I’m finishing volume 3. Kind of speechless.
John the author went through hell and back four² times to get those books done, and I appreciate that. And you should too. Staggering amount of work, fascinating insights, emotions and discoveries. Oral history at its best!
Some thoughts:
- Japanese gamedev really burned out in the late 90s with 3D and new consoles. The transition from 16-bit hardware to 32-bit decimated companies, individuals and brains.
- Small teams (10ish) and short projects (less than a year) are best to make games because you get to be free to try things out, you get to work on multiple things and by the time you burn out, the game has to come out.
- It’s staggering how much Hollywood inspired Japan at that time: The Thing, Star Wars, Alien, Blues Brothers, Cannonball, you name it. Meanwhile in Europe we were absorbing both continents; American movies and games, Japanese games and anime and our own. Crazy lore!
- The ruthlessness of gamedev business from all the big players, from Nintendo, Sega, Konami, Square, etc. Stealing, suing, hiding.
- The conflict between producing new games or keeping at making profitable sequels has always existed. Friction goes up: the more expensive game development is, the less you want to create a new IP. And the more you want to keep the sequel going. I think we hit a wall with Final Fantasy and its 16 titles (Square isn’t doing so well right now).
- Which really highlights the 1985-1995 period as probably the most inventive in the history of computer games. Tons of “first” and polished concepts, some sequels but not like today.
- The arcade machine. That thing that I would always look at anytime an adult would be dragging me into a bar in France. The arcade machine and its physical joystick, that you can abuse, it’s designed for. The physicality of playing games. Reading interviews of the creators of those games, is amazing.
- I don’t really feel nostalgic, as I also remember well how much I wanted what is so basic now: access to most games from my couch. Using whichever controller I want.
The books came out 10 years ago. It’s great because a lot of those folks were thinking about the future of funding, smartphone games and all that. Lots of hope!
In 2024/2025, everything about the game industry is dire. 30-year-old small studios are on their last legs with no work. Big studios bleed money. Most publishers abuse their customers (dlc/loot box/season pass) who in turn abuse developers. And players know that spending thousands of hours in a grind fest is unhealthy. Machines are annoying update bots which are sometimes ready to let you play a game.
Thank you everyone involved to make this happen. This is invaluable.
