Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry

In-depth and well-researched as always from Jason Schreier, but sometimes it felt like he was constantly going down rabbit holes of specific game developers before jumping back to the original game studio. It was a good book with some interesting stories, but I’d still prefer Blood, Sweat, and Pixels.

This is a great follow up to Schrier's previous book and this time it focuses more on stories about video game studios closing and the aftermath of what happens to the workers themselves. Enjoyed these stories and it's both engaging and heartbreaking to see how these closures affect so many people's lives. He touches on possible solutions to the video game industry's volatility and unfairness and doesn't go too in depth, but I feel like that's for another book.

Jason Schreier has a way of writing that is immediately engaging and fascinating. I flew through this book and his previous one Blood, Sweat, & Pixels and would highly recommend both to anyone with even a passing interest in the video game industry. I appreciated the final chapter which focuses on ways the industry is exploring possible solutions, but felt it very short and probably worthy of its own book. There is also a strong focus on the "recovery" part of the title which perhaps paints a rosier picture than intended. Some of the heavier tolls the industry enacts on individual lives - divorce, personal bankruptcy, and depression aren't deeply explored. Still, great book. If you're already spending time reading this review - you should be reading this book.

A very interesting, albeit frustrating, followup to Blood, Sweat And Pixels, in which we get another look inside the video game industry and how some great games were (or weren't) made. It's actually a wonder how many even get released at all, and even more that they still turn out good! Well done research and well written. Ideal as audiobook as well.

Timing wise it was fun to listen to the Ken Levine and Bioshock story and that they were still awaiting news for his new game, and then the trailer for Judas came out at The Game Awards.

Honestly, Schreier is too kind. Any professional developer looking at his case studies sees the sort of epic failure of management that would render even a genius into pariah in most competent industries. Game dev culture is built on a house of cards where the incompetence of leaders normalizes the inevitable crunch that results. Such a waste.