#25 My hopes for 2021
It’s been a funny old start to 2021. This is the third time i’ve sat down to write this first newsletter of 2021, after two failed attempts due to being distracted by events in the US. Hopefully this will be third time lucky and apologies for the slow start to the year.
You’ll have noticed this email has arrived on a Monday - the plan for the year is for this to be my regular publication day, but we’ll see how that goes as this crazy year continues to unfold.
On with the gaming
I wanted to start the year by exploring what I expect to see more of and what a positive year for the gaming industry could look like. 2020 was full of ups and downs and there’s no doubt that 2021 will offer more of the same. For one thing, game delays are going to become the norm - the AAA games which were released in 2020 would have gone through most of their development in previous years, whereas this year’s crop will undoubtedly have been badly affected by the turbulence of the last year.
1) Games get political
For years the gaming industry has denied any suggestion it might have a political dimension and my biggest hope for 2021 is that this attitude disappears for good. Where other entertainment mediums acknowledge and embrace the lens they hold up to society, gaming does everything in its power to deny any shred of relevance to the real world.
Games which confront politics in a meaningful way have been far too rare over the last decade - only a few indie exceptions like the outstanding Papers Please have done anything to genuinely engage with the politics of our society. AAA titles have either given politics a swerve or included hamfisted, freedom good, dictators bad, messages which do little more than incite juvenile feelings and lead the rest of us to question why they bothered.
We won’t see that change overnight - most games published this year will have had their worlds and stories locked in by now.
What i’m hopeful for is two things:
1) Smaller indie studios continue to challenge us. Like films, books and music, gaming’s indie scene is the perfect mixing pot for creators to serve up experiences which challenge our perceptions by engaging with an individual aspect of society through a fresh lens. Papers Please showed us how it could be done with its compelling study of how the big picture of immigration policy applies on a human level and I’m hugely hopeful that we’ll see a crop of indie games explore how our messed up modern world works over the next 18 months. That doesn’t just need to be Politics with a capital P either. I’m equally excited to play games which tackle everything from global warming and deforestation through to human rights law and asylum policies.
2) AAA studios and publishers accept their responsibilities. This might be me dreaming, but if every major studio spent this year acknowledging the world they exist in and taking steps to engage with it we’d end the year in a much better place. As a starting place, this means embracing not just the existence of, but the importance of unions. Alongside this, it’s time to end the ridiculous PR messaging around how games aren’t political and instead allow developers to talk about how events around them and political upheaval is influencing how they think, write and design. Every other medium does it and its high time gaming gives the audience the same respect. No one creates in a vacuum, so let’s embrace the world rather than deny its existence.
2) Games are given the time they need
Cyberpunk 2077’s launch was a disaster so big, the whole world took notice. Even after a year of crunch, the game was bug ridden and almost unplayable on the very consoles it was originally designed for.
No one wins in that scenario - not even the investors who enjoy the profits of the team’s labour. This can’t continue. My second biggest hope for the year ahead is that studios and investors give their teams the time they need to make brilliant games, with no overtime and no false promises.
Everyone knows last year was rubbish, there’s no need to make this year even worse by making up for lost time. Give games breathing room and the results will be better. And audiences may fume for a while, but it’s about time the gaming community learnt to be patient. There’s more than enough games in our backlog and on the shelves already - it will do everyone good to have a break from the constant hype cycle this year.
3) More experiences I want to share
My partner isn’t a big gamer - in a year of living together she’s played the OG Mario NES game and a whole bunch of Mario Kart. I’d love to find a game we can both enjoy on an equal footing - whether it’s a brand new 2D Mario or something completely unexpected, I’d love to be able to share the hobby more with her. And not just her - my none gaming mad friends more generally. My best friend recently got back into gaming thanks to Xbox Games Pass on his phone and I’m so excited to share some of the games i’ve loved with him and the joy he’s finding has only cemented my belief in streaming subscriptions as a viable option for the future of gaming.
4) Joy in unexpected places
Surprise me. Please. The next-gen hype cycle was fun, but has meant we’ve spent the last three years just waiting for confirmation of things we half-knew about or could make educated guesses. I want 2021 to be full of things I’d never have thought about or considered.
It’s why the single thing I’m most excited for is Playdate, which looks like a tiny bundle of joy with its bright yellow design and a crank as a secondary controller. The crank might turn out to be a revelation, it might turn out to be just fine, but either way I cannot wait to get my hands on it and try it for myself. And that’s not the only reason to get excited about Playdate - by bundling a subscription of 12 games from top indie talent and releasing them on a weekly basis, we’ll all be given the chance to enjoy games we might never have made time for otherwise.
5) Nintendo continue to surprise and delight
Tied directly to the point above - my second biggest hope for this year is that Nintendo continue to be themselves. In an era where everything is teased, trailed and consumer tested, watching Nintendo chart their own path is a genuine delight. From the type of games they make, through to the way they market them, Nintendo always have an unexpected rabbit to pull from their hat. Take Mario’s 50th anniversary last night - while the rerelease of classic 3D titles had been leaked in advance, Nintendo were still full of surprises - from Augmented Reality Mario Kart to a battle royale spin on the first ever Mario game. We didn’t expect or ask for any of these things and this made them all the more exciting.
And there’s lots to be excited about this year - with major anniversaries for both Pokemon and the Legend of Zelda, along with the Switch entering it’s 5th year stronger than ever, it’d take a brave man not to bet on Nintendo’s continued success.
That’s all for this week. If you enjoyed today’s issue, please and would like to make my 2021 a little brighter, i’d love it if you’d consider sharing this newsletter, either by forwarding it to a friend or by posting on social.