This is why I consider Valve as one of my most trusted gaming companies. They are in a unique position where they aren’t pressured by shareholders, and as a result, following their core values, have done wonderful things to bolster the PC gaming market, a market any other major publisher would most likely treat like an orphan child. Not to mention pretty much all of their games are universally acclaimed (pretending Ricochet didn’t exist…).

And ROFL at The Simpsons “TekWar” reference.

Well said, agree completely on all counts.

I’m not saying capitalism is doomed/wrong, but I think it’s fair to say our culture is moving too far in this direction, and it’s a corrupting influence across all of society, not just video games. I’m glad you guys wrote an article about it.

Companies exist to make money. At some point the people who used to make games got an offer from a company offering to buy their business and they accepted. Gaming has never been purist.

Westwood sold out.
Blizzard North sold out.
All the other game studio’s of yore sold out.
Lucasarts is owned by George Lucas.

There you have it.

If a company isn’t growing, who gives a shit.. the socialist thing to do would be to keep it going just to support to employees and their families.. I’m really sick of seeing the abuse that the industry and the economy are putting on people- its not cool. My hopes are that someday a developer comes a long with the capital and the balls to actually stand up to these fuckheads.

Great article.

Rather and focusing on endless growth, companies should be focused on internal stability, and quality (ie, reducing the rapid rise of entropy in the business and it products).

I have very little interest in business and finances but I’m pretty damn sure that continuous growth is completely unsustainable. Eventually there are no more corners left to cut.