Games with black main characters and characters were derided as forced. Female characters considered unattractive or masculine suffered from “DEI chin”. Dragon Age: The Veilguardhas been criticized by far-right trolls for customization options that allow players to create characters with surgical scars or play with a non-binary companion. After the reviews were published, conspirators seized on clichéd phrases or other language as evidence that BioWare had instructed reviewers on how to talk about their game.
Even unreleased titles faced bombardment. forced games South of midnightabout a young black woman in the deep south, drew ire from anti-DEI crowds on platforms like game development.
But the push to remain apolitical—a peculiar agenda for a form of entertainment that conflates the artistic preferences of narrative and imaginary worlds with an agenda granted to the players who inhabit them—hasn’t just come from a vocal minority. After release Black Myth: Wukongsome streamers were instructed to avoid talking about Covid-19 or “feminist propaganda”. The guidelines had the opposite effect, encouraging streamers to conduct using code words they were prohibited from: a pressure on standards that was meant to actually censor players.
Looking ahead 2025, Ball says he’s hearing more pessimism in general, but “it’s too bad to think, let alone predict.” If there’s one more, he says, it’s that “there’s a lot more recruiting going on than is generally believed. The downside is that it doesn’t come close to making up for it overall, especially in indies.”
As 2024 draws to a close, the industry is operating – from the outside – with a business-as-usual mindset. In early December, developers gathered in Los Angeles to celebrate The Game Awards. Host Geoff Keighley gave a small speech on stage, in between game announcements, praise and a performance by Snoop Dogg.
“The sad reality is that over the past few years, the games industry has suffered significant and unprecedented layoffs across the industry,” Keighley said. “They affect the games we can play and, more importantly, the people who make the games we love. We can discuss and certainly disagree with the reasons why that is, and honestly as a show we struggle a little bit with how to deal with those topics in a constructive way.”
Keighley used the segment to introduce the first TGA “game changer” award, a nod to an individual who has positively impacted the industry. Then the show continued with major announcements of major projects such as The Witcher 4 and another title from The last of us developed by Naughty Dog.
At the center of it all is the specter of artificial intelligence. There’s still little insight into how much AI will continue to grow and how future games may use it, but it’s a growing concern as rank-and-file workers are being laid off. No one knows when or if the industry will bounce back with sustainable jobs and compensation. Yes, there will be games. It’s hard to say how many people will be able to make them.