Jason Schreier's Press Reset: Examining the Impact of Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry

Woodworker: Well written. Entertaining despite me having no prior knowledge of the video game industry.

Canada on Oct 02, 2022

Bruno C.: 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.

Brazil on Aug 01, 2022

team56th: "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...

United States on Feb 09, 2022

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.

Germany on Jul 12, 2021

Marco L.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 l’attenzione sui conflitti tra sfera manageriale e ambiente di sviluppo (particolarmente interessanti i casi di EA e 2K).

L’unica nota negativa riguarda i materiali usati, con una qualità della carta non buona e copertina non rigida.

Italy on Jun 21, 2021

Debitha: What can I say loved every minute of this book, kept me wanting more. I can't wait for the next video games industry journey and stories from the wonderful people and teams who create them. I have read both of Jason's books and would recommend them to anyone interested in a career in video games.

United Kingdom on Jun 16, 2021

Kindle Customer: 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...

United States on May 26, 2021

Kimberly: I loved "Blood, Sweat, and Pixels" and was so excited for this book, I pre-ordered it.

Did it deliver? Yes. Although it wasn't quite as gripping for me as Jason Schreier's last book. It continues the thread of studio turmoil that bubbled up in "Blood, Sweat, and Pixels" by focusing fully on the volatility of working in the video game industry.

Schreier reports that the average length of employment at a video game development role is about 3 years with each new role possibly meaning uprooting the employee's life to move across the country. Studios can close at the drop of a hat whether the company is doing, good, bad, or ugly and employees come to expect and brace for it; even after putting in 80+ hour work weeks to crunch a game out. It's no surprise some people have had to flee the industry entirely for a better work/life balance.

The most interesting section for me was the downfall of Curt Schilling's studio, 38 Studios, and how the Rhode Island state government decided to throw a $75 million loan at the studio if they relocated to Rhode Island and created new jobs. (It didn't end well, the studio went bankrupt in 2012.)

While I am...

United States on May 17, 2021