Games with black leads and characters were forced. Female characters perceived as unattractive or masculine”DEI China” Dragon Age: VelgardIt was criticized by far-right trolls for its customization options, which allow players to create characters with top surgery scars or play with a non-binary companion. After the reviews were released, conspirators added clichéd phrases or other language as evidence that studio BioWare was instructing reviewers to talk about their game.
Even titles not yet released faced bombardment. Compulsion Games’ south of midnightabout a young black woman in the Deep South, angered the anti-DEI crowd on platforms like X, where they Photoshopped The heroine offers conspiracy theories about Sweet Baby’s influence on the game’s development and to make her appearance less “disgusting”.
But the push to remain apolitical—an eager agenda for an entertainment form that marries the artistic priorities of narrative and fictional worlds with the agency given to the players who inhabit them—didn’t just come from a vocal minority. . After the release of Black Myth: WukongSome were streamers Instructions are given To avoid talking about Covid-19 or “feminist propaganda”. The guidelines had the opposite effect, encouraging streamers to lead with the code words they were barred from: essentially a push against the standards to censor players.
Looking forward 2025, Ball says he usually hears more pessimism, but “it’s useless to even think about, let alone predict.” If there’s a plus, he says, it’s that “there’s a lot more recruiting going on than is commonly believed. The downside is that it’s not compensating overall, especially on the indies.”
As 2024 approaches, the industry is operating – outwardly – with a business-as-usual mindset. In early December, developers gathered in Los Angeles to celebrate at The Game Awards. On stage, host Geoff Keighley gave a short speech between sports announcements, accolades and a performance from Snoop Dogg.
“The sad reality is that the gaming industry has faced significant and unprecedented industry-wide layoffs over the past few years,” said Kegley. “It affects the games we get to play and, more importantly, the people who make the games we love. We can argue and certainly disagree about the reasons, and honestly As a show we struggle with how to address these topics constructively.
Keighley used the segment to present the TGA’s first “Game Changer” award, a nod to an individual who has positively impacted the industry. Then the show went on, as did headline-dominating announcements about major projects The Witcher 4 and the next title from The last of us Developer Naughty Dog.
Amidst all this is the specter of AI. There’s still little understanding of how much AI will continue to grow and how future games might use it, but it’s a growing anxiety As rank-and-file workers are laid off. No one knows when, or if, the industry will bounce back with sustainable jobs and compensation. Yes, there will be games to play. It is hard to say how many people will be able to make them.
