No, my somewhat oblivious friend. The reason the industry is failing is because posts like this from you and others who fundamentally misunderstand the economics of the industry. So let’s do this for the people in the back: These video games you like. They are expensive to make. Real expensive. And they keep getting more expensive. “But we didn’t ask for that!” you say. Oh yeah you did. By buying the games that are bigger and prettier and not buying the games that aren’t. By demanding more content, prettier content, etc. “But Clair Obscur, Lords of the Fallen” A handful of exceptions doesn’t make a rule. So games are way more expensive to make… but they cost the same!? And when you think about inflation they are actually cheaper!? How will games make money!? Well if we sell more copies we can… and that’s what happened in COVID. But that was an anomaly. And the over hiring it caused made the economics of games even worse. The industry looked like it had a path out via social/live service, and interest rates were so low that risking your money in games was a really great idea for investors. See, games have been economically on shaky grounds for decades. Our costs to make them are going up, but because of enthusiast media campaigns, every single attempt to preserve or create a new revenue stream is systemically shit on. DLC - yall lost your shit about horse armor. Season map pass - it fractures the community. Loot boxes - we are child gambling. Xbox trying to stop used games - might as well have been the devil. Games got $10 more expensive - breathless post after post on how awful that is written by people unironically drinking $6 matcha lattes. So basically the message is - keep spending money to make these games but we wont pay you more. Well, you can see from the above why that gap between player expectations and economics has well and truly fucked the industry. Your only chance is either a mega hit or getting extremely lucky. For every Clair Obscur there is a Samson. It’s just extremely wild to me that it hasn’t occurred to most of you that the only games surviving were live service because they had consistent revenue that wasn’t capped. That’s why everyone was chasing. You scream and shout and pout every time we try to make money any other way. The rub is those live service games are the hardest to make. And then when people try really hard and spend money to make a game that you’ll enjoy - you shit on them. Highguard. Concord. Marathon. It isn’t that you don’t just play them. You take a particular glee in tearing them down and then post about your solidarity when folks get laid off. I’m not saying you are hypocrites, but no one will be going to you for any intellectual honesty any time soon. It’s funny because in Japan, that other exception to the rule that yall venerate but don’t understand, the economics are totally different. Way lower wages (but pay artists you say), retail sales are not price protected, secondary revenue streams are accepted (one of the biggest IAP markets per capita on earth because of gatcha), and the online discourse respects game creators, not tears them down. So yeah. Games are not a charity. Quit treating the people making them like they are one. You want the industry to grow up and survive out of this, you need to take a hard look at your own relationships with games and how those behaviors have negatively impacted the hobby you profess to love.