My thoughts are not organized.
So, I hope you’ll forgive me for trying to put the jumble in my head down in writing… and also that something legible comes from my typing fingers. If you aren’t, smartly, chronically online, you may not have heard that this industry centered around the joy and fun of gaming has announced more layoffs.
Layoff fatigue is a concept I touched on in an episode of The Indie Council (fittingly named Layoffs, Personally) weeks past, and my thoughts are with everyone from the four corners of games that have experienced it. But one particular announcement today hit the staff here personally.
In classic form, Blake Hester announced he’s been laid off as a senior associate editor of Game Informer with wicked and pointed humor — the short text illustrating perfectly why he’s such an amazing part of games journalism. As a friend, I’m upset for him individually. But as a fellow games journalist, I’m heartbroken. I love this industry and it feels like it’s being slowly strangled to death right in front of us.
The Indie Informer has its roots in Game Informer layoffs, it’s true. That this amazing space grew out of that loss is startling. But I know it’s the exception and not the rule. The vast pools of astronomical talent still looking for work is proof. In the depths of those waters lie institutional knowledge, hard-won experience, and cultivated connection, which we may never get back.
Where do we end up after so much loss? I honestly don’t know how this space holds together under this continuing onslaught, even though I want so much to be hopeful. Likely, games writing will continue, but will we recognize it after the floods?
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