Video games have been around for ages, yet somehow, they're still not considered "main stream". What I mean, is that hundreds of millions of people play video games daily, but it's rare to see anyone explore the cultural landscape around games. Most other media treat Twitch, a popular streaming platform, and Unity, a game engine and monetisation platform, as curiosities. At any given time, over a million people are using Twitch, but you'll be hard pressed to find a non-gamer who has heard of it. Those are just two examples, and I'm not cherry picking in any way. Perhaps it's hard to describe these media - and their appeal - to someone who's never experienced them before. Everyone has been to the movies, so movies are a cultural touch stone. But video games are already bigger business, even as they are completely unfamiliar to some.
Press Reset tries to bridge that gap by describing the video game industry from the point of view of its employees. There are few books that give an authentic account of video game development, so it's refreshing to see Schreier explore the theme from so many angles. He tracks several different game studios through boom and bust cycles, misadventures and successful game launches. His thesis - that studios needlessly mistreat employees and leave them high and dry - could have been made in a shorter format, but I still welcome the diligence with which he studies the subject.
A standout is the story of 38 Studios. Founded by a celebrity baseball pitcher with no experience in the industry, 38 Studios burned through tens of millions of dollars without ever releasing the game it was developing. The day before its bankruptcy, employees were told that everything was fine. Then, the next morning they received an email saying that it was all over. Even more, they received no severance and weren't paid their last month's dues. Those that had moved to Rhode Island just to work on the game, found themselves without a job and a home as the complex benefits agreements with the company expired. The state of Rhode Island, which had made a foolish subsidised loan to the company, was also left empty handed.
Schreier demands change. He goes through the standard ideas, unionising especially, without making a convincing argument that change is indeed coming. The problem seems to be endemic to industries that share the mercurial combination of art and business; movies and, perhaps, music. Creative work, like designing video games, is so compelling that it attracts many more talented workers than it can employ. So workers end up being treated poorly, almost interchangeably. The hours are long but many don't mind because they're working on something they love. In the United States, where the balance between employers and employees is already severely skewed, loving your job leaves you open to being exploited by the system.
Several interviewees come to realise that barely anyone over 40 is still working in the industry. Many leave game development because of burnout or a pronounced inability to build a family while going through grueling cycles of "crunch"; an interminable sprint to finish a game before its launch date. All this should discourage you from considering a career in gaming and Schreier drives that idea home. It's not enough to carry a full book, though. The virtual world needs it own Bonfire of the Vanities or Moneyball - books that explain the inner workings of unfamiliar industries (banking and sports management, respectively) - otherwise it's destined to be overlooked in the broader cultural landscape. Press Reset is just the first step in that direction.