![[Press Reset.webp|247]] This book was my first book about the video game industry, and also my first book from the author. I've always been a huge fan of video games, been playing them since I was about 4-5 years old. I've kind of known that this industry was very volatile. This book is mainly about the stories of studios shutting down for various reasons. This investigative report shed some light on the behind the scenes of a couple of gaming studios, and it really highlighted the clash between game studios and publishers. It essentially made me extremely mad that the greed of big publishers in chasing after big trends and exponential profits led to thousands of layoffs within the industry. It is understandable that not every game will be profitable enough to keep studios going on, but the book gives many examples of very brutal cases of mismanagement, or micromanagement, or lack of planning or transparency that shapes this industry in this current form. What I liked about this book is the strong emphasis on the human casualties of these studios shutting down, and their experiences and stories. It really helps understand why the industry looks like it does, and what you could expect if you decide to join it. What I didn't like about this book is that it comments quite a lot about the industry while giving virtually no data or statistics, only anecdotal evidence from a small sample of studios and publishers. It also is extremely US-centric, which reduces the impact of the book for anyone who doesn't live in the US (like me). The book is well-written, however the chapters can become quite formulaic: 1. Specific person joins the video game industry with a job in a AAA studio. 2. Beginning is amazing and a dream 3. Studio is running out of money, thus desperately looks for financing, usually getting help from a big publisher 4. Publisher has a bunch of demands and puts pressure on the studio, which leads to flops 5. Studio shuts down and people have to relocated or find a new job 6. Rinse and repeat for multiple examples Overall, I'd say this is a great book to know about the realities of the video game industry, with a caveat that this is very US-based and pre-pandemic. Recommend for anyone looking into getting into the industry!