The Handheld Renaissance and What It Says About Play
After years of consoles fighting for the living room, the most exciting hardware is the kind that fits in a coat pocket. The reasons say something larger about how we play now.
Why the Games Industry Is Betting on Player-Created Worlds
After years of handcrafted everything, studios are handing the tools to their players. The bet is bigger than it looks, and the risks are not the obvious ones.
Cloud Gaming's Promise and the Reality That Keeps It Small
The technology that was supposed to make hardware obsolete keeps arriving, and keeps not quite arriving. The reasons are more stubborn than the technology.
The Indie Renaissance That the Blockbusters Made Possible
The games that were supposed to be squeezed out by the giants are thriving, and the thriving is the thing the giants enabled.
The Economics of Esports and the Audience That Outgrew It
The competitive gaming that was supposed to become the new league sport grew an audience the business could not monetize, and the gap is the story.
VR Gaming's Quiet Improvement and the Audience It Is Finding
The virtual reality that was supposed to arrive in a wave has been arriving in a trickle, and the trickle is, at last, becoming a stream.
Mobile Gaming and the Audience That the Console Never Reached
The games that were dismissed as not real games are the ones with the largest audience, and the audience is the thing the industry is learning to serve.
The Quiet Crisis of Game Preservation and the Archivists Fighting It
The games that defined a medium are disappearing, and the disappearing is the thing the industry that made them is not addressing.
The AI NPC and the Question of What a Character Becomes
The non-player character that can converse is arriving, and the arrival is the thing that is changing what a game character is.
Cross-Platform Play and the Walls That Came Down
The thing the players wanted and the industry resisted is the thing the industry, at last, accepted, and the accepting changed the games.
Live-Service Fatigue and the Industry's Reckoning With It
The games that were supposed to run forever are the ones the players are leaving, and the leaving is the thing the industry is reckoning with.
The Board Game Revival and the Audience That Returned to the Table
The games that were supposed to be replaced by the digital are thriving, and the thriving is the thing the digital enabled.
Speedrunning and the Community That Made a Sport of It
The players who compete to finish games fastest built a culture the industry did not make, and the culture is the thing the industry is learning to support.
Accessibility and the Redesign of Who Gets to Play
The games that were made for the assumed player are being remade for the player that was assumed away, and the remaking is the thing that is changing the medium.
The Modding Community and the Games That Outlived Themselves
The players who changed the games the industry made are the ones who made the games last, and the lasting is the thing the industry is learning to allow.