Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry
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THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. From the bestselling author of Blood, Sweat, and Pixels comes the next definitive, behind-the-scenes account of the video game industry: how some of the past decade’s most renowned studios fell apart—and the stories, both triumphant and tragic, of what happened next.
Jason Schreier’s groundbreaking reporting has earned him a place among the preeminent investigative journalists covering the world of video games. In his eagerly anticipated, deeply researched new book, Schreier trains his investigative eye on the volatility of the video game industry and the resilience of the people who work in it.
The business of videogames is both a prestige industry and an opaque one. Based on dozens of first-hand interviews that cover the development of landmark games—Bioshock Infinite, Epic Mickey, Dead Space, and more—on to the shocking closures of the studios that made them, Press Reset tells the stories of how real people are affected by game studio shutdowns, and how they recover, move on, or escape the industry entirely.
Schreier’s insider interviews cover hostile takeovers, abusive bosses, corporate drama, bounced checks, and that one time the Boston Red Sox’s Curt Schilling decided he was going to lead a game studio that would take out World of Warcraft. Along the way, he asks pressing questions about why, when the video game industry is more successful than ever, it’s become so hard to make a stable living making video games—and whether the business of making games can change before it’s too late.
Publisher : Grand Central Publishing (May 11, 2021)
Language : English
Paperback : 320 pages
ISBN-10 : 1538735490
ISBN-13 : 978-1538735497
Item Weight : 11.3 ounces
Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.88 x 8.25 inches
Customers say
Customers find the book interesting, well-written, and a page-turner. They also praise the author as a wonderful investigative reporter and journalist.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Kindle Customer –
Great book, it’s all true but not the whole truth!
I am working as an engineer in game industry for a decade. has been working in many companies with different cultures and high variety of projects from mobile games to consoles and VR.With that said, everything that I just finished reading in this book happened to my colleagues or friends whom are involving with the industry. I am the type of guy who can smell the disaster before that day comeswhen it’s too late to jump out of the ship. but you can’t be that guy when you have kinds and wife and those sort of responsibilities. You need to have job security and benefits and enough time to be with you family.As far as I know, having family and making video games are not that compatible.I hope someday our industry get better at treating their employees just like they care about their customers. developers don’t have voice as much as gamers!This book was all on point for most parts but started to get radical on some subjects and totally missed some points to present the both side of stories at some points. but I understand why, first, those people didn’t want to do interview and second reason, I think, it was to not get distracted from the message that this book carries.So it went little extreme and single dimensional in some of those reports. but at the end of the day, the point and the message is still valid.The book contains a lots of useful information for those who wants to open a game studio. It’s more useful to learn about those failure stories rather than just following success stories. Few succeed in this industry just like any other art form like music or movies, most of the creators will fail and small “successful” percentage will attract the most number of customers. that’s how human’s brain work. no one to blame. We wired to pay attention to the best product in any type of list. producing an average product doesn’t have any place in music, movie or game industry.
Amazon Customer –
A good book but maybe not what you were expecting
I didnât enjoy this book as much as the authorâs last one. It is definitely a good book thatâs well written, thoroughly researched, and informative, but itâs somewhat depressing. Itâs instructional, telling us about the pitfalls of video game development and its cost on human lives, which is important, but not fun. Itâs not supposed to be fun, but Iâll be honest, while I am sympathetic to the plight of video game developers, I have been playing games for over 30 years and already know it.I donât regret buying the book but hope that next time around the books focus more on making games, not destroying peoples lives.
Nickolas Landry –
Scarring accounts from the gaming industry
This is probably not a great book if you’ve worked in the gaming industry because you probably lived through similar horror stories. This is a great book if you’re considering working in this industry. Not as a means to discourage you from doing so, but as an eye opener, a cautionary tale (many of them actually) to understand what is most likely to happen, how to prepare for it, and more importantly to force you to ask yourself if you’re ready to tackle this. The book is well researched, well written, entertaining, and informative.This is also an excellent book to read if you’re a gamer. I’ve read reviews where, unlike the previous book ‘Blood, Sweat, and Pixels’, some readers found it less interesting because it didn’t cover juicy design details about their favorite games. This book isn’t about the games. It’s about the people, the sacrifices. Read it and appreciate all the hardships that occurred to bring your favorite titles to life. Only a few titles and studios are covered here, but these stories are pervasive across the industry.I loved the book, the audible narration was excellent, and I can’t wait for the next one.
team56th –
More complex, deeper than the predecessor
“Blood Sweat and Pixels” was mostly about AAA success stories with some of their counterweights. “Press Reset” is more about AAA failures and its ensuing indie pains.”Press Reset” requires more industry understandings than BS&P. The games are lesser known to general public, and when the book gets to indie developers it might be hard for those who do not know much about the games.But the book fills out some of the most glaring omittances from BS&P: What happens when the production fails. BS&P ended with Star Wars 1313, but we didn’t hear much about what has become of its developers. Press Reset does exactly that by following the footsteps of ex-Irrational Games dev after its whimsical director and the parent company shuts down the studio.The book is critical of the gaming industry’s dealings with its workers and ends with a strong plea for unionization. The rest of the book serves as a reason supporting this argument. Developers move from coast to coast along the unstable job market, some leave the industry entirely, others go indie but the outlook is unclear. Press Reset doubles down into the dark side of the video game industry in a way BS&P could not, and the two books paired together gives a clear look of why people work in the industry and how the industry isn’t treating them right.I am very much interested in Jason Schreier’s follow-up to Press Reset, even though it’s still some years away.Also, I’m not sure if you agree with the sentiment, but I’ll say this: The true villain of Press Reset is Ken Levine.
Rene –
Me llegó el libro con unas marcas de daño, no tiene cubierta de plastico que lo envuelva.La calidad del libro es regular, los materiales no me gustan del todo. Me recomendaron esta lectura, asi que lo estaré leyendo.
Woodworker –
Well written. Entertaining despite me having no prior knowledge of the video game industry.
Bruno O. –
Quem leu o primeiro livro, sabe a veia investigativa que o Jason tem e o q ele traz à mesa sem medo de entrar em assuntos polêmicos ou expor grandes empresas de game (estou olhando pra vc, EA!!). Um livro de fácil leitura, em par com o primeiro em termos de qualidade e se você gosta de conhecer os bastidores de desenvolvimento de jogos, esse livro (e o primeiro!), precisa ler este livro.
Mikkel Oberg –
It’s not that it’s a bad book per se, but it is uninterestingly written. Mr. Schreier’s prior book, Blood, Swart and Pixels was a fascinating read, a page turner told with a proper nix of anecdotes, behind the scenes, interviews and the author’s own discussions and thoughts.This book, in contrast, reads more like an article on Wikipedia, with a “he said, she said, then this happened”-formula running through it.It’s not that the subject matter is mistreated, however the wit and personal discussions that so helped his last book is completely absent.A surprisingly poor read.
Marco L. –
LETTURA CONSIGLIATA PER CHI VUOLE APPROFONDIRE LE DINAMICHE (E I CONFLITTI) DIETRO LO SVILUPPO DI UN VIDEOGIOCO:Jason Schreier è un giornalista di Bloomberg, da anni nota figura nel mondo videoludico, in particolare per le sue inchieste spesso rivelatrici.Dopo il suo libro Blood, Sweet and Pixels questa nuova pubblicazione porta nuovamente alla luce le difficoltà nello sviluppo dei videogiochi, ponendo lâattenzione sui conflitti tra sfera manageriale e ambiente di sviluppo (particolarmente interessanti i casi di EA e 2K).Lâunica nota negativa riguarda i materiali usati, con una qualità della carta non buona e copertina non rigida.