Many devs are activists now, and the rest feel forced to reign in their opinions because even the mildest questioning if certain cherished beliefs gets you sent to HR (my famous story about the person who got written up for bringing chik-fil-a the office). https://twitter.com/nichegamer/status/1315852613997465601

But if you look at why this phenomenon is having such momentum in large gaming companies, you need to look at the large layer of middle-management non devs and NON GAMERS who have filled the rank and file of these companies.

A certain CEO of a certain extremely large gaming company once told me it (his company) was like a shit sandwich. People at the top often get it, people at dev level get it, but there is a massive fatty layer of middle mgt, marketing, HR, etc. that DON'T get it.

This middle layer form a huge amount of people in the company, and they inevitably come up with things to do that they can accomplish and feel good about and exert influence over.

Sadly, that's not always focused on making the best PRODUCT.

There really isn't a way I see to reverse this. Large companies who don't lean out (and Covid has certainly taught us that many large gaming publisher can lean out without hurting product or sales), will have their attention diverted more towards activism and less towards product

The only hope is with the rise of middle tier development again. There use to be a LOT of independent developers with mid-sized budgets, who were doing tons of innovating and sold at scale.

But mid-tier development takes risks, and right now, sales platforms take a large chunk of the profits, making that risk acceptable for AAA "tried and true" but life or death for middle-tier developers.

This is why I support direct to dev sales, and platforms which give more of a % to the developers of the game, who are the only ones taking the risk. (Steam, Epic, iOS, GoG takes no real risk listing your game for sale, not financially).

Luckily, at the moment, the PC is still a very open platform, and it is possible to create your own direct sales options, as we've done for http://Em8ER.com  at Crixa Labs. This is also why PC is our focus.

On the PC, we know as long as we can go direct, we don't have to censor our games for anime bellybutton, or be forced to erase the presence of white males from our game to make room for a laundry list of cheap, token characters that are an insult to true diversity.

We see this as an opportunity to feature the core gameplay that gamers love, cater to core gamers vs casuals (nothing wrong with casual gaming, but core is underserved and ignored), and ensure our characters are there to drive the story and plot, not to just check boxes.

We want to build games that entertain, and leave activism out of it. Because I believe during these times, we all need a break from the carnival barking of politics around us.

I agree with @Coinbase's CEO. Have people check activism at the door and focus on the PRODUCT. Offer people a nice check if they can't to go be somewhere else.

This isn't radical. Zappos offered thousand after training to leave the company if the culture wasn't "for them."

If you want to see more devs take the kinds of risks that we are with Em8ER, in new types of gameplay, and being censor and activism free, then go out and find them and support them DIRECTLY. Show them that they don't need to go through a big publisher or investor to make it.

I believe this is possible, that there is enough of a CORE GAMER AUDIENCE that is fed up with AAA games and wants something more than a quick indie game. Rise up, gamers! Go find those studios still swinging, and show them you're there for them.

Thank you!