TL;DR February 2024
A compendium of the comings and goings in research, development, and news about our digital playgrounds from February 2024.
Here are some of the things you may have missed over February 2024.
Apologies that this month's newsletter is a few days late and you would think I learn because this happens every February. I have reminders to release the newsletter on the 30th of every month so every year poor February misses the schedule.
Research & News
Disney invested 1.5 billion (with a B!) in Fortnite maker Epic Games.
Perhaps the biggest news of this month was the monumental collaboration that was announced between Disney and Epic Games to create “a transformational new games and entertainment universe” where people can “play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, STar Wars, Avatar and more.”. You can read more about it here.
Layoffs, layoffs, layoffs.
Yep, still talking about layoffs.
This month, PC gamer released a new article that visualizes the impact of 16,000 games industry layoffs in a single chart. It is a striking visualization of what the games industry has been going through over the last 18 months. You can read the full article, here.
This piece from Rebecca Valentine is also some of the best coverage I’ve seen on the topic. She spoke to over 40 works who have lost their jobs to try and get to the bottom of the reasons behind the current state of the industry. And no, it hasn’t all been just about COVID over hiring. Her followup piece (published March 1, but hey this newsletter is a few days late so it counts) about the human cost of layoffs is also stellar. We aren’t just talking about massive numbers. We are talking about lives, human lives, senses of identity, self worth, well being decimated by the thousand.
Minors exposed to mass shooter glorification across mainstream social media platforms (and games).
A new report from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue uncovered a content ecosystem that glorifies mass shootings and is readily accessible to anyone (including minors) across a variety of platforms - TikTok, Discord, Roblox, Telegram, and X - despite the fact there are policies that prohibit it. This is another important piece of evidence to support the need for stronger policies and greater transparency around moderation pipelines. You can read the full report here.
NEW BOOK ALERT: Games & Extremism
This month, my newest book (co-edited with Linda Schlegel) was announced and made open access. That means the book, in its entirety, is freely available. Though the paperback would look very nice on a bookshelf, nothing makes me happier than science without a paywall. You can learn more about the book here and enjoy it in all its open access glory, here.
ICYMI: Psychgeist
This month we’ve seen the release of several new “bite sized” science shorts for you to get your daily fix of games + pop culture + science in 60 seconds or less!
This month was also the official launch of the Most Recent Save Podcast! I sat down with Paul Fischer from the US State Department’s Global Engagement Center to talk about how he went from International Relations Scholar to Game Maker. You can listen to the podcast anywhere you like to listen to podcasts but here’s the Spotify link to make things easy.
Also, ICYMI (this is the heading for this section after all) I released my updated 10 Essential Readings in #GameStudies list in January. It has been my most watched video this year which means you all clearly want/need to go book shopping. If you didn’t catch it the first time around, enjoy my CANVA superimposed images (my editing is becoming more sophisticated in 2024) and stay till the end for a special guest!
What I’m watching: Succession (HBO). HOW DID ALL YOU LET ME SLEEP ON THIS FOR SO LONG. It’s fantastic. I am halfway through S2 and have a love/hate relationship with every member of the Roy family.
What I’m reading: The new report from GLADD about the state of LGBTQ inclusion in video games. One key takeaway from this report is the impact of quality representation on player purchases and engagement, with 70% of LGBTQ and 46% of non-LBGTQ players saying they are less likely to buy or play a game if it contains harmful tropes or stereotypes about the LGBTQ community.
What I’m playing: There’s been a lot of Minecraft in my house this month and I may be starting to come around to it despite the fact my spatial awareness and 3D mental rotation is my achilles heel. I do feel the need to shout out to GamerSafer hopping on board with the official Minecraft server list. Since the announcement of that collaboration, I have been feeling a lot better about exploring some of the public maps. This month, Microsoft also announced the launch of Cyberspace: Good Game, a story based adventure to help players understand “responsibilities, tools, responses, and strategies that enable healthy online interactions.” I haven’t checked it out yet, but am looking forward to it.
Questions from the Community?
I keep musing on ways to add value to this newsletter and questions from the community was the first thought that came to mind. Not only does Victoria Tran feature one every month in her newsletter (and she is forever my muse) but, I used to host a column a million years ago called Dear Dr. Rachel where I would answer questions (primarily from parents) in and around game studies. So this month, I am going to start taking questions from the community through the substack chat associated with this newsletter. If you are a paid subscriber, you can access this feature! If you are not a paid subscriber… why not? Science shouldn’t have a paywall but I would really love to be able to hire a professional editor for the Psychgeist YouTube.
Other places you can find my musings…
Personal Website, for more about my research and upcoming events
Psychgeist, my YouTube channel dedicated to the science of digital games. New videos are released sporadically on Wednesdays and if you aren’t a subscriber yet, please click that link and hit that big red button. Subscribing is FREE and is the easiest way to support my work by increasing engagement and making the algorithm happy
Twitter, (it will always be Twitter to me!) my digital home away from home
Most Recent Save Podcast, go ahead, give it a like. I promise you’ll love it.
Instagram, for artsy pictures of me drinking coffee