It's been a complete mess of a year. I think there's a lot of tension about the state the world will be in in the future, and I think we've all been on edge as we question whether the world will get better any time soon. Me personally? I just don’t know… I’m keeping my eyes on signs of further decline.
But at the very least, There's still some good things that have happened, and I'm here to talk about them for one reason that's crossed my mind.
I've noticed that in some of the past years there's been a post late in the year counting the past victories we've seen, and I was kind of excited to see this year's edition of the post mention Concord/Dustborn/Whatnot - but the post never happened. so while we are at it, I feel I could do an unofficial edition counting all the things I've noticed.
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Sweet Baby Inc. Of course, it wouldn't be a post recapping both years if I didn't bring this company up! We all know the story now: Curator starts tracking their games, SBI tries to get it removed only to get blasted off twitter, more people are now aware of consultancy firms. And I will say that one thing I have noticed is that nobody who isn't directly involved in the company unironically defends them at all. Even a lot of people who contest the notion that diversity is bad for games will generally try to say that they aren't as big a deal as we say they are rather than say they aren't bad, as they seem (at least subconsciously) aware at least that nobody can defend Sweet Baby Inc without looking like a shill.
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Concord. This game may have been forgotten soon after launch were it not for the fact that it lasted only two weeks. It went from being hyped as the future of Playstation to something sony wants you to forget - especially since many have noted the bad character designs, lack of improvement on the hero shooter genre, and stories about toxic positivity at the studio, while also keeping eyes and ears out for the people who were responsible for the mess being involved in other projects.
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Dustborn. The embodiment of the "Modern audience" garbage (made even dumber by how they try to play a lot of it without any irony), this game is probably only anywhere near successful due to getting government grants. Having done even worse than Concord, it's highly unlikely we will be seeing a sequel any time soon or even ever.
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Unknown 9 Awakening. Not as greatly remembered as the previous two examples, though much like Concord it had an entire multimedia franchise planned out for it that got cancelled after extremely bad sales killed the developer. What little has been seen of the game and commonly talked about has not been promising, complete with a generic girlboss as the protagonist and the unpolished technical aspects.
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Dragon Age: The Veilguard. An underwhelming return to an old franchise after almost a decade in development, many people have panned the character of taash, the inconsistent tone and art design, the extremely limited roleplaying options and importable choices from previous games, the linear levels and combat, and the ending of the game. Perhaps one of the most well known stories of a developer putting on a front, many on this sub remember Jason Scherier hyping up the game as a success only to delete his posts on the matter and later making an article about the failure. While it hasn't killed Bioware (and even then the next Mass Effect is probably a do or die thing for them), it looks like it has killed the Dragon Age franchise.
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Ghost of Yotei. I don't know much about this game as much as other stories I have heard about, but from what I know, it seems that there have been several shitty devs linked to this game, and the reception is far below that of Ghost of Tsushima. I don't think there's been as much evidence to suggest it didn't do as well as it's claimed in the same vein as Failguard, but some people are still on high alert. EDIT: People have mentioned that a lead dev of the game got fired after the release, so there's that too.
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Assassin's Creed Shadows. Possibly the biggest story we've seen in 2025, Assassin's Creed We Wuz Samurai has been causing heat not just for it's hamfisted insertion of the myth of Yasuke and other blatant diversity shit, despite claiming to be historically accurate, but also the lack of care put towards the handling of Japanese culture and history (to the point actual Japanese people have spoken about how much they dislike it) and just feeling like more Ubisoft open world garbage. Despite Ubisoft claiming it did well, there have been several tells that things are not going well for them in the time since, including the freezing of Stock and the founding of Vantage Studios to hold all their major IPs, leading some to suspect that the Guillemot family is preparing a golden parachute. Also fun was that on the very same day it launched, some guy released a game called Yasuke Simulator which did the myth of Yasuke much better and is a much better game overall, even if I think it won't be remembered as much after the year ends.
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EA going Private. I don't think this is as big a win as usual, but people have seemed somewhat hopeful that there’s a chance that EA will clean itself up. I won’t hold my breath, but maybe this could be used as proof that private companies are less beholden to the whims of investment firms.
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The Nintendo Palworld Lawsuit. Really, I am mostly trying to focus on the good here, since the dawn of the Switch 2 has marked what many people believe to be Nintendo’s decline from the last remotely respectable AAA company to the Asian equivalent of modern Disney. But the good news is that the Palworld Lawsuit seems like it’s on track to fail, and it might have cost them a lot of money in the process. I especially hope this knocks some sense into them after Pokemon Legends ZA proved that Game Freak is no longer capable of making worthwhile games or designing interesting mega evolutions. It’s also made me dig up Palworld for another go, especially since the game has grown a lot in the time since it launched.
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Honorable mentions would likely go to Avowed ‘s underwhelming sales, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet already looking pretty crummy out the gate, rumors about Elon Musk buying D&D (which would be good for a laugh, at least) and Expedition 33 seemingly blowing the entire AAA industry out of the water.
Do you know any other notable wins that have occured this year? Feel free to put them in the comments below.
I think Ubisoft's current state is our biggest win, they were one of the biggest studios to gulp down the woke Kool-Aid and their self destruction is our triumph. Looking back on it, I was wrong thinking EA would be the first big studio to fall as they just follow money so if the money isn't woke, they'll start removing the woke.
The salt in the wound for Ubisoft is that the biggest awarded game this year was made by EX Ubisoft devs. So they HAD the talent but pushed them out for the danger hairs.
Oh additional on one of the others you mentioned, Sony have apparently FIRED the head of the studio that made Ghost of Yotei and are on the verge of pulling out of Western studios all together to be Japanese only. That combined with Microsoft pulling out of consoles and that the ram prices may push back any future consoles to 2030, seems the only way to survive for game studios and publishers is fire the woke.
At this point, I don't want them to survive. I want smoldering craters left where the developers and publishers once stood, as a warning for others in the future. Old AAA is dead and not even worth saving. We would be better off building a new industry over the ashes of the old.
That's sort of already happening. Indie studios are haphazardly filling the demand for games that aren't woke slop. They just have to navigate around the flaming piles of shit called AAA.
Great post. I think Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and Expedition 33 deserve their own placement and here's why:
That doesn't even summarize the full story, as Daniel Vavra the game director/head of Warhorse Studios cultivated a minor internet celebrityship all the way back to the early years of Gamergate, and the premise of the game itself is accurate European history so not only were they ruining a white IP, they were vandalizing the historical account as well.
On top of that, the developers crapped on both fans and Christians prior to launch. Why? In a bid for mainstream recognition and awards. Get profitable by courting the anti-woke crowd, get mainstream approval by shedding them.
But, funny enough, KC:D 2 was collateral damage at one of the biggest industry shows, the Game Awards, when Expedition 33 defeated it for best RPG. So in the end, the woke betrayal was for nothing. Vavra Wormtongue was thrown off the parapets of Isengard and the winner ended up being a game that, despite funding from the French government, killed off its diversity cast in the first 15 minutes and proceeded to tell an artistic, apolitical story for the rest of the game.
On top of that, the mascot for Expedition 33 is a super cute girl (Lindsay Ellis clutches her heart) who is also instantly recognizable as French (pulls her hair) and a redhead (frothing at the mouth). A complete, maybe even defiant, repudiation of the last decade.
Honestly, it would be hard to make up a better story if you tried.
I don't know if it counts as a 'win' or whatever, but the KCD2 debacle was enriching in telling us everything we need to know about Daniel Vavra and certain 'anti-woke' influencers.
Ah, Dustborn. That time leftards went so off the deep end they made a rape simulator.
Wait, as in literal rape or figurative rape? I don't remember any actual rape happening in gameplay videos that I have watched.
Forcing someone to do something they don't want to. Y'know, like how troons force themselves into womens' bathrooms despite no one wanting them in there?
It's a gameplay mechanic.
https://kotakuinaction2.win/p/1994fVr4hF/can-you-believe-this-isnt-a-paro/c/
Direct your attention to the "Bully" section.
On your Ghost of Yotei point- It certainly isn't even cutting it close to Tsushima's numbers in the same amount of time, and I doubt that'll get any better at all with a Steam port.
What's the deal with Switch 2 hate? Lackluster upgrade?
My kids got one. Mario Kart is really solid. A number of older games have free upgrades which make them nicer to play. It doesn't seem especially compelling to me (I imagine we'll be waiting some time for new Mario, new Zelda, new...really anything), but the hardware seems pretty decent?
It's not just being a lackluster upgrade. Switch 2 cartridges have been hopping on the new schitck of only having a code to download the game on it rather than actually having the game. Add to that, and the first few games that have been put out on the platform (Mario Kart World, Pokemon ZA, the new pokemon animal crossing game, etc) have been underwhelming at best and outright bad at worst.
Not to mention the Palworld Lawsuit has turned many people away from the company.
Maybe things will change when Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave comes out, but time will tell. The only thing I really liked in the last Nintendo Direct besides that was Danganronpa 2x2, and that game can be bought on PC. But right now it doesn't look as promising as the Switch 1 was.
I mostly don't understand why they didn't wait a bit longer to have a new Zelda or a new Kart or a new Smash at the same time. I really like Mario Kart World. The open world is fun, but I think there are also a lot of missed potentials there. Competitive time challenges and so forth..
I'm hoping for some big updates down the line.
The cartridge issue is really annoying, but aren't most of the other consoles like that now? I haven't touched a Playstation or an Xbox in several generations.
I've gotta disagree about Mario Kart World. We probably just have different tastes, but I found the actual racing part to be extremely underwhelming. I beat nearly every race at 150cc on my first try. What's the point in replaying?
Old Mario Karts used to be fun to master; trying to shave fractions of a second off of lap times and unlocking staff ghosts or just beating course records were good challenges. I found the single long tracks to be forgettable and not remotely compelling to try to master.
I did spend some time playing the open world, but just to kill time. I can't actually say I enjoyed it or got much satisfaction from finding the ? pads, doing the ! challenges, or getting the Peach coins. It was mostly like, "ok, well that's done now, glad I don't have to do it again."
I absolutely share many of those complaints. DS Mario Kart was maybe my favorite, and I was really obsessive about 3 stars and the challenges. That's what I hope they add to MKW. I wish there was more of that.
My kids love the open world. Online play is good too. Knockout Tours are a lot of fun.
Like I said about the Switch2 more generally, it does feel a bit unfinished.
And even you forgot MindsEye! The flop of the year. So dull that we couldn't even give it attention to hate it.
Shame about Nintendo. Like MS, they moved from greedy, but offering what customers more or less what they wanted, as their means of making money, to starting down the path of squeezing customers, assuming they're all slop-gobbling pay piggies.
There might a chance the next Battlefield game won't have wahman or fag shit now that EA is owned by the Saudis, especially since Prince Salman is a prolific gamer.
https://medium.com/@weltallic/gamergate-victories-c3c66bcf0414
I've been pretty blackpilled of late. Which doesn't spur me to write stuff.
And whitepilled by GG-related vidya happenings... which doesn't spur me to write stuff.
I know it's a contradiction. Let me explain:
IRL Work has been busy; doing very good business while our competitors flounder and close. While this may be good from a business POV, it also means little free time.
I discovered I don't have an Energy Bar; I have an Exhaustion Bar. Instead of energy depleting, my exhaustion increases and I need time spent doing nothing before I can consider doing hobby projects. I used to think "I'll work during the week and do personal projects on the weekend!" Not anymore. I need to do nothing during my days off now.
I'm getting addicted to dopamine-inducing numbers from meme making. I've been making them quite regularly, with several going viral. Something like 6K likes feel great, and the one that got 100K+ made me feel proud... but now I just spam them hoping to see NUMBAH GO UP. I know I need to quit. Don't let anyone tell you the dopamine hit isn't real.
Blackpilled: Following politics have been utterly disheartening. Ever since Charlie Kirk, the right base has been glowing red-eyed furious... but nothing happened. Combined with the Pam/Kash/Dan fiasco where they've arrested 0 for the Biden admin's hundreds by this time in the presidency, coupled with the left base graduating from firebombing Teslas to overt assassinations (with thunderous celebration on reddit/TikTok)... and it's pure doom material. When the opposition wins, you keep the fire burning because of the HOPE you have for when you win. But when you actually win and deliver the presidency/house/senate/scotus/popular vote, and nothing happens... you don't even have hope anymore to fuel you. Bane was wrong; you can have despair without hope.
Whitepilled: From a GG perspective, things are great! Concord was the biggest multi-million dollar flop disaster since Mars Needs Moms, and the memes were (and continue to be) phenomenal. Assasins Creed Shadows looks to have financially ruined the company, and the whole Internet swarmed to expose Sweet Baby Inc so fast and so devastatingly, it was dubbed GamerGate 2.0. And it all happened without us doing anything. Games we like did great, while SJW-infested companies and IP's crashed and burned spectacularly... so why should I bother posting a morale boost? We started an avalanche, and it's continuing to gain speed and power quite nicely with zero prodding from us.
I used to be excited and proud to show off rare Vivians. But with the advent of AI, tons of Vivians are being made... and they mean nothing. When Ashion or Eltonel or Illeity or HenLP made something new, it was cause for celebration. But now, new Vivs aren't special anymore because it's all just AI-generated. So we have tons of new, amazing Vivian james art... and it means nothing to me. It's just not special. None of it's real. There's no soul.
So... yeah. No time, no energy, too distracted by quickie hits of social media likes and home projects, and every day I get more blackpilled by politics ("he's building a ballroom; isn't that what you voted for?!"). Meanwhile, wokeness in entertainment is being mocked and ridiculed and "Non-buy'naried" into bankruptcy just fine without my cheerleading. Which is new.
I still have my txt list of all the 2024 victories and woke defeats, and also the 2025 one, too. I just... don't have the energy/care enough to write it all up.
I kept waiting for some major HABBENING to make me go wide-eyed and spur me into action. It never happened.
TL;DR: https://i.imgur.com/LrCAexv.jpeg
I guess in that case I am glad to be of service to you! Maybe you can add the post I made here to your medium posts.
And yeah, I do think people are getting worried about what's going to happen when trump's out of office. I personally had doubts he would ever make the comeback in the first place (and I think the fact that he freed the J6 prisoners shows that any bad effects from later presidents could also be undone in time), but he's been getting less promising as time has worn on (even if I can understand he might not be able to just halt immigration outright) and I don't know if Vance has it in him to win it even if he would be the best pick for president. And I don't even know who would be a good pick for next president at this point - Desantis floundered his inital good showing, and Vivek Ramasamy just seems like he's too corporate even if the left thinks he's Indian Donald Trump. People are starting to get more distrustful of the ability of voting to genuinely help them, too.
But at the same time, it's clear that AAA companies are finally getting wrecked after going downhill in every concieveable fashion since the 2010s began. Even if I can only count the number of major companies whose days are clearly numbered on one hand, it seems like fatigue is setting in enough to be a wakeup call.