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Fixing the Games Industry With Jonathan Blow | Sacred Symbols+, Episode 368

Please welcome esteemed game designer, director, and programmer Jonathan Blow to the show. In a wide-ranging two-hour interview, Jonathan and I (Colin) dissect a Tweet he sent out back in January, one that touched on many problems plaguing our industry. (Indeed, it's that Tweet that had me reach out to him to begin with.) In a sometimes-political and always-insightful commentary, Blow fields questions on myriad topics. How are modern games competing for our time? Do some people conflate "gatekeeping" with "having standards"? Why are corporations so averse to merit-based hiring? Has a level of nihilism and disillusionment infected the rank-and-file pool of developers? Does our industry sit disconnected from the vaster realities of the economy? This is a deep chat that hits all of that, plus much more. Enjoy. To get exclusive access to all Sacred Symbols+ episodes, support us at https://www.patreon.com/LastStandMedia

Comments

Nathan Densley

Fantastic! I know it's unlikely to have him on the show again, but I would love to hear from him again.

Dmnsrage (edited)

Comment edits

2024-02-26 04:16:38 Respect for work? Meaning through work? Spoken like a true business owner. I seem to be the only person who thinks this conversation came off as pretentious and holier than thou. Respect for different points of view and more power to you but this was really full of misinterpreted information points. Love the show love the product not every conversation is for everybody. Holy cow the stuff this guy believes. Fox News is left wing what are we even talking about? Dude is nuts
2024-02-26 04:03:21 Respect for work? Meaning through work? Spoken like a true business owner. I seem to be the only person who thinks this conversation came off as pretentious and holier than thou. Respect for different points of view and more power to you but this was really full of misinterpreted information points. Love the show love the product not every conversation is for everybody

Respect for work? Meaning through work? Spoken like a true business owner. I seem to be the only person who thinks this conversation came off as pretentious and holier than thou. Respect for different points of view and more power to you but this was really full of misinterpreted information points. Love the show love the product not every conversation is for everybody

Anonymous

Jonathan Blow tends to pontificate and complain about the things he's passionate about and I personally find it really refreshing and interesting to listen to. But I can see how it can put people off.

Calcifer

Loved it! Jonathan Blow to me is the Indie Kojima. A true creative from a super nerdy programming background. I also really appreciated how Jonathan had to stop to think about responses every now and then and didn’t just blurt out some non answer. Lots of honesty and thought out answers in this conversation. Keep up the great interviews Colin 🔥 One last thing to add. I really liked the part about remote work. I feel exactly the same way Jonathan does apparently! Remote work is way worse than we think!

Anonymous

Great interview. I can’t say I agree with much that Jonathan had to say specifically around remote work but it’s good to hear that side of the fence.

Kevin Cooper

This was an engaging chat. I hope to see him back sometime in the future; preferably with a bit more focus on game design than business economics, though.

Anonymous

The theories for why the games industry is so inefficient were interesting but I'm sorry to say a lot of this was pseudo intellectual populist brainrot, especially in the last half hour. I hope Colin improves his media diet. He said in the past he likes to listen to the likes of Jimmy Dore and Dave Rubin which doesnt bode well. I guess its kinda understandable as people did try to cancel him and now he's locked in this particular worldview. Hopefully LSM can get guests that actually challenge the narratives that seem embraced in this community. It has become a bit of an echo chamber.

Brent

Colin please get some sunlight for Christ sake.

Keith Huntington

1:23:47 why did colin have to call me out like that? 🥺🥺

Damon Pond

Wow this guy is amazing.