2023 has been a solid year for video games. Narrative masterpieces like Alan Wake 2 brought gamers into their weird worlds, while highly anticipated titles like Tears of the Kingdom lived up to their hype.
2023 was also a terrible year for video games. Specifically the developers of some of our favorite games. Over 6,000 developers have been laid off from their respective studios in 2023. Some of these layoffs resulted from a shifting economy, while others were avoidable and the result of corporate greed.
Heartache And Poverty On The Zero
Kentucky Route Zero deals with themes of poverty and addiction through a dream-like narrative. The main character, Conway, is a down-and-out truck driver struggling with alcohol addiction. He eventually succumbs to his addiction and leaves the game to work at the Hard Times distillery. A plant that produces whiskey and pays its employees with their product.
In between the various acts of the game that follow the main characters, Kentucky Route Zero drifts off into interludes. These interludes have little to do with the main narrative, but they dive deeper into the larger themes present in the game.
Un Pueblo De Nada
The final interlude of the game has the player exploring a public access TV station in a dire state of disrepair. The player witnesses the underfunded public access TV hosts desperately attempting to keep their show afloat despite their minuscule budget and dilapidated working conditions.
Throughout the broadcast, the state of the TV station becomes more and more desperate, with the remnants of a massive storm wreaking havoc on their surroundings. Despite their hopeless situation and indifferent management, the hosts continue to do their job. Not only accomplishing their work but putting passion into making the best broadcast possible.
Working For A Living
It’s not uncommon to see life imitate art, but in the case of Kentucky Route Zero, it is almost too on the nose. 2023 may have given us some great games, but it has also delivered some utter garbage. Licensed games based on King Kong and The Walking Dead were released to gamers astonished at the complete lack of polish. Most notably, The Day Before was released in early access by a small independent studio to near-universal disdain.
The studio behind The Day Before, Fntastic, promptly shut down mere days after the game’s release. Leaving in their wake numerous out-of-work developers.
The Day Before is a severe example. Most gamers and journalists were already skeptical of the hefty promises made by the developer. An open-world MMO on par with games like The Division and Day Z made by an indie developer with only a few small titles under their belt? The whole story seemed too good to be true. And, in fact, it was.
If It Walks Like A Duck
In the coming months and years, there will no doubt be countless deep-dive investigations into the trainwreck that was The Day Before. But one thing that Kentucky Route Zero reminds us of is that despite the end product, there were no doubt real people working on this game, giving their best to deliver an impossible task.
Fntastic, just like WEVP-TV in Un Pueblo de Nada, sets their employees up for failure. Asking them to deliver the impossible to a fan base with impossible expectations. Their demise was imminent. The writing was on the walls. Yet the talented people behind the scenes persevered and managed to put out a functional, albeit barely, video game.
Fear And Loathing In The Games Industry
Despite their unfortunate circumstances, there is something admirable about the work these people do. The developers put their heart and soul into a game, only for their work to be ridiculed by the masses due to unrealistic expectations set by their company. And in the end, they are the ones who suffer.
Despite the nobility of accomplishing a hard day’s work, if your organization sets you up for failure, you will fail. At the same time, the Ubisofts and BioWares of the world continue to thrive. The result of a failed game is often more than just a hit to the company’s finances. There is also a human cost. One that we are reminded of more and more in the games industry.
Stranger In A Strange Land
The final act of Kentucky Route Zero shows the main characters finally reaching their destination of 5 Dogwood Drive. They deliver the contents of Conway’s truck to a town that a storm and subsequent flash flood have ravaged. In the end, the game’s main goal, to make a delivery to 5 Dogwood Drive, is fruitless. The town is destroyed, the contents are unnecessary, and the people are indifferent to their journey.
After a few minutes of wandering around the town and speaking with the residents, the main characters of Kentucky Route Zero contemplate staying and helping the town rebuild. The game finally ends with a funeral for two horses who lost their lives in the town. These horses are known as the neighbors. No one knew their names; they were the resident’s neighbors.
Requiem For A Neighbor
Hopefully, the games industry can progress and become easier to navigate for talented developers. It is easy for us to ridicule and demean the large studios that release piles of crap upon gamers every year. But when these companies eventually fail, real people suffer the consequences.
Studios don’t get a pass for releasing garbage. These companies need to be held accountable for the crunch and unattainable goals they put on their people. But when a talented developer gives his resume to a Naughty Dog or Santa Monica, hopefully, they are judged by their merit as a creator. Not the choices of their former boss.
Jason Schrier wrote an entire book on the need for the games industry to press reset. But unfortunately, it isn’t that easy. There is no reset button. There’s just the aftermath of corporate greed and a human toll. The games industry needs to come together to rebuild what’s been destroyed. Picking up our friends and neighbors that have been left in its wake.
