The third position

Great video games are, at their core, works of art—labors of love made by men and women who love code and creation, debugging and hotfixes, and who excel at optimizing and creating timeless, effervescent, thought-provoking, and relatable masterworks.

Triple-A gaming has lost that love and artistry. It has exchanged that soul for the single-minded pursuit of profit and shareholder primacy, solely focused on ceaseless quarterly earnings targets instead of creating enduring art for generations yet to come—something they could rediscover decades later and yet still be entranced by the exact same spellbinding childlike wonder that we experienced when we first booted up the timeless classics of our past.

The industry, at present, is the embodiment of gaming's issues and must disappear. It needs to make way for artists with vision to return once more to this medium. Modern games are defined by unlimited budgets that can dwarf those of the film industry and result more often than they should in soulless reanimations of prior success: streamlined to be accessible to as wide of an "install base" as possible while forsaking the character of its namesake. The creation of these subsidized failures has only gotten easier in this age of automation, outsourcing, and incompetence. Stripped bare of all the artistic value and coding marvels that could be found in their past lineage, the remake of Silent Hill 2 stands tall as a fine example of this practice. You need only look at the fact that the game world renders in even when obscured by the fog, unlike its predecessors—a clear sign of technical incompetence and a downgrade in optimization. I could go in depth on the liberties that were taken with the artistic direction, but I will leave that endeavor in the hands of this video essay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6P6VMNwbCU .

A resurgence of creativity and soul, crafted by those with intimate ties to the medium and a true love for gaming, is needed to decouple the gaming landscape from corporatism and empower individuals to rejuvenate this hobby, which stands even now upon the shoulders of such a profound legacy and an extensive back catalog of incredible games.

I hope Valve carries out the launch of the Steam Hardware ecosystem well and turns the entire gaming landscape on its head. Given that it is priced properly to account for the fact that the vast majority are broke as hell and our economic landscape is in shambles, it shows intense promise to upend not only the console market but also the very fabric of game publishing.

If they support this long-term and have truly learned from the initial mistakes they discovered with their first attempt at a Steam Machine all those years ago, we may perhaps see the death of the status quo and the rot of the game industry. The monoliths that have reigned for so long without challenge will finally have their first formidable competition in decades. It may well be the death of the old guard. We could truly be on the precipice of great change. I hope we are. Godspeed, Gaben.

⣿⣿⣿⣿⣇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠛⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣤⣄⡀⠀⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠸⣿⣿⣿⠃⢰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠀⢠⡀⠐⠀⠀⠀⠻⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⢸⣷⡄⠀⠣⣄⡀⠀⠉⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣇⠀⣿⣿⣦⠀⠹⣿⣷⣶⣦⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣼⣿⣿⣿⣷⣄⣸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⡿⢛⡙⢻⠛⣉⢻⣉⢈⣹⣿⣿⠟⣉⢻⡏⢛⠙⣉⢻⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣇⠻⠃⣾⠸⠟⣸⣿⠈⣿⣿⣿⡀⠴⠞⡇⣾⡄⣿⠘⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣟⠛⣃⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿