Very easy to think right now that things are absolutely terrible in LA and the US. And they are.
But I’m reading this utterly fascinating book series called The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers and things were absolutely terrible in Tokyo and Japan in the 80s and 90s.
Overworked developers, cramped work spaces, ruthless practices, endless contracting and poor stability, developers who had their games all over the world dead in their 40s and 50s after a lifetime of unhealthy habits working 12 hours a day on pixels and machine code, it’s pretty rough.
But just like 2025 California also has some great things going, so did 80s-90s Japan. We just need to focus on them and make room for them to keep growing.
Related: keep being a generalist and connect the world in your mind.