How Video Game Crunch Is Our Fault! Yes, Our Fault!!

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This week, the Rebels talk about games they’re playing (does the title screen count), news including YouTube making a play for Twitch, and if video game crunch is the result of the demands placed on studios by the modern palate.

Do you like this episode? Wanna complain about something we got wrong? Let us know what you think by dropping a comment below or emailing us at info@templeofgeek.com. We really want to hear your opinions!

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Intro Music – Final Impasse By Ground is Lava

CHECK OUT OUR LAST FEW EPISODES

1. These are The Games We Are Looking Most Forward To In 2020
2. Check out our top picks of 2019 – Retro Rebel Game Awards – Our Top Picks Of 2019
3. We continue our discussion on game music Retro Rebel RE-view: Retro Game Music Part 2

 

REBEL REVIEW – AFTER PARTY

Amanda says: Afterparty is a game that tries. Tries to be clever. Tries to be relevant. But with all the gen zed social media commentary and shock factor story elements, it’s a pass from me. I can’t get behind it. Something in it feels forced; blatantly confronting, and I’ve got better things to do.

Stacy says: Afterparty is a great game for those who are comfortable with youth culture and understand the impact it has on the daily life of young people. Seeing commentary on the events unfolding in real-time adds some depth to the storytelling. I didn’t finish it, but I’d pick it up again.

Rating: Rent, don’t buy.

 

ESPORTS JUMPING THE TWITCH SHIP

Some big esports leagues have jumped the Twitch ship in favor of the red pastures of YouTube. Overwatch, Hearthstone, and League of Legends are set to stream on the Google platform right after Blizzard signs a deal with YouTube for exclusive rights. Is this a new push from Google to topple Twitch? Is this move just about targeted ad revenue? Well, no one really knows for sure so we’ll just have to wait and see if other popular video game properties follow suit.

 

VIDEO GAME CRUNCH AND GAME EVOLUTION – UNBREAKABLE LINK?

In this week’s episode, the rebels discuss if the pace of game development is made more frantic by video game advancements in graphics, in-game economics and society’s obsession with instant gratification. 

We discuss how; in many ways, the modern consumer-created this beast. We wanted more, faster and unending. And… we didn’t want to pay for it. Corporate entities will always bow to the will of the consumer but it never comes without a price. At the moment, this price is the unfair working conditions of so many who; due to the small nature of the game industry, must conform to weeks of unpaid overtime and long hours for fear of being blackballed from video game development forever.

THE CRUNCH IS STOPPABLE

Gamers could have stopped it, perhaps by refusing to support companies that force video game crunch development. Now, it looks like only regulation will prevent the practice but we might just have to get used to paying more – a lot more- for our games.

We’re not going to stop demanding the best graphics, immediate DLC and engaging multiplayer. We’ll still want a full story and endgame content in a bountiful world for us to explore. We’ll not be satisfied with moving backward and that’s ok, but we should get comfortable with the idea of free-range, organic video games costing a bit more because right now… video game developers look like caged hens.

The market reflects the demand. If we demand workers’ rights and a quality product we’re willing to pay for; we’ll get it. If we just demand regulation, but we’re not willing to support ethical video game production… either games will become more hollow than ever before or they will move the game studios to countries with no oversight.

We’ve got some choices to make, gamers. Hope we choose well.

 

WHAT THE REBELS ARE PLAYING

 

 

After Party – “I felt like it was trying a bit too hard to be sassy and whatever, and I found the dialog to be grating and to become grating over time…”

– Amanda

 

 

 

Disco Elysium – “The research that they did to create that world, and that game and the stories and characters that they base that world around, it is rich. it truly is.”

– Stacy