It’s a very unpleasant time to be a game developer, as anyone who’s been paying attention to the games industry this year will know. Thousands of jobs have fallen victim to corporate cost-cutting as ongoing games are canceled and award-winning studios close. The mood was angry and frustrated.“I’m so desperate for the media I love,” one reader wrote in last week’s newsletter. “The layoffs are so frustrating because of the wasted potential in the name of more ridiculous levels of profitability, not to mention the impact this has on the people actually making the games.” He asked: “What do you think the developers have? Is there a way to make great games on a reasonable budget and pay staff a living wage? Some hope would be appreciated.”One of the many tragic ironies of gaming this year so far is that amidst all these cuts, closures, and layoffs, we’ve also seen a plethora of breakout successes. No one expected much from the satirical militaristic squad shooter Hellraiser 2, but the game has sold 12 million copies since February. Palworld may have made me feel a little sick, but it did make money. Balatro is a roguelike poker game that took up an entire week of my free time, has sold 1 million copies, and was created by one person. We’ve got a medieval town sim available in Early Access on Steam。