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"Turbulent" is an adjective that describes the video game industry, but it's not quite the right word. "Chaotic" and "unstable" are closer, but "tragic" may fit the bill better than any of them. As Jason Schreier points out in PRESS RESET, which follows a number of developers as they go through layoffs, cross-country moves to new jobs, and more layoffs, the video game industry has a people problem. As in the industry doesn't treat people as people. It treats them as resources, pieces on a game b...
A harrowing look at the current state of the video game industry bookended by glimmers of hope for change. You might get more out of it having played or followed the games or studios mentioned in Press Reset, but for the uninitiated, this is also a riveting tale of underdogs in pursuit of art. A huge step up from Schreier's previous, overly optimistic work, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels.
The book was a string of stories with little to no organization or structure. Sure, there are chapters. But there is no table of contents, no glossary or appendix, and not even subtitles within those chapters dividing them into clear, delineated sections. The anecdotes don't even flow smoothly into one another, jumping heads constantly within the same chapter without so much as a transition sentence. In order to read about the company or role most interesting to you, you have to slog through the...
It is immediately clear from the beginning of Press Reset's first chapter that this will be a journalistic treat: we are hurled straight into a conference room with a mid-career Warren Spector (legendary producer of games like System Shock) as he waits to hear what some Disney execs have to say. We are then pulled right back to the start of Spector's story to find out how he ended up in this conference room (to my eye, a book version of the venerable '14 years earlier' move filmmakers employee t...
Honestly, this book just made me mad.It made me mad because it’s a Video-Game-centric slice of the post-capitalist, materialistic, inverse-Robin Hood world we live in. A world that is by no means terrible but could easily be a lot better. Like, really easily.So basically, Press Reset’s thesis is that the video game development industry is notoriously unstable. Studio closures and massive lay-offs are the rule, rather than the exception. The book’s question, then, is why? And (briefly at the end)...
I'm not a gamer. I stopped playing when PS3 was released but still cherish games like Final Doom and Suikoden. As a creative myself (author) I always find other creative people's journeys fascinating. This book, however, details the negatives of the video gaming industry. The cut throat way companies operate and the mindless and endless churn of workers. It's an interesting history of a few companies, big and small, and the Curt Shilling story was especially interesting and heartbreaking.
The video game industry is notoriously difficult – only a fracture of the passionate people working in this field actually stay in the industry for more than a decade or two. The question of why is the one this book is out to answer. I loved Jason Schreier's previous book, which was both well-researched and well-written, leading me to be well-excited for what he'd be digging up next. Press Reset focus not so much on the games, and more on the people that are making them. In many ways, it's more
I liked Schreier's previous book a lot, but I loved this one. In this industry everyone has horror stories. I started in Edmonton at BioWare in 2008 right before the market crash, and after my two contracts ran out I had no choice but move to the other side of the country to take a new job. If my current job ever falls through, I'll likely have to move again. Reading through similar experiences from across the industry, you can't help but feel a sense of camaraderie, but also that we need to do
When I read Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier earlier this year, I said that it had somewhat neglected to address questionable and wide-spread video game industry practices such as crunch culture in greater detail, but that I overall felt that the book was an insightful read. Press Reset, on the other hand, laser-focuses on the various and deep-rooted issues the video game industry comes with and how it affects the people who are working in it (or used to work in it). What they have gon...
