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PC Gamer
PC Gamer
Andy Chalk

'The industry's in a really horrible place,' Brenda Romero says: 'We were there in the '80s for the crash, and this is definitely crashier'

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 10: Brenda Romero and John Romero attend the BAFTA Games Awards 2024 Nominees' Party at the Langham Hotel on April 10, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA).

Things are not great in the videogame industry right now. It seems like no matter what you do—make a hit, make a flop, don't make anything at all—there's a good likelihood that you're going to end up out of work. For people who've been around long enough, it brings back memories of the game industry crash of the early 1980s, when the fledgling business suffered a massive contraction driven by oversaturation, external competition, and executive mismanagement. But industry veterans Brenda and John Romero, who were there for that very rough patch, told GamesIndustry that the current situation seems even worse.

"I feel like the industry's in a really horrible place," Brenda Romero said. "I mean, we were there in the '80s for the crash, and this is definitely crashier. There are so few people that have not been affected, or their partner's affected, or they're worried about being affected. It's a really difficult time right now."

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