I see none of this as positive my person list would be the gradual rehiring of laid of talent as industry stabilizes again, continued progress of proton and steam deck devices (including windows based ones), progress in godot as an alternative to Unity.

What about subscriptions? There are clear opportunities with the subscription model.

No

-What about streaming? The dream of game streaming is exciting.

Absolutely fuck no.

Ya know what would make me hopeful for the game industry? If the lower class didn’t have to work multiple jobs to survive. Then we could have more people, who are passionate about what they do, not being held down by bs management and the Share Holders. This would create competition in the gaming industry, pushing “AAA” Studios to actually try to make a good/optimized game.

Epic’s Fortnite plan

Is the plan on deleting it from history?

AI

Years ago, I would have been thrilled to hear this. But I know better than to expect the kind of AI or even the current kind of AI being used the way I’d like to see actually being the way they plan on incorporating it. They’re not gonna use it to make dialogue natural where you can literally just talk to the characters instead of choosing 3-4 pre-made responses; they’re gonna use it to make the shitty systems we all already hate more efficient at parting money from wallets.

Granted, it is from GamesIndustry.biz, but this really seems aimed more at investors and shareholders who are going to have a very skewed sense of what hopeful means. Personally I’d say all of the indie hits we saw in 2023, and continue to see in 2024, are a good reason to be hopeful about the future of the industry. I’d also throw in the success of Baldur’s Gate 3, which brought CRPGs back into mainstream prominence after years of being a niche genre for hardcore fans.