The gaming industry is kind of in a bit of dire straits at the moment.
It’s odd that in the same show we talk about how many billions of dollars Steam made in only two weeks and then we end by talking about Ubisoft restructuring, Paradox losing 162% of profits, and Microsoft having pretty abysmal hardware sales. And just as I was writing this the night before posting, Intrepid studios have closed their doors and laid off all 250 odd employees.
Then there’s the whole RAM and AI issue that’s just screwing up pretty much everything when it comes to this hobby and industry. The AI situation is affecting the price of RAM and now hard drives, solid state drives, and just drive space altogether. Prices have skyrocketed. AI is also affecting jobs in the industry as it is everywhere else.
I’m not saying games are going to start drying up but advancement will hit a wall. Because in order to keep moving forward better computers will be needed and RAM is a part of that. As is, apparently, AI, sadly. Console generations are going to stretch beyond what we’ve previously known, as will PC upgrades.
It’s all a bit gloomy really. And it’s probably going to get worse and worse before it even slightly gets what you might call “better”.
So what do you do? Well, there’s very little you can do. Stop using AI is a small solution but it won’t change anything. Maybe if we all could on a global scale, sure, but that’s just wishful thinking.
We’re all just going to have to ride this train to whatever station it’s taking us to and then decide if we want to stop there or keep going. Eventually, things will change. But I can’t even begin to predict when it might. All I can do is just dig into my backlog, find the indies, and pick up games or hardware on sale when it hits a price I can afford.
Some of that, however, also feels like wishful thinking.
Speaking of wishful thinking, Ubisoft it has been 4,549 days since a new Splinter Cell game (non-animated series or guest spot in another game franchise, remake, BBC radio drama, or VR exclusive) was released.
Also, there’s been 1006 job losses in the gaming industry since January 1, 2026.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS