even if I'm too tired to play them myself, just to support the studios-that's how much I love this industry. I want it to live, to thrive. I got a little teary eyed when you've sympathized with the "broader" audience, and not the "modern" one... it felt like oxygen after suffocating for so long. I could lose a handful of terminally ill patients in a day that does affects my overall mental health-but with a controller in my hand, I was able to save everyone in this universe. So no, I don't like studios closing or talents being laid off-but I hope they listen and understand that a universal theme is the best approach. Again, I'm Filipino-we have NEVER been represented in games 🤣 but I still fell in love and continue to love gaming. I never needed to see myself, because the idealized character on screen WAS ME. I BECAME Mario. I BECAME Solid Snake. I BECAME Tidus. I BECAME Geralt. I BECAME Lara Croft. I BECAME Crash Bandicoot. I BECAME Samus Aran. If the Game Over screen popped up, I would say *I* died, not [character] died, because that character was a BETTER ME. *Sigh.* Sorry. I just have a lot of emotions about this. If you read this far, thank you very much. ❤
Thank you for sharing your story! It's wonderful that gaming can provide you with an escape from the losses you experience as a nurse. My Nana was a nurse and used to share stories..you have my respect. I agree with your point regarding characters as I feel the same way!
This is a fantastic post and perspective. The great news is even though there's this stupid culture war and self righteous AAA game devs, the indie-AA industry is better than its ever been. Sure, there's still some titles with cringe and message pushing, but even on those cases at least it feels more sincere. I personally think western AAA is ead and can't be saved but there is a whole world of games out there falling over themselves to please their players. Let the dinosaurs make themselves extinct.
This comment should be seen by everyone. I am a mexican guy who has only ever seen the most cringe representations in media. I don't relate to those characters, but not because they're cringe. I don't because I don't care if a character is my nationality or randomly speaks my languge in between sentences (I hate this btw, they include 1 spanish word in a sentence and it sounds so dumb). My favorite characters and the ones I relate to are the ones who share my values, my sense of humor, my morals. It's nothing to do with ethnicity or nationality, those are just shallow and ironically modern media keeps pushing for just that. It's not real inclusivity if they're just caricatures, forced into a setting that makes no sense. Like you said, I sympathize with the characters from the games because they're inspiring, they're idealized versions of who I'd like to be, not because they "look like me".
I don't know how these teams can spend this much money and time and then let *_one_* person burn everything because they can't control their posting habits.
I don't work with gaming but at my job (music industry) that person has a skull next to their name everywhere. I might hate a certain song or artist but do I go out in public saying bad things about this artist and hence the people working with that (like me)? If it matters THAT MUCH to me I quit then I am free to take the public piss on the song/artist/brand/image... It whoudl still be unprofessional but as my life now evolves around Xs is no good maybe being professional is no priority of mine.
@@DogeickBateman At the very least, they should pretend to not hate their potential customer. Normally, company will make a PR statement that they're sorry and plan to fix that behavior just to mitigate the backlash and not losing potential customer even though behind the scene, they might not do anything. At the end of the day they still need the customer to buy their game and letting this happen is just extremely stupid
Your perspective is flawed. The problem is not that one person who has a job also has an opinion, why shouldn't he? The problem is not that he has an opinion and made it public. The problem is all the morons that will boycott the game because they don't share the same opinion.
This is why diplomacy is a skill, not a talent. You can certainly and loudly hold an unpopular opinion but avoid pissing everyone off because of how it's done.
It's always cool how you have stories from your career that help demonstrate the issues you bring up, it gives it a proper sense of personal experience with the matter at hand, a been-there-seen/done-that angle that helps frame the subject of the video as something a normal person (you) dealt with, as opposed to a hypothetical theory. Also gotta say that you have a great tone of delivery, it always sounds like your voice would make for a perfect game lore codex voiceover or game announcer lines. A good thing to have in leadership positions, feels like it helps explanations for team members go down faster and easier if delivered like you do it.
Couldn't agree more! I'm sick to death of people referring to their expertise while refusing to demonstrate it! These in industry stories are immensely valuable and ought to be a bigger part of the conversation.
Your channel is a masterclass in VO quality, editing and - for the love of god - keeping it tight and succinct. So many channels would make this same video 4 hours long for no reason. This says everything you need to say in less than 13 minutes.
one advice I got that I appreciate more than anything is, when you feel emotional ( which in a complex corpo env. making a multi-year digital product with bunch of random people and shifting goals is not a rare ocasion ), just open a notepad and type what you want to say in most brutal and honest way that you can.. then get off the computer and the table, take a walk, have a meal and when the heat is gone read to yourself what you wrote.. if that is the way and language that you want to represent yourself and your case to others, sure.. send that message.. but 99.9999999% that is not what you really wanted to say
Excellent advice! Getting your thoughts out on paper and then spending some time reflecting until as you say the "heat is gone" gives you time. You don't have to respond to everything instantly, most things can wait. Thank you for your thoughtful comment!
I found your channel two weeks ago and binged everything in a few days. Love to hear the opinions and insight from someone with so much experience in the industry. Thank you for your work!
I love your content - Finally someone sees the forest for the trees. Your own personal opinion on the "elephant" doesn't actually matter so you didn't indulge anyone with the drama they wanted from this video. Instead you focused on the actual problem of games studios with giant budgets trying to make games for the niche audience of their production leads and expecting to make profits. That's really all it boils down to and I'm happy someone is making videos talking about this problem from a business perspective rather than from their own camp in the culture war.
A game with exactly the same plot as Veilguard might well have succeeded on an Indie budget. Chris Gore likes to make this point on movies - mass market media needs mass appeal, niche media should keep to a reasonable budget.
Games nowadays try too hard to please as many people as possible instead of aiming for a certain flavor and really perfecting it and growing an audience that way. The result of the former is you get watered down generic trash that leaves you wanting a more captivating immersive experience.
I see this mindset as somewhat naive. To explain why, Iʼll put an example not related to videogames so that people do not get as defensive: the “J. K. Rowling didnʼt explicitly presented Dumbledore as gay because the books were for children and it was the 1990s” debate. Yes, of course you could argue that not saying Dumbledore was gay was the “market-savvy” decision given the context. But does that mean that you would be just “sticking to the facts” and being neutral? No: you would still be taking a stance. Only, and here is the thing, the stance that commercial forces structurally favour, based on broader social conditions. But you are still taking a stance. You are still making a choice. Rowling could have chosen to make Dumbledoreʼs sexuality explicit, and maybe it would not have backfired. Who knows, after all there were already LGBT literature and other media for young people back then, she would certainly not have been a pioneer. But she decided not to. I am not even criticising her for it necessarily, just saying it. She therefore “avoided the drama”, yes, but in doing that she also took a stance. So in a way Laura has not actually not stated her position in the culture war. Hers _is_ a position in it. And I likewise have nothing against Laura here. Just my two cents.
@@YuYuYuna_ thats incorrect. Games nowadays try to appeal to "The modern audience", not "the broader audience". "The modern audience" (the terminally online) is decidedly more niche than "the broader audience" (the population at large)
There aren’t enough people out there offering such insightful discussion of all the elements of game development and the creative industries focused on the operations angle. As a creative guy who is trying to learn more about the business end of creative industry, I can’t thank you enough for putting this stuff out!
Oh my god... I didn't think I'd hear the phrase "disagree and commit" outside of my office. I guess this phrase is not a new one, figures haha. Thank you as always for the amazing learnings from your experience and insights :)
I didn't play a lot of PC games as a kid, but I do remember my brother playing the Space Quest games back in the day. So I know that intro, but with the Space Quest theme playing over it.
I wish more people understood how to manage their emotions the way you did after you received that email. It's the sign of a good manager, but it's something that really needs to be understood and applied by more people in any social situation.
That anecdote reminded me of one of the fundamental rules of leadership as taught to me over the years "Praise in public, punish in private". Not doing anything to call attention to the hidden personal attack was the right call and even letting that particular incident go was likely the right move. But based on the rest of the history with the team member on that particular team I would think he should have been pulled aside later for a private talk and possibly transferred to another team for his general negative behavior and influence on the team at large.
I found you and your channel from a Side Scrollers video...instant like and sub! On a personal note, so much respect for your down to Earth sensibilities.
Happy Holidays, Laura! I've been sharing your videos everywhere and sincerely hope more people in the industry resonate with your insights. You're a hidden gem in the gaming industry, and many of us wouldn't have discovered you if you hadn't started creating videos. Your experience and perspectives are truly invaluable.
Laura, I really appreciate you adding your voice to this. Gaming feels more divisive than ever, with industry insiders waging war against "gamers". I'm exhausted with it all, I wish these insiders and industry leaders would take responsibility for the culture war they've promoted.
we just need voices that are not a cult. I just want them to speak for themselves not from a collective. I know why most cant for fear of being fired but the love for games should come out in the product.
Let's not kid ourselves because those right-wing reactionary grifters have played a major role in stoking heat of this garbage culture war that have utterly ruined gaming discourse, one done to profit off of from outrage tourism.
Laura Fryer has the experience and knowledge of the historical contexts of various industry phenomena. Certainly, more than any drama content creator. Or the people in this comments. She's not criticizing Bioware game developers’ politics, she's criticizing their lack of business focus. She's not criticizing Ubisoft developer's identity, she's criticizing their work ethics and their work culture. And most of all, she's criticizing their poor PR management. Which is a valid reason. Why does a producer needs to pick up online fights with potential customers on a public platform?
Elon fired the first shot. The developer who fired back did nothing wrong. I don't agree that fighting back lost any potential customers. People who take their cues from Musk weren't going to buy the game anyway, and they'll be the ones review-bombing it when it comes out. Fuck 'em.
@@KyleS.1987 Elon is just one customer who whiny online, I don't know why dude feel the need to act like a dumb dumb to lost potential customer in the future and the review-bombing will make a ton of creator on youtube or elesewhere don't wanna associate with the game because the negative which being in no content of the game online to look out for, No outside marketing and that's a bad actor if you asking me. I don't even care about Elon but when I see those tweet me myself just nope out.
Crimson Skies is a core childhood memory, inspired doing game programming for past 7 years. It’s great to hear devs from teams you look up to have such professional manner even in these more chaotic times.
@@artificer111 call me a tinfoil conspiracist, but I think that people like her wouldn't be able to say all of this if a certain orange man with blonde hair didn't win. FREE SPEECH AND COMMON SENSE, BABY!
It was only a typo which was meant to say "LAURA ROCKS!!!". Love your content - I keep rewatching them and somehow it helps me get my thoughts and emotions at work in check. Thank you, Laura.
I'm so happy that I discovered this channel and all the insights that you have to share. I really do hope that game devs watch you, take your advice, learn from your experiences and focus on making great games.
There other elephant, one in the room: It's not strong narrative. It's not hard themes to discuss. It's not important topics for all times. It's nothing burger. It's twitter instead of script. It's just distilled boredom.
Laura, I want to say that you are the most well spoken speaker I have had the courtesy of hearing, especially on RUclips. Your content was very informative and gave a clear and understanding picture. Thank you.
God bless you and your videos. It's SO refreshing to hear from someone who wasn't born after 2000 on this subject or someone who is chasing the news cycle. Your videos are always on point. Bless ya!
Spent all morning binging your videos, starting with the Chainsaw one. Just wanted to say, your stories are fascinating and hearing your experiences feels very insightful. I've been working on a video about Rocksteady's Squad game, and I feel like hearing your insider stories has helped put things into perspective. This channel is absolutely delightful, and incredibly helpful. Thanks for sharing your experiences with the world,
All the best in the New Year as well! Congratulations on this new video, I hope you're experiencing that same pinball effect from these RUclips videos to keep you motivated to shower us with quality content, as they've all been great hits!
thank you for all the memories and good times from the games your team has helped bring to life, Laura. i won't ever forget the times i have had with the worlds ya'll have created. thank you.
Thanks for your videos Laura, your perspective has really pulled me out of my cynicism in relating to the Industry as a whole. Great to see things from your "Behind the curtains" perspective.
Wonderfully put. I find it quite alarming the way I'm reading about certain devs laying the blame for lack of success at the feet of certain contingents within the audience, when the obvious reason for their failure is that the product failed to resonate with the majority! Its this strange "this product was not meant for you" line of argumentation, which is fine provided you have targeted and budgeted for that specific demographic alone. But strangely there seems to be an implicit assumption that if x group is catered toward, then the rest of the market will follow? This is nonsense, especially in the present cultural climate.
Fair point, but the argument frequently being made about games going 'woke' for having female protagonists (especially if they 'aren't pretty enough'), queer storylines, focus on accessibility, etc is by people that seem to believe all games should have straight white cis male protagonists. So, even though, that demographic do still seem to be the biggest (for western devs), is the argument that games should all be like that to make the most money and cause the least online backlash'? Should the majority never be exposed to minorities, different/opposing views? The best, most interesting art is almost always counter-cultural (i.e. rebelling against the orthodox, the traditional, the establishment or at least poking fun at it) and its what pushes culture forward. I don't think any dev should literally say 'this product was not meant for you' but just having a game where the characters don't look like or act you would doesn't mean the games not for you or you won't learn/gain something from it. It's a fine balancing act but I'm not totally on board with Laura's apparent opinion that you should never try to rock the boat - doing things that way can easily end up with toxic positivity, stagnation and conservative decision-making - which ends up with you being behind the curve, reacting too late and bringing out uninspired games in saturated markets (Concord, Avengers, etc)
@@GardinerAlan I understand that marginalized groups and minorities want to represented in media, and understandably so. The key here is in the terminology. "Marginalized". "Minorities". The majority of gamers are not these people and will not purchase it. You will notice that media that promotes such representation usually under perform financially, followed by the Left Wing developers getting furious, insulting critics on social media, then blaming them for the game's failure. I can see from your comment that you are an advocate for minorities and counter-culture, and somehow attribute positivity and virtue to promoting such things to the majority. I'd like for you to understand that we Conservative gamers are well aware of the opposing views and opinions of Liberals. We simply don't agree with all their beliefs. We should not be pressured to change what we like, or insulted by Liberal developers for not buying it. You are welcome to believe in whatever you want and purchase media that appeals to you, and so are we.
@@avalonjustin I think your first point is an oversimplification/stereotype that only really holds up in the most extreme circumstance (like this avowed dev - who was way too brash). Most games that challenge the status quo (in whatever way) succeed pretty well and even when they don't, most devs don't go into big social rants to throw blame around. Occasionally a dev might call out when their game has been piled on and review-bombed unfairly (merely for who the characters are in the game) but not in such a brash way - and sometimes it's complicated by actual gameplay issues, bugs, busy release windows, etc so it's hard to tell what caused the lower sales. But do you not find it sad that though that you're saying that you and other conservative gamers 'won't buy' a game because the main character doesn't look like you? - unless its something divorced from reality like fantasy characters, mechs or animals. Minorities have bought and played games with protagonists that don't look or act like them for decades so saying you outright won't buy the games merely for what/who the main character is, seems close-minded tbh. I'd argue the 'pressure' being put on in almost all cases is from people pressuring the devs to change their plans for their games - for whatever reason, not just this subject As you say, players can buy or not buy, so just because a game exists with a non-traditional protagonist doesn't pressure conservative gamers. Yet some will claim, even before the game is out, that it's 'diversity being shoved down their throat'. Not saying that's you but it definitely is something often said by self-identifying conservative gamers. Re your point about different types of games for different audiences - that's fine, I just think there's space for both. It's a shame not everyone can at least agree on that point alone.
I'm just a lowly junior dev outside the gaming industry, but this channel is hands down the best one I've come across in a long while. I really appreciate the insight into the gaming industry and just business decision in general, it's something that I personally have no hand in so it's nice to get perspective of things.
Thank you for posting this video Laura. I have experienced this a lot as a newcomer to the industry (28 years old), especially childish behavior like that invisible notepad text. Growing up, I always imagined the video games industry to have more individuals like you who are all about seriously making fun games but it seems I'm chasing an environment that no longer exists. From these videos, it seems that times have simply just changed and that I'll need to build this serious game dev environment instead of hoping for it to arrive.
I am building it right now. The only way to save gaming worlds is gamer turn to be game developers. Because gamers knew which one is FUN, and which one is a boring game
Man your channel is so underrated. So many “experts” online, but you are the real deal, with actual professional experience. No BS just insight knowledge.
Then you will have a heart attack when you see how many veteran in the video games industry that have more professional experience and even older than this lady act like childish manchild. You would cry if you actually see them. Keep yourself safe out there, online expert.
The funny thing about politics in games (and in any media for that matter), is that it isn't inherently a bad thing. It's risky, yes, and I would say if profit is your first goal you should probably steer away from it, but the problem arises when politics/message is prioritized _over_ making a good product/piece of art. If you make a good piece of art, then the folks complaining about it because they don't like your opinions will look silly, or at the very least biased. But when you make a game with a political/social leaning, _and_ the game is bad, you just add fuel to your enemy's fire and you end up causing more harm to your cause than anything. But the worst part in my opinion is the straight-up antagonism from these devs. Antagonism is almost never uncontroversial, regardless of what you're antagonizing; and on the other hand, patience is almost always a good thing, and will give people the impression that you're a mature individual. There's sharing divisive opinions, and then there's PR self-sabotage, and these devs seem to be doing the latter.
If you notice, you see very few complaints about games like Baldur's Gate 3 and Disco Elysium despite both being quite "woke." The latter is especially blatantly political. But most people don't care because they're good games that don't resort to preaching. Once something resorts to preaching, it is no longer making art but proselytizing. And frankly, the vast majority of game and film writers simply don't have the talent to pull that off. Most people don't even like to be preached to even from their own religion, let alone from one which they don't belong to.
@@someguy3186 woke refers to intersectionality so i wouldn't call Baldur's gate woke. disco elysium i cant remember the details well enough to compare to what i now know about the neo marxist ideology
@@awakeandwatching953 "Woke" is a heuristic for the entire umbrella spectrum of these ideologies, and Baldur's gate III absolutely falls under that. Disco Elysium was written by straight up commie larpers who thanked Marx & Engels in their game award speech. The thing is that these games are actually *really* good, so it's fine. They're right that it's a very fine line between exploring a concept and proselytizing it to your audience... nobody likes the latter, and if you have no decent gameplay loop to offer that's *all* you have left. Disco Elysium - despite being written by communists - makes fun of Communism probably more than any other ideology. This is how you know that 1. They aren't preaching and 2. they actually sort of know what they're talking about. Most AAA game stories are now written by Millenial women with very, very little life experience. Adjust your expectations for sophistication and nuance accordingly. 9/10 times you're getting preached to, and in such an annoying way that even those who would otherwise agree just want you to stop.
Those games with heavy political messaging but lacking actual substance are the modern equivalent of the bible games you used to see in the NES/SNES era.
Found you and Tim Cain in the same year. I love when experienced industry veterans share their thoughts on the current state of gaming. Always looking forward to your analysis.
I think it's a larger problem of culture. We, as a culture, are becoming ever more divided. It is getting harder and harder to please everyone--or even to avoid giving offense.
Well obviously it's because they're hypocrits with double standard, they're favoring minorities to the detriment of the rest. I mean see all the thus about that "what is a woman" documentary. It's flabbergasting to see that there's really some people who can't say what's a woman anymore because it's offensive for trans people... isn't it offensive for women to be erased in favor of these people ? That's why all the characters in video games are so ugly and masculine, and there's that "body type" thing instead of "gender"... look at the MC of that new Intergalactic game, I've seen a gay guy saying she was attractive... well yes, it's basically a small dude named Jordan, not a woman... Anyway, urgh, hypocrits.
@@burgundian-peanuts It has never been possible to please everyone and to not give offense to anyone. The only issue is that it's an expectation now that the impossible is possible.
I love the clear presentation of arguments and general level-headedness. So refreshing! This was the first video I watched and I instantly subcribed 👍 Yours and @CainOnGames are imo the best channels about game development, because there is so much wisdom to be gleaned that can be applied to any other field of work.
You provide good coverage of the industry's ongoing trends. However, I disagree with your conclusions. The issue is less a culture war leading to bad game sales and more an issue of corporatism, mismanagement, and the executives' and shareholders' heavy profit-driven and short-sighted decision-making. The culture war is merely a side effect of the industry's ongoing global economic issues. Real solutions are less cultural but more economic. The current model of how things are structured doesn't work anymore, allowing out-of-touch leadership to have their way.
While I do enjoy her content I do feel that she doesn’t have the full perspective at times and makes her content rather incomplete. I do hope she takes this criticism at heart.
@@over9000andback you very much can criticize an incomplete opinion. That's kinda why there are thousands of religions, of politics, and philosophies with opposing talking points. The only thing you need to criticize something is a larger or different POV that the original opinion may have missed, ignored, or undervalued.
@@over9000andback Kind of needlessly pedantic, don't you think? The commenter thinks she is not accounting for the full breadth of the issue. Therefore, her perspective/opinion/whatever is incomplete in that sense in the commenter's opinion.
A channel called RevSaysDesu sent me here and I am so glad I found your channel. Normally, I have a negative bias against the majority of the Western game industry. But I am glad there are people like you around who give me some hope that games will heal as well as terrible game companies. Personally as an aspiring game dev and character artist, I personally would never willingly work for a Western game company because they oppose all of my values, mock/insult/harass their fans and gamers, call people every single ism/ist/phobe for critcizing their game or their beliefs, and have made me lose faith in the Western game industry
My first exposure to avowed was skillups gameplay preview and glowing praise. I decided I was going to pick it up on release before the video was over, but that devs comments made me second guess myself. That one tweet was all it took for me to take a step back and wonder if this game is just going to be another veilguard.
Skillup has a record of shilling out, especially for Ubisoft titles. He started as a Division youtuber, glazed them over everything, every ubisoft title.
I love the fact that you talk about these topics while also having been in these workspaces. It backs up your claims majorly. That video of you at Epic really blew me away!
What happened with Avowed is why you need people who aren't swayed by emotions and are willing to take one in the chin and shrug it off. That one guy compromised any potential success for his game all for the sake of "owning the chuds" - a quintessential example of wanting to win the battle, but lose the war.
One guy going berserk won't kill the game if Obsidian take action. But they didn't. No apology, no disciplinary action. That's the main reason why Obsidian is on my "no buy list".
@@RobertFromEarth Eh, Obsidian is in a bind. If they discipline him for speaking as a private individual, they could be looking at years of lawsuits. The internet moves on quickly. They're probably waiting a few months, and then will launch some positive marketing campaign closer to launch.
@@RobertFromEarth they all agree with the guy's childish tweet about earning the disapproval of Elon Musk because they are all stunted adult children with stunted minds. there's no other way to describe unanimously deciding to put pronouns in your fantasy game.
To be fair the same type of people that will review bomb and boycott obsidian because an employee of theirs insulted Elon Musk are the same people that would likely do the same just because the game lets you chose your pronouns. I believe the twitter response was a mistake but I can sympathize with the art director for making it. It's frustrating seeing a billionaire scoring political points by shitting on a game because it allows you to choose your pronouns, something that has no effect on gameplay whatsoever.
100% spot-on as always. It's sad to see so many in the industry take such a bitter approach to the art and the audience. Seeing Astro Bot win GOTY was a huge relief (though I was personally rooting for Balatro) since it fit exactly what Swen Vincke was talking about: a game made with heart, by devs who care about players, for players who care about games.
I tried working on my own fan-made successor to God Hand like ten years ago, but gave up on it. I can't believe no one else has ever tried to make another God Hand.
@@InkyMuste yeah true, being Japanese developer they are not as affected by what is happening as much as western developers, but still If it did happen I suspect publishers would want changes made
Your videos and in-depth perspective make these videos an effortless watching experience. You remind me of the late Shamus Young, thank you for giving us all something close to that.
I'm left leaning, but the whole 'we at Obsidian don't want to hire white guys' fiasco soured my view of the company. Luckily, there's plenty out there to play, read, and watch. There's no shortage of entertainment options at my disposal, and my time is finite.
Lets make it very clear. It was not obsidian saying that. It was one guy, Matt hensen, the art director who has zero authority on who to hire. Chris Avvellone then made a public statement saying if people felt they were rejected to reach out to him. Don't spread or be fooled by misinformation. You were duped by the outrage machine.
I was left leaning my whole life... But the recent actions of people on the left I thought I agreed with, has caused me to disassociate myself from them 😢
Just found your channel and am appreciating the mature, welll thought out and professionally perspective that you share. Will definitely subscribe! But I also hope that in the future you won't only talk about negative topics. Would be great to see videos from you in the future talking about successful game design too.
It has been (and still is) an odd era in gaming, to say the least. Movies with a budget of $100m+ are made to entertain, and be hits, and the process is usually handled in a professional manner, with the desired outcome being achieved. Games with a $100m+ budget are frequently mired in all sorts of childish controversy and casual experimentation. It's like giving an eccentric arthouse director $150m to play with, then being surprised when hardly anyone goes to see the movie on the opening weekend. I imagine that the larger studios will eventually revert towards making games that intend to satisfy the most people possible, but it's quite comical and tragic that it requires scores of expensive failures and studio closures to reach such an obvious conclusion.
@@cascadesequence7307 I still consider the LotR trilogy the height of cinema. Big budget, big names, big heart, big success. Edit: Its a big topic, but console/PC gamers stuck on a 40 billion market. Same sized audience, these companies want more, here comes the modern audience. They take risks, but the wrong kind of risks.
@@fredfuchs5600 LotR was a major gamble on a tiny director with a bunch of relative unknowns cast in main roles. The process was wildly different from anything corporate Hollywood produces today. You're not making the kind of point you think you're making.
@@TheNinetySecond LotR was a risk which paid off. Now, the only risk is either going full Morbius and Madame Web and Kraven and any Brie Larson movie or you go with movies that people actually want like Deadpool/Sonic. Both of these were risky, but not ESG infested.
The past few month mirrored the demise of Interplay on an industry wide scale. A number of bad decisions leading to years of underperforming to disastrous releases.
It would help developers to ban social media or talking about their projects on social media unless informed otherwise. The Avowed drama is pretty nasty actually, and while this is not my type of game, I sometimes go out of my comfort zone and buy something out of my field to check it out. Last time I did that I got Persona 5 which is now one of my favourite games. Now, if I ever see Avowed and stop to think for a second if maybe I should check it out, that drama will be the 1st thing I'll remember and I will probably drop that idea because of it. I don't want to sound harsh but nobody cares what some dev thinks about politics, or other people until they hit a nerve. You can't hit that nerve when you can't talk about it.
You're easily my favorite content creator in this space. It's so refreshing to have someone not saying what side of the divisiveness they think is the problem. The problem is it existing and game studios not taking steps to mitigate the divisiveness, or worse actively choosing to engage in it. You're covering the issue in a way where I truly don't know how you feel about the culture war, which is what game studios should be striving for as well. All while pulling from past experiences to give a realistic look at the problem, in a way that's not vilifying either side.
So who was the exec bloke who kept being shown in the video during the part about sabotaging Gears of War's launch?
Great question! The person shown at 8:20 in the video is not the person that sent me that email. The person I was discussing wasn't shown in the video nor was the actual email that he sent. This is to maintain his privacy. The person in the video is the fabulous Gears Art Director Jerry and this is a motion capture session he did for Gears of War. Thank you for bringing this up so I could clarify!
@_Quint_ you really were in the mood for harrassing people online, or why you need to know this man's identity?
@@laurafryer6321 petty people should not be protected, they thrive on your silence while they use their own voice loudly and destructively, that's how we got to this point, that's how we get public outbursts, like the one you shown on X, that damage an entire team of people
Probably Rod 100% 😂
@@laurafryer6321 "they" or "those people" don't even know what GG actually means. Good gaming ya'll. Peace
(CONTEXT: Asmongold just showed your video and performed mandatory 20 minutes extra "reaction" content)
So that said, Asmon's chance to shine here, as the Lady Fryer be much to classy. So,...Zack your up!!!
We need the finger diffidently pointing at who is to blame here, over and over, until executives get the point....
You’re a legend and put this issue wonderfully.
Hopefully she goes on your podcast at some point
Big ups @SideScrollersPodcast. Good to see you around here!
Thank you! I appreciate your continued support!
@SideScrollersPodcast
It's all about the friends we've made along the way.
Stuttering Craig outta nowhere
It's utterly crazy to see developers attacking their customerbase again and again, then saying "if you don't like it, don't buy it" after which they're surprised that people in fact didn't buy the game regardless of quality.
This almost never seems to happen with quality games, though, and I don't think that's a coincidence. When the team is mostly normal, you can't get away with that kind of anti-customer attitude. At the very least, they need to hide how much they hate their audience while at work, and this becomes a habit. The ones who can't control themselves are quickly weeded out from the dev team.
When those people reach a critical mass, you can say anti-customer things in an official meeting and be met with agreement. There's no voice of reason keeping these people on the straight and narrow, so they feel free to attack customers in public. This attitude also affects their work, in both quality and direction.
@DZ-X3 There will also be an automatic reduction in the both way hostility because most gamers won't have any hostility towards a good product and for those hostile devs there's nothing to cope about that causes them to lash out and blame customers for a failure of their own product since most of the time good games are successful games.
@omgitsbees if you have missed the dozen other cases where devs openly hate their customer base and purposefully antagonise people, that's on you. This isn't an isolated incident.
@@omgitsbees This is what worries me about Lauras and many other takes here; Elon being Elon was being a childish prick, as he usually is. The thing is, just because of that alone, because of the millions of people who will get to see his post, the game is going to be review bombed by cnts. That's just the way it is, the mass of rabid people who will be offended and cry their hearts out because of literally nothing will be mad one way or another.
So given that the damage is already done with no fault of the dev who responded, why should the dev not be allowed to respond? And why not in a manner that the person being butthurt, Elon, started out with? I get that being a professional sometimes means turning the other cheek, but at some point it starts to be unreasonable to expect of people to just take abuse.
@@omgitsbees
Because they're livelihood is more important than a random person on the internet.
Thank you for standing with the gamers. It means the world to us.
Gamers made it possible for me to make games. I'm grateful to everyone that supported that journey! I worked many jobs before I made games and there's nothing quite like it. Thank you!!!
@@laurafryer6321 i wish we had more people with a personality like this, you got some huge balls if you allow me to be political incorect.
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, today is the darkest day of the year, the beginning of the return of the light. It's a good time to reflect on the past and look forward to the future. Thank you all for your
support! I wish you the best in the New Year, and a brighter year for games!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us!
I honestly forgot that fact and was having a bad day as I suffer from SAD.
That message perked me up and was badly needed, things will literally get brighter! Thank you for reminding me and for the amazing content.
Hope Christmas/the new year are great for you too :)
Thank you Laura, your insight was super important during my darkest time introspecting my perspective on my own story idea, which is very much a cross between Mass Effect’s focus on squadmates…but a much sinister other game besides it that I won’t spoil.
thank you for calling out the problem "culture war" in gaming..., the extreme left have gone too far..
Winter is upon us. Time for a cup of hot cocoa and an evening playing Crimson Skies.
In my pvp squad, I always say; 'Morale is the 8th stat.' Killing morale is active sabotage.
I love it! Thank you for sharing!
I served in the US Army- more than once, under non-commissioned officers (NCOs) whose idea of "boosting morale," SABOTAGED it instead. What we see in the "current year" video game industry, is the same kind of TOXIC leaders who make their subordinates want to do You Know What to them.
I'm gonna share this with my pvp guild! ❤🫡
That's real
This is what games like Total War and Dawn of War get. Morale systems are in both games and they significantly affect a unit's overall performance. They're incredibly realistic in that sense.
If you call a viable portion of your customers a "talentless freaks" and actively hate them on social media or you make a design choices to specifically upset them, then those studios should not cry about hundreds of millions of dollars they lost while "owning the chuds".
This is business 101. Imagine if a car company's people would actively talking down to you and openly hate you because you are not liking their product? Or if an electronics company will create a phone that would be designed to specifically upset a portion of paying customers... They'll be out of business pretty fast.
This is why I wish those people were removed from said studios/companies, because ultimately they don't appear to be in it for making good products/services, and are more in it for personal vendettas/social gains.
I used to work for a very posh retail company, and while I wasn't a fan of retail, I slowly earned what we called "fave customers", ones that would personally come to you, because they liked the service you provided. I learned that though I wasn't a fan of retail, I was still liked thanks to the positive services I provided to my customers, and learned I was doing good.
Seeing some devs/artists/CEO's taking to social media to personally spread their own hate onto their customers just tells me that they don't love what they do, and don't have the heart to be nice to their customers, which also tells me they just aren't cut out for that job, and need some time to self reflect.
Treating your customers with disdain just isn't a positive ethic, and over time becomes self destructive for both the person being nasty to the customers, as well as the company image itself. The only way this is ever going to change is if the one working at the company changes themselves, and they need to actually do that, or face being fired again and again, all while being disliked even more.
Some devs need to realise that we don't loathe them. We just want good games and not to be treated with disdain, and in turn we will shower said companies with money/praise, and then everyone wins.
@@dirge7459 Can't agree more. Through the years I've burned a substantial pile of hard earned money through specific customer service people because they've always offered me an exceptional service. I bet I could find things cheaper on the market, but the personal touch, respect and little extras here and there that what matters for lots of folks.
yup make games for the customers. simple as
Ironic you mention car companies when Jaguar just did exactly that this year. 🤣🤪 Just proves how much this mental illness really has infected businesses today.
Jaguar?
It feels like there is an ego problem and lack of professionalism in video game devs in this social media age. Maybe the video game industry has always had those problems, but in the past not every developer was able to communicate with potential customers. I feel like devs should be more professional now because they have a direct line to their customers. One dev running their mouth can tank a whole marketing campaign.
I agree! At Microsoft we used to gather the team together before E3 to remind them that they were representing the company and their actions reflected on the entire company not just Xbox.
@@laurafryer6321 Exactly! I think many people, even in high positions, don't seem to understand that their behaviour on social media reflects on their whole studio.
I believe people have the right to be private, but also express their opinions. But if they put in their bio that they are in a powerful position at a studio, then they have become a representative of that studio.
I remember working somewhere that gave the staff goodies with the logo on because it was.cold.outside and sometimes you had to work outside.
I remember the manager not handing it over until he looked me dead in the eye and said if I wear this, I represent the company: if he found out I got drunk and in a fight during a night out on the pub, he would treat it like I got drunk and in a fight during a shift.
Probably not legal, sure, but he made his point.
It also feels like those problems used to be mitigated or addressed in the past, via healthier communication and people dealing with one another better. With time, it feels like issues were allowed to fester via a culture of not offending feelings and letting things slide instead of resolving them, further amplified when social media rose and provided echo chambers and fertilizer for people's issues to fester. Instead of people learning to overcome and solve their issues, work together for common goals and be comradely to one another, it's become a cloud of floating egoes reacting violently to collisions or obstructions. Not just in games industry, but in many other industries besides.
@@cattrucker8257 That also goes back to the toxic positivity issues in studios.
People get better in their chosen field when they are open to (constructive) criticism. That goes doubly for creative field where there isn't really hard rules.
Problem with modern developers is their entire life experience is social media. No one wants to hear your social media spats in their games, we just dont care. Its boring. Its cringe. And most of all, social media does not reflect the world as a whole. There is no nuance in social media, and its starting to reflect onto game dialogue and story plots.
It's given fringe idealistic people the impression that their worldview was mainstream. It's why they keep doubling down. The reality is something like 1% of the population is on Twitter, only 10% regularly check their Facebook. Despite seeming universal the vast majority of people aren't online and think they've jumped off the deep end. It's only taken 15 years for this to play out but I think the veil has been lifted.
You are right it's the vocal minority that make the loudest noise and the problem is many work on the games, and then they wonder why the games do not sell as the writing etc was made for them
@@EastyyBlogspotReality is always stranger than fiction, and social media is a fiction. Social media is just a reflection of everyone's head canon on how the world ought to be, but never will.
Another very hidden problem is all the people that meddle these days in game development areas that they have no authority and experience to meddle in. Producers and other higher ups getting involved into creative (art direction, writing, sound etc.) thinking their „ideas“ are brilliant. The Dunning Kruger is real. And a lot of the times, artists experiences and knowledge are disregarded and ignored.
Is this not social media? Cringe.
The industry has been working hard on replacing consumer protections with influencers and commercials.
Also replacing developers with activists.
social media profiles and real personalities are merging
@@avalonjustin yes! And I can't stand people who are excusing this nonsense by saying stuff like "And why are activists bad?". AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
@@avalonjustin Thats what happen when you let women flood the video games industry
I’m deeply impressed by how calm and thoughtful Laura’s videos are given the divisiveness of the topic. Thank you!
That one Obsidian dev, calling it "my game" in that tweet comes off as really narcissistic and disrespectful towards the rest of the Avowed team. And now, because of that single outburst, the whole team might end up paying the price. So unprofessional!
You're the only creator I don't skip ads for because you relay issues concisely. I'm a Filipino female nurse in her 30s who works for 12 hours, but I still love to play games; I feel like it keeps me young, coordinated, and creative, but I don't have a lot of time... so it saddens and annoys me if I play a bad game after being mislead by biased gaming journalism, I feel like it's a betrayal of my money and my time.
Along with the "narrative consultants" that sanitize and homogenize (and bloats the budget) the stories of games, recycling the same themes that also echoes in tv shows and movies nowadays... all at the same time!
There is fatigue among the broader audience and it really breaks my heart a little bit when I'm being shamed, ridiculed for loving my hobby by the very developers that made these games.
Developers and gaming journalists were like rockstars to me when I was younger, and even if I chose a different profession, I still kept my hobby alive.
I would often buy games I watched from streams even if I'm too tired to play them myself, just to support the studios-that's how much I love this industry.
I want it to live, to thrive.
I got a little teary eyed when you've sympathized with the "broader" audience, and not the "modern" one... it felt like oxygen after suffocating for so long.
I could lose a handful of terminally ill patients in a day that does affects my overall mental health-but with a controller in my hand, I was able to save everyone in this universe.
So no, I don't like studios closing or talents being laid off-but I hope they listen and understand that a universal theme is the best approach. Again, I'm Filipino-we have NEVER been represented in games 🤣 but I still fell in love and continue to love gaming. I never needed to see myself, because the idealized character on screen WAS ME.
I BECAME Mario.
I BECAME Solid Snake.
I BECAME Tidus.
I BECAME Geralt.
I BECAME Lara Croft.
I BECAME Crash Bandicoot.
I BECAME Samus Aran.
If the Game Over screen popped up, I would say *I* died, not [character] died, because that character was a BETTER ME.
*Sigh.*
Sorry. I just have a lot of emotions about this. If you read this far, thank you very much. ❤
Thank you for sharing your story! It's wonderful that gaming can provide you with an escape from the losses you experience as a nurse. My Nana was a nurse and used to share stories..you have my respect. I agree with your point regarding characters as I feel the same way!
This is a fantastic post and perspective. The great news is even though there's this stupid culture war and self righteous AAA game devs, the indie-AA industry is better than its ever been. Sure, there's still some titles with cringe and message pushing, but even on those cases at least it feels more sincere.
I personally think western AAA is ead and can't be saved but there is a whole world of games out there falling over themselves to please their players. Let the dinosaurs make themselves extinct.
This comment should be seen by everyone. I am a mexican guy who has only ever seen the most cringe representations in media. I don't relate to those characters, but not because they're cringe. I don't because I don't care if a character is my nationality or randomly speaks my languge in between sentences (I hate this btw, they include 1 spanish word in a sentence and it sounds so dumb). My favorite characters and the ones I relate to are the ones who share my values, my sense of humor, my morals. It's nothing to do with ethnicity or nationality, those are just shallow and ironically modern media keeps pushing for just that. It's not real inclusivity if they're just caricatures, forced into a setting that makes no sense. Like you said, I sympathize with the characters from the games because they're inspiring, they're idealized versions of who I'd like to be, not because they "look like me".
Excellent Take on the current state of the Industry, feel and agree with you Filipino nurse :)
as a fellow female gamer, you hit the nail right on the head.
i become dante
i become chris redfield
i become bayonetta
i become travis touchdown
The leadership anecdotes are truly appreciated.
Game publishers are making games that Game publishers and Game journalists want, not games that _CUSTOMERS_ want.
I don't know how these teams can spend this much money and time and then let *_one_* person burn everything because they can't control their posting habits.
I don't work with gaming but at my job (music industry) that person has a skull next to their name everywhere. I might hate a certain song or artist but do I go out in public saying bad things about this artist and hence the people working with that (like me)? If it matters THAT MUCH to me I quit then I am free to take the public piss on the song/artist/brand/image... It whoudl still be unprofessional but as my life now evolves around Xs is no good maybe being professional is no priority of mine.
Because they agree.
@@DogeickBateman At the very least, they should pretend to not hate their potential customer. Normally, company will make a PR statement that they're sorry and plan to fix that behavior just to mitigate the backlash and not losing potential customer even though behind the scene, they might not do anything. At the end of the day they still need the customer to buy their game and letting this happen is just extremely stupid
Your perspective is flawed. The problem is not that one person who has a job also has an opinion, why shouldn't he? The problem is not that he has an opinion and made it public. The problem is all the morons that will boycott the game because they don't share the same opinion.
This is why diplomacy is a skill, not a talent. You can certainly and loudly hold an unpopular opinion but avoid pissing everyone off because of how it's done.
It's always cool how you have stories from your career that help demonstrate the issues you bring up, it gives it a proper sense of personal experience with the matter at hand, a been-there-seen/done-that angle that helps frame the subject of the video as something a normal person (you) dealt with, as opposed to a hypothetical theory.
Also gotta say that you have a great tone of delivery, it always sounds like your voice would make for a perfect game lore codex voiceover or game announcer lines. A good thing to have in leadership positions, feels like it helps explanations for team members go down faster and easier if delivered like you do it.
Thank you for your kind comments! I'm glad you are enjoying the stories!
Couldn't agree more! I'm sick to death of people referring to their expertise while refusing to demonstrate it! These in industry stories are immensely valuable and ought to be a bigger part of the conversation.
Your channel is a masterclass in VO quality, editing and - for the love of god - keeping it tight and succinct. So many channels would make this same video 4 hours long for no reason. This says everything you need to say in less than 13 minutes.
Thank you! I appreciate your support!
The AAA industry desperately needs more leaders like you, Laura.
one advice I got that I appreciate more than anything is, when you feel emotional ( which in a complex corpo env. making a multi-year digital product with bunch of random people and shifting goals is not a rare ocasion ), just open a notepad and type what you want to say in most brutal and honest way that you can.. then get off the computer and the table, take a walk, have a meal and when the heat is gone read to yourself what you wrote.. if that is the way and language that you want to represent yourself and your case to others, sure.. send that message..
but 99.9999999% that is not what you really wanted to say
Excellent advice! Getting your thoughts out on paper and then spending some time reflecting until as you say the "heat is gone" gives you time. You don't have to respond to everything instantly, most things can wait. Thank you for your thoughtful comment!
And most importantly, don't leave that message in an email where it can be highlighted lol!
That's terrible advice 😂 on company computers? You are begging to be sacked
I found your channel two weeks ago and binged everything in a few days. Love to hear the opinions and insight from someone with so much experience in the industry.
Thank you for your work!
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy my content!
Thanks for your thoughts and contributions to so many great games I grew up with.
You're welcome! Thank you for your support! I appreciate it.
I love your content - Finally someone sees the forest for the trees. Your own personal opinion on the "elephant" doesn't actually matter so you didn't indulge anyone with the drama they wanted from this video. Instead you focused on the actual problem of games studios with giant budgets trying to make games for the niche audience of their production leads and expecting to make profits. That's really all it boils down to and I'm happy someone is making videos talking about this problem from a business perspective rather than from their own camp in the culture war.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment! I'm glad you are enjoying my content!
A game with exactly the same plot as Veilguard might well have succeeded on an Indie budget. Chris Gore likes to make this point on movies - mass market media needs mass appeal, niche media should keep to a reasonable budget.
Games nowadays try too hard to please as many people as possible instead of aiming for a certain flavor and really perfecting it and growing an audience that way. The result of the former is you get watered down generic trash that leaves you wanting a more captivating immersive experience.
I see this mindset as somewhat naive. To explain why, Iʼll put an example not related to videogames so that people do not get as defensive: the “J. K. Rowling didnʼt explicitly presented Dumbledore as gay because the books were for children and it was the 1990s” debate. Yes, of course you could argue that not saying Dumbledore was gay was the “market-savvy” decision given the context. But does that mean that you would be just “sticking to the facts” and being neutral? No: you would still be taking a stance. Only, and here is the thing, the stance that commercial forces structurally favour, based on broader social conditions. But you are still taking a stance. You are still making a choice. Rowling could have chosen to make Dumbledoreʼs sexuality explicit, and maybe it would not have backfired. Who knows, after all there were already LGBT literature and other media for young people back then, she would certainly not have been a pioneer. But she decided not to. I am not even criticising her for it necessarily, just saying it. She therefore “avoided the drama”, yes, but in doing that she also took a stance. So in a way Laura has not actually not stated her position in the culture war. Hers _is_ a position in it. And I likewise have nothing against Laura here. Just my two cents.
@@YuYuYuna_ thats incorrect. Games nowadays try to appeal to "The modern audience", not "the broader audience".
"The modern audience" (the terminally online) is decidedly more niche than "the broader audience" (the population at large)
There aren’t enough people out there offering such insightful discussion of all the elements of game development and the creative industries focused on the operations angle. As a creative guy who is trying to learn more about the business end of creative industry, I can’t thank you enough for putting this stuff out!
Oh my god... I didn't think I'd hear the phrase "disagree and commit" outside of my office. I guess this phrase is not a new one, figures haha. Thank you as always for the amazing learnings from your experience and insights :)
amazon?
Never stop making videos. You’re the voice of reason the video game industry needs to hear.
That Interplay intro sure takes me back.
yeah. it's for very old people.
I didn't play a lot of PC games as a kid, but I do remember my brother playing the Space Quest games back in the day. So I know that intro, but with the Space Quest theme playing over it.
@@mc_simwe aren't old. We are ancient
I prefer the one which is shown in _Cyberia_
@@fattiger6957 Space Quest was Sierra's franchise, not Interplay. Also a goodie.
I wish more people understood how to manage their emotions the way you did after you received that email. It's the sign of a good manager, but it's something that really needs to be understood and applied by more people in any social situation.
That anecdote reminded me of one of the fundamental rules of leadership as taught to me over the years "Praise in public, punish in private". Not doing anything to call attention to the hidden personal attack was the right call and even letting that particular incident go was likely the right move. But based on the rest of the history with the team member on that particular team I would think he should have been pulled aside later for a private talk and possibly transferred to another team for his general negative behavior and influence on the team at large.
Easy dont let women in the video games industry. They already destroy education in the Western world...
I found you and your channel from a Side Scrollers video...instant like and sub! On a personal note, so much respect for your down to Earth sensibilities.
Thank you for subscribing and for checking out my content! I appreciate your support!
Absolutely beautifully summed up. Thanks to Asmon for pointing me towards this channel. You've got yourself a new subscriber!
Awesome! Thank you for the sub!
Happy Holidays, Laura! I've been sharing your videos everywhere and sincerely hope more people in the industry resonate with your insights. You're a hidden gem in the gaming industry, and many of us wouldn't have discovered you if you hadn't started creating videos. Your experience and perspectives are truly invaluable.
Thank you! I appreciate your support and I hope you have wonderful holidays!
Such an underrated channel - great vid laura !
Laura, I really appreciate you adding your voice to this. Gaming feels more divisive than ever, with industry insiders waging war against "gamers". I'm exhausted with it all, I wish these insiders and industry leaders would take responsibility for the culture war they've promoted.
we just need voices that are not a cult. I just want them to speak for themselves not from a collective. I know why most cant for fear of being fired but the love for games should come out in the product.
Let's not kid ourselves because those right-wing reactionary grifters have played a major role in stoking heat of this garbage culture war that have utterly ruined gaming discourse, one done to profit off of from outrage tourism.
Thanks for having this conversation this way!
You're welcome! Thank you for watching!
Thanks!
Thank you! I appreciate your support!
Social media is one of humanity's worst modern inventions. Outrage has become a business model.
Seems like two entirely unrelated thoughts.
bad approach. splitting an atom created a bad thing and a good thing. it's up to you on how to use it.
@@Kamawan0 Not really. One led to the other.
@@mc_sim The bad has far outweighed the good.
@@PXAbstraction I don't see the business model you are talking about. Social media did not lead to outrage. People had emotions before it's inception.
Laura Fryer has the experience and knowledge of the historical contexts of various industry phenomena. Certainly, more than any drama content creator. Or the people in this comments.
She's not criticizing Bioware game developers’ politics, she's criticizing their lack of business focus.
She's not criticizing Ubisoft developer's identity, she's criticizing their work ethics and their work culture.
And most of all, she's criticizing their poor PR management. Which is a valid reason.
Why does a producer needs to pick up online fights with potential customers on a public platform?
Elon fired the first shot. The developer who fired back did nothing wrong. I don't agree that fighting back lost any potential customers. People who take their cues from Musk weren't going to buy the game anyway, and they'll be the ones review-bombing it when it comes out. Fuck 'em.
@@KyleS.1987 Elon is just one customer who whiny online, I don't know why dude feel the need to act like a dumb dumb to lost potential customer in the future and the review-bombing will make a ton of creator on youtube or elesewhere don't wanna associate with the game because the negative which being in no content of the game online to look out for, No outside marketing and that's a bad actor if you asking me. I don't even care about Elon but when I see those tweet me myself just nope out.
Damn good video. Feels like an OG developer explaining issues with the industry today. We need more of her voice in the industry.
Holy Jesus, you were a part of Crimson Skies? You have my eternal respect. If you have the opportunity, play some of the games this lady worked on.
Crimson Skies is a core childhood memory, inspired doing game programming for past 7 years. It’s great to hear devs from teams you look up to have such professional manner even in these more chaotic times.
@@artificer111 call me a tinfoil conspiracist, but I think that people like her wouldn't be able to say all of this if a certain orange man with blonde hair didn't win.
FREE SPEECH AND COMMON SENSE, BABY!
@@BulletSponge71436 my god you people are as bad as the devs she talked about in the video. So obsessed with your ideology.
This has actually became one of my favorite channels to have good discussions around gaming development. Thank you!
It was only a typo which was meant to say "LAURA ROCKS!!!". Love your content - I keep rewatching them and somehow it helps me get my thoughts and emotions at work in check. Thank you, Laura.
LOL! Thanks! It's good to hear that my content is helping you with your work and I appreciate your support!
I'm so happy that I discovered this channel and all the insights that you have to share. I really do hope that game devs watch you, take your advice, learn from your experiences and focus on making great games.
There other elephant, one in the room:
It's not strong narrative. It's not hard themes to discuss. It's not important topics for all times.
It's nothing burger. It's twitter instead of script. It's just distilled boredom.
Laura, I want to say that you are the most well spoken speaker I have had the courtesy of hearing, especially on RUclips. Your content was very informative and gave a clear and understanding picture. Thank you.
Thank you for being the sane voice in all of this.
God bless you and your videos.
It's SO refreshing to hear from someone who wasn't born after 2000 on this subject or someone who is chasing the news cycle. Your videos are always on point. Bless ya!
This channel needs to stop going unnoticed and blow up (in popularity) already
Thank you Laura for what you're doing, you're amazing. Am so glad I found your channel! Will keep sharing it far and wide.
I love your stories. Its fascinating to get insight into the industry.
Asmon reacted to this vid and I'm so happy to have found your channel. Chad takes on everything. Keep up the amazing work!!
SideScrollers featured this video in a reaction. Gave this channel props and a link.
Spent all morning binging your videos, starting with the Chainsaw one. Just wanted to say, your stories are fascinating and hearing your experiences feels very insightful. I've been working on a video about Rocksteady's Squad game, and I feel like hearing your insider stories has helped put things into perspective. This channel is absolutely delightful, and incredibly helpful. Thanks for sharing your experiences with the world,
Hey Laura, your insight and eloquence makes watching your videos easy and informative! Loving this channel
All the best in the New Year as well! Congratulations on this new video, I hope you're experiencing that same pinball effect from these RUclips videos to keep you motivated to shower us with quality content, as they've all been great hits!
I definitely enjoy hearing everyone's feedback! Thank you!
thank you for all the memories and good times from the games your team has helped bring to life, Laura. i won't ever forget the times i have had with the worlds ya'll have created. thank you.
Thanks for your videos Laura, your perspective has really pulled me out of my cynicism in relating to the Industry as a whole. Great to see things from your "Behind the curtains" perspective.
I'm glad to hear that! Thank you for your support!
All her perspective is from decades ago. I’m not sure how much of it applies to modern companies.
@Scowleasy it's ok bud ... it is relevant, so all good.
@@Scowleasy Decades ago is enough. Because that trend is started on 2014
Fantastic video, thank you for providing joy to millions for decades!!
I’m a simple man. I see a High Sage Laura Fryer video, I click like.
Merry Christmas Laura!
Thank you! Merry Christmas!
Saw you on side scrollers, your voice and experience are extremely valuable to this conversation. You have my support!
Love that you are doing these Laura, keep dropping wisdom bombs.
Thanks Tim! It's nice to see you and to have your support! I hope things are going well for you!
Having binged Laura’s videos, I’m so glad I found the channel. She teaches you a lot about leadership, and letting go of emo for the greater good.
0:40 It became way too profitable, and what's worse...it became *mainstream*
The most deadly curse of all things.
Laura thank you for everything you've done and continue to do!
A voice of reason on the internet? In 2024? I'll subscribe.
Thank you for increasing the volume in this video! Makes it easier to hear on my device :)
You're welcome! I had feedback on my last video that the volume was too low so I increased it. I appreciate your feedback! Thank you!!
Wonderfully put. I find it quite alarming the way I'm reading about certain devs laying the blame for lack of success at the feet of certain contingents within the audience, when the obvious reason for their failure is that the product failed to resonate with the majority!
Its this strange "this product was not meant for you" line of argumentation, which is fine provided you have targeted and budgeted for that specific demographic alone. But strangely there seems to be an implicit assumption that if x group is catered toward, then the rest of the market will follow?
This is nonsense, especially in the present cultural climate.
Unfortunately their beliefs are more important to them than making money.
Fair point, but the argument frequently being made about games going 'woke' for having female protagonists (especially if they 'aren't pretty enough'), queer storylines, focus on accessibility, etc is by people that seem to believe all games should have straight white cis male protagonists. So, even though, that demographic do still seem to be the biggest (for western devs), is the argument that games should all be like that to make the most money and cause the least online backlash'? Should the majority never be exposed to minorities, different/opposing views? The best, most interesting art is almost always counter-cultural (i.e. rebelling against the orthodox, the traditional, the establishment or at least poking fun at it) and its what pushes culture forward.
I don't think any dev should literally say 'this product was not meant for you' but just having a game where the characters don't look like or act you would doesn't mean the games not for you or you won't learn/gain something from it. It's a fine balancing act but I'm not totally on board with Laura's apparent opinion that you should never try to rock the boat - doing things that way can easily end up with toxic positivity, stagnation and conservative decision-making - which ends up with you being behind the curve, reacting too late and bringing out uninspired games in saturated markets (Concord, Avengers, etc)
@@GardinerAlan I understand that marginalized groups and minorities want to represented in media, and understandably so. The key here is in the terminology. "Marginalized". "Minorities". The majority of gamers are not these people and will not purchase it. You will notice that media that promotes such representation usually under perform financially, followed by the Left Wing developers getting furious, insulting critics on social media, then blaming them for the game's failure.
I can see from your comment that you are an advocate for minorities and counter-culture, and somehow attribute positivity and virtue to promoting such things to the majority. I'd like for you to understand that we Conservative gamers are well aware of the opposing views and opinions of Liberals. We simply don't agree with all their beliefs. We should not be pressured to change what we like, or insulted by Liberal developers for not buying it. You are welcome to believe in whatever you want and purchase media that appeals to you, and so are we.
@@avalonjustinso sad
@@avalonjustin I think your first point is an oversimplification/stereotype that only really holds up in the most extreme circumstance (like this avowed dev - who was way too brash). Most games that challenge the status quo (in whatever way) succeed pretty well and even when they don't, most devs don't go into big social rants to throw blame around. Occasionally a dev might call out when their game has been piled on and review-bombed unfairly (merely for who the characters are in the game) but not in such a brash way - and sometimes it's complicated by actual gameplay issues, bugs, busy release windows, etc so it's hard to tell what caused the lower sales.
But do you not find it sad that though that you're saying that you and other conservative gamers 'won't buy' a game because the main character doesn't look like you? - unless its something divorced from reality like fantasy characters, mechs or animals. Minorities have bought and played games with protagonists that don't look or act like them for decades so saying you outright won't buy the games merely for what/who the main character is, seems close-minded tbh. I'd argue the 'pressure' being put on in almost all cases is from people pressuring the devs to change their plans for their games - for whatever reason, not just this subject As you say, players can buy or not buy, so just because a game exists with a non-traditional protagonist doesn't pressure conservative gamers. Yet some will claim, even before the game is out, that it's 'diversity being shoved down their throat'. Not saying that's you but it definitely is something often said by self-identifying conservative gamers.
Re your point about different types of games for different audiences - that's fine, I just think there's space for both. It's a shame not everyone can at least agree on that point alone.
I'm just a lowly junior dev outside the gaming industry, but this channel is hands down the best one I've come across in a long while. I really appreciate the insight into the gaming industry and just business decision in general, it's something that I personally have no hand in so it's nice to get perspective of things.
She's great!
Tim Cain has a ton of informational videos as well
Just saw this video through another creator covering it. Brilliant and an easy sub. Your perspective and the experience it draws from are refreshing.
Thank you! I appreciate your sub!
Thank you for posting this video Laura. I have experienced this a lot as a newcomer to the industry (28 years old), especially childish behavior like that invisible notepad text. Growing up, I always imagined the video games industry to have more individuals like you who are all about seriously making fun games but it seems I'm chasing an environment that no longer exists. From these videos, it seems that times have simply just changed and that I'll need to build this serious game dev environment instead of hoping for it to arrive.
I am building it right now. The only way to save gaming worlds is gamer turn to be game developers. Because gamers knew which one is FUN, and which one is a boring game
Man your channel is so underrated. So many “experts” online, but you are the real deal, with actual professional experience. No BS just insight knowledge.
Then you will have a heart attack when you see how many veteran in the video games industry that have more professional experience and even older than this lady act like childish manchild. You would cry if you actually see them.
Keep yourself safe out there, online expert.
Love the improved Thumbnail Laura, keep up the great work, super interesting topics!
Thank you! Thumbnails are an interesting challenge for me!
Thank you for your honesty. You just restored my faith that the gaming industry has a future. Thanks.
The funny thing about politics in games (and in any media for that matter), is that it isn't inherently a bad thing. It's risky, yes, and I would say if profit is your first goal you should probably steer away from it, but the problem arises when politics/message is prioritized _over_ making a good product/piece of art. If you make a good piece of art, then the folks complaining about it because they don't like your opinions will look silly, or at the very least biased. But when you make a game with a political/social leaning, _and_ the game is bad, you just add fuel to your enemy's fire and you end up causing more harm to your cause than anything.
But the worst part in my opinion is the straight-up antagonism from these devs. Antagonism is almost never uncontroversial, regardless of what you're antagonizing; and on the other hand, patience is almost always a good thing, and will give people the impression that you're a mature individual. There's sharing divisive opinions, and then there's PR self-sabotage, and these devs seem to be doing the latter.
If you notice, you see very few complaints about games like Baldur's Gate 3 and Disco Elysium despite both being quite "woke." The latter is especially blatantly political. But most people don't care because they're good games that don't resort to preaching. Once something resorts to preaching, it is no longer making art but proselytizing. And frankly, the vast majority of game and film writers simply don't have the talent to pull that off. Most people don't even like to be preached to even from their own religion, let alone from one which they don't belong to.
@@someguy3186 woke refers to intersectionality so i wouldn't call Baldur's gate woke. disco elysium i cant remember the details well enough to compare to what i now know about the neo marxist ideology
@@awakeandwatching953 "Woke" is a heuristic for the entire umbrella spectrum of these ideologies, and Baldur's gate III absolutely falls under that. Disco Elysium was written by straight up commie larpers who thanked Marx & Engels in their game award speech. The thing is that these games are actually *really* good, so it's fine.
They're right that it's a very fine line between exploring a concept and proselytizing it to your audience... nobody likes the latter, and if you have no decent gameplay loop to offer that's *all* you have left. Disco Elysium - despite being written by communists - makes fun of Communism probably more than any other ideology. This is how you know that 1. They aren't preaching and 2. they actually sort of know what they're talking about.
Most AAA game stories are now written by Millenial women with very, very little life experience. Adjust your expectations for sophistication and nuance accordingly. 9/10 times you're getting preached to, and in such an annoying way that even those who would otherwise agree just want you to stop.
Those games with heavy political messaging but lacking actual substance are the modern equivalent of the bible games you used to see in the NES/SNES era.
@@Sorenant That's a very apt comparison.
Found you and Tim Cain in the same year. I love when experienced industry veterans share their thoughts on the current state of gaming. Always looking forward to your analysis.
Thank you for years of hard work and shedding some light on these issues. Have a great day!
I suppose it’s ironic that the modern games industry is trying to be inoffensive and is becoming more offensive than ever
I think it's a larger problem of culture. We, as a culture, are becoming ever more divided. It is getting harder and harder to please everyone--or even to avoid giving offense.
Well obviously it's because they're hypocrits with double standard, they're favoring minorities to the detriment of the rest. I mean see all the thus about that "what is a woman" documentary. It's flabbergasting to see that there's really some people who can't say what's a woman anymore because it's offensive for trans people... isn't it offensive for women to be erased in favor of these people ?
That's why all the characters in video games are so ugly and masculine, and there's that "body type" thing instead of "gender"... look at the MC of that new Intergalactic game, I've seen a gay guy saying she was attractive... well yes, it's basically a small dude named Jordan, not a woman... Anyway, urgh, hypocrits.
@@burgundian-peanuts It has never been possible to please everyone and to not give offense to anyone. The only issue is that it's an expectation now that the impossible is possible.
I love the clear presentation of arguments and general level-headedness. So refreshing! This was the first video I watched and I instantly subcribed 👍
Yours and @CainOnGames are imo the best channels about game development, because there is so much wisdom to be gleaned that can be applied to any other field of work.
Insightful and intelligent as always. Thank you
Thank you! I appreciate you watching!
On behalf of gamers across the world, thank you so much!
We need people like you in the games industry today. We really do.
You provide good coverage of the industry's ongoing trends. However, I disagree with your conclusions. The issue is less a culture war leading to bad game sales and more an issue of corporatism, mismanagement, and the executives' and shareholders' heavy profit-driven and short-sighted decision-making. The culture war is merely a side effect of the industry's ongoing global economic issues.
Real solutions are less cultural but more economic. The current model of how things are structured doesn't work anymore, allowing out-of-touch leadership to have their way.
Yep, I’m shocked that she missed this !
While I do enjoy her content I do feel that she doesn’t have the full perspective at times and makes her content rather incomplete. I do hope she takes this criticism at heart.
@@SuperCrazf Opinions can’t be incomplete. You can disagree with it, sure, but you can’t criticize an opinion that was never advertised as fact.
@@over9000andback you very much can criticize an incomplete opinion. That's kinda why there are thousands of religions, of politics, and philosophies with opposing talking points. The only thing you need to criticize something is a larger or different POV that the original opinion may have missed, ignored, or undervalued.
@@over9000andback Kind of needlessly pedantic, don't you think? The commenter thinks she is not accounting for the full breadth of the issue. Therefore, her perspective/opinion/whatever is incomplete in that sense in the commenter's opinion.
A channel called RevSaysDesu sent me here and I am so glad I found your channel. Normally, I have a negative bias against the majority of the Western game industry. But I am glad there are people like you around who give me some hope that games will heal as well as terrible game companies. Personally as an aspiring game dev and character artist, I personally would never willingly work for a Western game company because they oppose all of my values, mock/insult/harass their fans and gamers, call people every single ism/ist/phobe for critcizing their game or their beliefs, and have made me lose faith in the Western game industry
My first exposure to avowed was skillups gameplay preview and glowing praise. I decided I was going to pick it up on release before the video was over, but that devs comments made me second guess myself. That one tweet was all it took for me to take a step back and wonder if this game is just going to be another veilguard.
Skillup has a record of shilling out, especially for Ubisoft titles.
He started as a Division youtuber, glazed them over everything, every ubisoft title.
I love the fact that you talk about these topics while also having been in these workspaces. It backs up your claims majorly. That video of you at Epic really blew me away!
Another banger from you
Love your videos, Laura! Keep them coming!!!
-NGSMOOV, Randall
Thank you! I appreciate your support and your channel! That Gangnam Transformer video. Wow! Happy New Year to you Randall!!!
What happened with Avowed is why you need people who aren't swayed by emotions and are willing to take one in the chin and shrug it off. That one guy compromised any potential success for his game all for the sake of "owning the chuds" - a quintessential example of wanting to win the battle, but lose the war.
One guy going berserk won't kill the game if Obsidian take action. But they didn't. No apology, no disciplinary action. That's the main reason why Obsidian is on my "no buy list".
@@RobertFromEarth Eh, Obsidian is in a bind. If they discipline him for speaking as a private individual, they could be looking at years of lawsuits. The internet moves on quickly. They're probably waiting a few months, and then will launch some positive marketing campaign closer to launch.
@@RobertFromEarth they all agree with the guy's childish tweet about earning the disapproval of Elon Musk because they are all stunted adult children with stunted minds. there's no other way to describe unanimously deciding to put pronouns in your fantasy game.
To be fair the same type of people that will review bomb and boycott obsidian because an employee of theirs insulted Elon Musk are the same people that would likely do the same just because the game lets you chose your pronouns. I believe the twitter response was a mistake but I can sympathize with the art director for making it. It's frustrating seeing a billionaire scoring political points by shitting on a game because it allows you to choose your pronouns, something that has no effect on gameplay whatsoever.
@@RobertFromEarthimagine being such an immature child that you think this is the proper way to behave
Glad to see your subscribers numbers jump up. Well deserved your insight into this market is second to none.
100% spot-on as always. It's sad to see so many in the industry take such a bitter approach to the art and the audience. Seeing Astro Bot win GOTY was a huge relief (though I was personally rooting for Balatro) since it fit exactly what Swen Vincke was talking about: a game made with heart, by devs who care about players, for players who care about games.
Excellent video! I loved Fighter Ace! So glad you were part of that. Sorry about the issue with killing "targets" vs " people "
One of my fav games ever was Godhand...and the way the world is there is very little chance that game would be remade or remastered
I tried working on my own fan-made successor to God Hand like ten years ago, but gave up on it. I can't believe no one else has ever tried to make another God Hand.
Funnily enough, now that Kamiya kicked off his new studio, Clovers, that's actually more likely to happen than ever before.
@@InkyMuste yeah true, being Japanese developer they are not as affected by what is happening as much as western developers, but still If it did happen I suspect publishers would want changes made
Maybe if you found a crimson Behilt...
Who knows, if Lollipop Chainsaw got a remaster there's a chance
Your videos and in-depth perspective make these videos an effortless watching experience. You remind me of the late Shamus Young, thank you for giving us all something close to that.
Thank you! I'm honored by that comparison!
I'm left leaning, but the whole 'we at Obsidian don't want to hire white guys' fiasco soured my view of the company. Luckily, there's plenty out there to play, read, and watch. There's no shortage of entertainment options at my disposal, and my time is finite.
Lets make it very clear. It was not obsidian saying that. It was one guy, Matt hensen, the art director who has zero authority on who to hire. Chris Avvellone then made a public statement saying if people felt they were rejected to reach out to him.
Don't spread or be fooled by misinformation. You were duped by the outrage machine.
I was left leaning my whole life...
But the recent actions of people on the left I thought I agreed with, has caused me to disassociate myself from them 😢
Left-leaning doesn't mean you have to agree with illegal and genocidal practices.
Politics aside, it just means you're a decent human being. Racism shouldn't be okay.
Just found your channel and am appreciating the mature, welll thought out and professionally perspective that you share. Will definitely subscribe! But I also hope that in the future you won't only talk about negative topics. Would be great to see videos from you in the future talking about successful game design too.
It has been (and still is) an odd era in gaming, to say the least. Movies with a budget of $100m+ are made to entertain, and be hits, and the process is usually handled in a professional manner, with the desired outcome being achieved. Games with a $100m+ budget are frequently mired in all sorts of childish controversy and casual experimentation. It's like giving an eccentric arthouse director $150m to play with, then being surprised when hardly anyone goes to see the movie on the opening weekend.
I imagine that the larger studios will eventually revert towards making games that intend to satisfy the most people possible, but it's quite comical and tragic that it requires scores of expensive failures and studio closures to reach such an obvious conclusion.
@@cascadesequence7307 I still consider the LotR trilogy the height of cinema. Big budget, big names, big heart, big success.
Edit: Its a big topic, but console/PC gamers stuck on a 40 billion market. Same sized audience, these companies want more, here comes the modern audience. They take risks, but the wrong kind of risks.
@@fredfuchs5600 LotR was a major gamble on a tiny director with a bunch of relative unknowns cast in main roles. The process was wildly different from anything corporate Hollywood produces today.
You're not making the kind of point you think you're making.
@@TheNinetySecond LotR was a risk which paid off. Now, the only risk is either going full Morbius and Madame Web and Kraven and any Brie Larson movie or you go with movies that people actually want like Deadpool/Sonic. Both of these were risky, but not ESG infested.
@@fredfuchs5600 I'm sorry, I thought I was speaking to an adult about movies for grown ups.
I love the positivity of this video. Its especially meaningful coming from an industry veteran like yourself
Gosh, Interplay, that’s a name I haven’t heard in a very long time.
The past few month mirrored the demise of Interplay on an industry wide scale. A number of bad decisions leading to years of underperforming to disastrous releases.
Interplay; the most 2000-2002 game company ever. Between Midway in the late 90s and THQ in the late 2000s.
Thank you for making my childhood better when I was so lonely.
It would help developers to ban social media or talking about their projects on social media unless informed otherwise. The Avowed drama is pretty nasty actually, and while this is not my type of game, I sometimes go out of my comfort zone and buy something out of my field to check it out. Last time I did that I got Persona 5 which is now one of my favourite games. Now, if I ever see Avowed and stop to think for a second if maybe I should check it out, that drama will be the 1st thing I'll remember and I will probably drop that idea because of it.
I don't want to sound harsh but nobody cares what some dev thinks about politics, or other people until they hit a nerve. You can't hit that nerve when you can't talk about it.
Good point on social media! Even if they created some guidelines I think it would help. Thank you for watching!
@@laurafryer6321 Isn't this kinda thing what NDAs are for?
99.9% of people employed at game studios and publishers are not allowed to post with their real name almost anywhere.
It's very interesting to hear more of industry inside stories and history while talking on modern issues. Keep up the good work!
You're easily my favorite content creator in this space. It's so refreshing to have someone not saying what side of the divisiveness they think is the problem. The problem is it existing and game studios not taking steps to mitigate the divisiveness, or worse actively choosing to engage in it. You're covering the issue in a way where I truly don't know how you feel about the culture war, which is what game studios should be striving for as well. All while pulling from past experiences to give a realistic look at the problem, in a way that's not vilifying either side.