MAL’OPUS Publishing House has published the book “Press Reset: Burnout and Recovery in the Video Game Industry” by American game journalist Jason Schreier. It will be interesting not only to Ukrainian gamers, but also to all video games working in the industry. I have already read it and am ready to share my impressions of the content and quality of the publication.

Course

Don’t like the music on the radio?

“Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry” / Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry

Author Jason Schreier
Publishing house MAL’OPUS
Pages 360
Year 2023
Cover solid
Language Ukrainian
Format 140×200 mm
Site malopus.com.ua

Jason Schreier is a game journalist from the United States, known for his insights and predictions on video game releases. He worked for Kotaku for a long time, and in 2020 he moved to Bloomberg. “Press Reset” is the second book about games and the industry by this author. It was preceded by Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made. The Ukrainian edition was published in 2020 by BookChef and is called “Blood, sweat and pixels. On the other side of making video games.”

“Blood, Sweat and Pixels” is a book about the complexities of creating video games. The author determined that games are somewhere on the border between art, science, technical progress and business, which seeks to create an entertainment product and make money from it. That is why the lion’s share of games are delayed, and creators work in emergency mode.

In “Pressing Reset”, Schreier examines why it is so difficult to stay in the workplace in this business, why game studios close not only after failed projects, but also immediately after the release of very successful games that have become part of history.

The author tries to get into the shoes of a game developer of any rank and convey to the reader his constant tension. All such creators live with the idea of ​​freeing up any moment. Because today the studio is still working, developers stay overtime and on weekends to release the game, and tomorrow they are already asked to pack things and look for a new job.

It should be clarified here that the book is about companies from the USA and Australia, because the European culture of creating video games is different after all. Probably, there are similar situations with rework here, and it definitely happens in Asian companies, but game studios from Europe were still able to build a more or less adequate culture of work and rest, which reduced the number of burnouts and dismissals. Ukrainian game developers working in Europe are even talking about this. Their thoughts and impressions are on the back of the book.

In “Press Reset”, Schreier also highlights interesting facts about the creation of cult games (Epic Mickey, Bioshock, Bioshock Infinite, Dead Space, etc.) from cool studios (Ion Storm, Irrational Games, 2K Marin, etc.). It shows how hard they were developed, what forces the teams put into their projects and how quickly and unexpectedly they were released.

“Press Reset: Burnout and Recovery in the Video Game Industry” is also about absolute failures: about studios and their never-released but very promising games. For example, several chapters are devoted to 38 Studios, its founder, the famous baseball player Curt Schilling, and their “killer”, which never came out, World of Warcraft called Project Copernicus.

There are success stories in other sections. This is when new and popular games emerge from the ashes of closed studios. But mostly these are “turkeys” and not AAA projects. It is even worse when some of the saved studios are also later closed, and the developers again find themselves at a crossroads, having to look for work, move, and part with friends. The author weaves all these stories into one big ball and it is very interesting to untangle it.

Instability is a common feature of the entire gaming industry, which Schreier notes. The average game company, even a large one, is almost never able to plan game by game, because its capabilities and finances depend on the success of the project it is currently working on.

The author devotes the last chapter of “Press Reset” to trying to solve the problems of closing studios, burnout, and layoffs. He offers several solutions (remote work, specialized outsourcing, etc.), but he himself writes that it will not help much.

Schreier increasingly places the blame on big publishers and corporations who are after money and don’t care about creativity. But even in the modern era of Kickstarter, they are what keep the gaming industry going. Therefore, the author should probably not criticize the funding sources of most AAA projects, but propose a solution to the problem, communicate with their representatives, encourage dialogue, etc.

Press Reset: Burnout and Recovery in the Video Game Industry is an easy and quick read. The book will appeal to gamers and everyone involved in the industry, but it is written for everyone – there are many concise explanations of gameplay and genres, the peculiarities of game creation and the nuances of development. Any gamer knows all this for sure, but the ordinary reader outside the topic does not know. Therefore, Schreier explains in such a way that even non-players will find it interesting to read.

I really liked the cover, the quality of the edition, the yellowish thick paper that is pleasant to the touch, but I was disappointed by the layout.

On some pages, the blocks of text turned out to be crooked, on some the margins were too wide, and on others too narrow. I’m far from a perfectionist, but the placement of blocks of text on different pages was too noticeable. So sometimes it was annoying and difficult to read.

The book was printed by the famous Kharkiv book factory “Globus”. She prints for many Ukrainian publishing houses and I have very high-quality books from them. But here it is done somehow quickly and clumsily. I don’t know who is to blame for this – the publishing house MAL’OPUS or the factory “Globus”, but in fact we have a big contrast between the cover and what is inside.

I am sure that “Press Reset” will be published in more than one edition, the publishing house will correct the errors and make the best layout. Because in everything else, this is a wonderful publication that deserves the attention of the modern Ukrainian reader.

Pros:
an interesting and unusual problem raised in the book; many exciting facts about famous games, studios and creators; nice cover design; quality of publication and paper

Cons:
the author examines the problem only in the game industry of the USA and partly in Australia, without touching other parts of the world with their peculiarities; mediocre layout quality

Conclusion:

Press Reset: Burnout and Recovery in the Video Game Industry is a masterclass for gamers and everyone in the industry. This is an interesting, well-written and beautifully designed story of big problems in a popular industry. But the author highlighted the dark aspects of his country only and did not pay attention to the rest of the world with other cultures of work, social security, etc. But this will not prevent you from getting maximum pleasure from the book