Game Franchises are Dying (morally and creatively)

It’s becoming awfully cutthroat in the world of AAA gaming. I suppose that sentence could be used to describe any level of funding within the games industry, or any kind of consumer product for that matter; in a world of influencers, reviewers, and online customer satisfaction, the money that investors place into things is arguably seeming to walk on an increasingly thin — albeit more lucrative — tightrope. Even amidst record-breaking profits, companies around the world live in fear of a bad internet reputation, and walk on eggshells around their social media and PR output, like a group of trembling cows watching a farmer approach them with a red-hot branding iron that just says ‘cancelled’ (I can see how Ben Garrison makes his cartoons now). AAA gaming is no exception to this. In fact, I reckon it sorely deserves to live in this fear, ever since I’ve seen giants like <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/13/activision-blizzard-is-once-again-being-sued-for-sexual-harassment/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJ8fDVik6zayBAzSiWNv6S29K2kKwPO7KsSk9j0fzL0-ewCgKn4QCXb8h402xwfS4qI-zX4noOpbHc_OaUdXAuOf_S-5bChUJb9FISQal8GFAaeJIrhS-43r8oWaOfEcZhX9NFMVLNyMeY4hzd47IGZcNVj9s7buHK-f11aJyaKh" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Activision Blizzard</a> and <a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/riot-games-gets-final-approval-on-gender-discrimination-settlement/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Riot Games</a> paying out tens of millions in harassment and discrimination lawsuits, from both within and outside of their companies. <a href="https://medium.com/@My_Two_Sense/popular-game-franchises-are-dying-morally-and-creatively-3d3d1c38b9cf">Click Here</a>