DiGRA D-A-CH Game Studies Watchlist CW #19

?? AHOI there, game studies operators!

I have featured Writing on Games several times now and I think it's time again:

"I am angry at the state of the games industry. Even when the higher ups at game companies were at their greediest, you could usually at least understand the logic behind their decisions. With the recent, baffling news that Microsoft is to shutter Tango Gameworks (among others), despite the studio providing Xbox a bonafide smash hit in the form of Hi-Fi Rush (on top of countless other layoffs and closures from studios making some of the most successful games ever, such as Naughty Dog with The Last of Us), that logic seems to have gone out of the window. In this analysis piece, I discuss how we got here, how the industry is becoming increasingly hostile towards not only art but seemingly monetary success, and the indie devs and studios like Larian and Supergiant proving that it doesn't have to be this way. The games industry is broken—some might say beyond repair."

> https://youtu.be/mCqrYeCAyMk?si=iLlxL2-fOoF_7fxS

For the New Books Network, I also had the great pleasure to talk to Regina Seiwald and Ed Vollans about their book (Not) In the Game in my podcast Game Studies:

"How do games represent history, and how do we make sense of the history of games? The industry regularly uses history to sell products, while processes of creation and of promotion leave behind markers of a game’s history.mThe access to this history is often granted by so-called paratexts, which are accompanying elements orbiting texts. Exploring this fully, case studies in (Not) In the Game: History, Paratexts, and Games (de Gruyter, 2023) move the focus of debate from the games themselves to wider, ancillary materials and ask how history is used in, and how we can use history to study games."

> https://newbooksnetwork.com/not-in-the-game

Please stay healthy everyone!

Cheers, Rudolf

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