Written August 11th 2025
Zero A Games
The future of video games lies in the hands of amateurs.
The game industry, is, with an unknown amount of hyperbole, fucked. From an economic standpoint, projects that have been eating up enormous amounts of capital have been unable to produce quality products. Layoffs have torn the industry apart, and the lack of job security has left many people turned off from seeking employment in the field. Time will tell how it all works out, but from where I'm standing, it does not look good.
I and many other have found themself of the opinion that financial incentive makes shit art. This applies to video games too. Games that come from an "industry" have to meet the needs of the industry, and are treated as products to be bought and sold, or these days, licences to be subscribed to. Being a "good game" only serves the end of an investment paying off. This leads to games holding back from innovation, and following well known formulas, in an attempt to reduce to perceived risk of these investments.
Through this logic, it could make sense that a game that is made without the intention of success could be the more innovative than the cutting edge of the field. A
One of the most important technological innovations relating to games has nothing to do with better hardware or graphical fidelity but rather the accesibility of professional grade development tools. I think it can't be understated how much engines like Unity have revolutionized games. By making games easier to make, by lowering the bar of entry, more people will make games. And when you don't have to try to sell a game to thousands of people, you can be free to try whatever weird and avant garde shit you want. Not being forced to make a game marketable is creatively freeing.
I think in the coming years we are going to see smaller independant games taking up a much larger market share. Hell, one of the biggest games last year was Balatro, and I have a strong suspicion there will be something else like it this year, but I suppose we'll have to wait and see.