Book Review: Press Reset - Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry

When it comes to highlighting the inner-workings of the video game industry, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone as experienced as Jason Schreier. His knowledge of the behind the scenes work and politics that influences the creation of video games is 2nd to none and you can often be sure if Schreier is reporting a rumour or leak, he's got legitimate sources to back it up. After reading his first book; Blood Sweat and Pixels back in 2017II was impressed with how much detail and history Schreier expresses when he detailed the history of some of the industry's biggest titles and their development. I enjoyed it so much that I was happy to support Schreier again on his next written work which followed a different aspect of the industry which doesn't often get the attention it deserves.

Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry follows Schreier as he breaks down the turbulent impacts which follow in the wake of a video game studio shutting its doors. Day in and day out video game studios exist on the success and revenue their titles bring in. With often at times extreme working conditions including crunch and long project times, the impact of all that work is vital when it comes to job security. Schreier seeks to showcase that ugly truth behind what happens when video game development doesn't produce the best outcomes and outlines the tragic impact it can have on the people behind these studios. That's not to say the book is all doom and gloom though as it also strives to explain how those closures can often lead to some really positive outcomes in the long run. It's a book all about balance and exploring all of the impacts behind studio closures and how the industry can potentially improve on itself in light of it.

The narrative structure of this book may seem rather disjointed as Schreier goes from chapter to chapter telling a different tale each time, but there is an attempt to make some form of link between each story. I just want to get out of the way that I feel Schreier's only flaw with this book is this unnecessary requirement. I feel the flow of this book would have been way better if he didn't seek to link all of these stories together by keeping them all relevant to one another. Irrational Games and 38 Games are two big closures this book talks about and Schreier does a fantastic job breaking down the history and complexity behind them, but he has this tendency to keep bringing all of the other surrounding chapters back to it. I know full well there were a lot more closures in the past fifteen years than what Schreier talks about in this book and I genuinely feel it was a missed opportunity to not showcase more because of his need to link everything together for relevancy.

Apart from the repetitive nature though, the book does hold a lot of value in the stories it tells. Each chapter (for the most part) does do a incredible job in breaking down a very key story in how a studio or group of individuals came to face success and ruin in the wake of the major studio closures. Schreier uses a plethora of sources and quotes to help back up the history he outlines in these chapters which helps keep the timeline consistent and personal. I also like how objective Schreier comes off in the way he outlines these tragic tales. It would be all too easy to throw a lot of shade at the corporations in this book but Schreier comes at it from a very neutral perspective and simply breaks down the facts of these closures while flavouring it with the personal perspectives of the people they affected.

On the whole this is another excellent book from Jason Schreier despite my small gripes with it's repetitive nature. It's a clear and concise window into the world of video game development that is all too easily ignored by most video gamers. It does a fantastic job in exploring the personal tragedy and uneven motions that stems from choosing video game development as a career path. Developing video games can a rewarding experience but the sacrifices these people have to make when it comes to it are bigger than we can imagine and I have nothing but the utmost respect for anyone who chooses to commit to this industry and have real hope their standard of living can change for the better as times moves forward.