There is a reckoning coming to the gaming industry as it has exploited its workers far too long for the benefit of the suits in the executive suites. Kids grow up playing video games and for some it becomes a passion that they want to be part of it. The problem is that most people entering the gaming industry aren’t business savvy, so they’ll take the lousy conditions in exchange for their dream job.
The problems grow the longer one remains a part of the industry. One gets older and priorities change. Health care becomes an issue. Long term financial stability becomes an issue. When one is in their 20s, life after retirement seems so far in the distance that one can’t imagine not having enough time to prepare.
The comic book industry has similar problems, only worse, as it takes less time to work on a single issue than it does building a gaming platform for release. How many writers and artists have steady work month in month out? Definitely not the majority.
Change is not going to happen that benefits the creators unless and until the majority will band together and fight for those benefits.
I got off the rat race because I didn’t see the benefit of working on the latest issue of FANTASTIC FOUR or BATMAN beyond the immediate paycheck. The page rates being offered weren’t commensurate with pay working in animation or other fields. The promise of royalties was never lived up as stated in written agreements.
The kids today have the tech and opportunity to build their own paths instead of taking the corporate path. They just have to decide what’s to their benefit.