The Concord Effect / The Floodgates of Apathy
CONTENT NOTICE:The following is about the awful state of the gaming industry, games getting shut down and people losing their jobs. It also features some mentions of (French/"Western") politics and the feeling of apathy it gives.
I hate that every bad decision has to mean that now the floodgates are open, now. Ever since Sony shut down Concord barely a week after launch, shit like this has been happening again and again. Games releases, they don't perform as expected, they get shut down not even a month later. No chance to win over a player base, no effort to turn it around, just shut it down, pack it up and run.
Earlier today, I said to my partner that for politics, 2026 feels like the year of saying the quiet part out loud. No more sugar coating it, nothing, we all know what you're doing anyway so might as well say it, it's not like there's going to be any consequences anymore because everyone is jaded, we're desensitized to it all and drowning in apathy to it all, knowing that no matter how much we kick and scream, nothing changes, the awful things keep happening and we're told to suck it up and deal with. The insufferable state of French politics is getting to me.
Well, the same thing is true in gaming, right now. This too is saying the quiet part out loud. They're not even pretending to see video games as anything else than a product. No care for the, well, care put in by the dev team, no shits given about the artistry, nothing. If it doesn't make a few millions in the first 24 hours, just kill it and fire the team.
I'm sick of everything.
Originally, I was thinking of maybe posting this as is but I asked my partner to read it and she said: "Might I say that even if it didn't [perform poorly], they would've fired the dev team anyway?" and... yeah. She's right. Gets a well earned quote here because that too feels like it's been another "open the floodgates" moment, the first big incident of that happening I've heard of that was with Marvel's Rivals, I think. And I don't know if it's just the constant tiring news-cycle that is making me seeing things that aren't there or if it's actually true, but I feel like this has happened plenty of times since then, too.
I sighed and I answered: "The last sentence I wrote really sums it up."
I'm sick of everything.
Pawnotes:
That's right, you get two titles for the price of one because this bunny couldn't decide.