The Alternative Game Awards 2024

Christmas is here but there’s not much to celebrate in the games industry. Its need for growth at the expense of everything else – all the humanity and soul poured into every project – has seen businesses grow fat. The people who actually make the games have been vomited out and flushed away – entire lives upended because of work-from-office mandates that force international relocations, only for those dedicated dreamers to be tossed aside (after onboarding, but before their moving boxes are empty) so the shareholders can clap at a graph.  Meanwhile, the slug that is the business of games undulates and eats more, gobbling up freelance contractors to replace the workers and their benefits. There’s no room for failure anymore. No room to learn from mistakes. No room for amazing sequels that build upon the lessons of a flawed first try. There are only licenses and sure bets now. It’s Funko time and every worker in the industry has the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.  Related: Microsoft will cut anot