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Press Reset

Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry

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 From the bestselling author of Blood, Sweat, and Pixels comes the next definitive, behind-the-scenes account of the video game industry: how some of the past decade's most renowned studios fell apart—and the stories, both triumphant and tragic, of what happened next.

Jason Schreier's groundbreaking reporting has earned him a place among the preeminent investigative journalists covering the world of video games. In his eagerly anticipated, deeply researched new book, Schreier trains his investigative eye on the volatility of the video game industry and the resilience of the people who work in it.

The business of videogames is both a prestige industry and an opaque one. Based on dozens of first-hand interviews that cover the development of landmark games—Bioshock Infinite, Epic Mickey, Dead Space, and more—on to the shocking closures of the studios that made them, Press Reset tells the stories of how real people are affected by game studio shutdowns, and how they recover, move on, or escape the industry entirely.

Schreier's insider interviews cover hostile takeovers, abusive bosses, corporate drama, bounced checks, and that one time the Boston Red Sox's Curt Schilling decided he was going to lead a game studio that would take out World of Warcraft. Along the way, he asks pressing questions about why, when the video game industry is more successful than ever, it's become so hard to make a stable living making video games—and whether the business of making games can change before it's too late. Programming Programming & Software Development Social Sciences Software Development Technology Game Software Video Game Video Game Industry

Critic reviews

“Schreier covers the notoriously secretive gaming industry [and] knows it well.”

—GQ

“Jason Schreier is a huge fan of video games, and his enthusiasm is contagious.”

—Booklist

“My only complaint about Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is that there wasn't more to read.”

—Forbes
All stars
Most relevant
book is fantastic but the audio is mediocre. it keeps switching between good quality and terrible quality for some strange reason.

great book

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Book 21/21 for 2021.

Finished the 21st book for 2021 reading challenge, and it was a doozy. After reading Blood, Sweat and Pixels earlier this year I was initially excited to read the follow up. In reading some of the samples available it felt like more of the same so I decided to skip it for the time being - that was a mistake!

Press Reset is more an industrial work, following the people who worked at studios and how they’ve dealt with the challenges of working in the industry, with the highest highs and lowest lows, as opposed to focusing on the games themselves as Blood Sweat and Pixels did.

There are triumphant stories of success in this book, and some very sad stories of people leaving the industry - there is for the most part - a chronological thread leading from the first story to the final. Without giving much away - there was plenty of fallout in the aftermath of Bioshock Infinite’s release and Irrational’s subsequent shut down, as about 70% of the books stories relate to it.

I found the narration vibrant and told the story well - sometimes the voices for different people in the stories blended together somewhat, but overall I really liked the audio production and got through the book very quickly.

I do have some minor gripes, the final chapters deal with how the problems endemic to the industry could be solved including decentralisation of companies, streamlined creative teams, outsourcing devs, unionisation etc which I found especially fascinating.

However, this was only one chapter out of 10 - and I feel like it was a bit rushed - Schreier is on record in the book and online as being a strong proponent of game dev unions which is absolutely fine, but I felt as a result the book didn’t engage with that topic on both sides as deeply as I’d have liked. I’d love to see potential studies into this, or surveys etc etc - there is an element of this in the book - but it felt a bit one sided and shallow for my liking.

Another fanboy complaint which doesn’t impact anything, but Schreier has now twice used Super Plumber Adventure as an example in his books, where is the love for Mr Blue Needlemouse, my boy Sonic? Come on Jason, represent!

Essential reading for anyone looking at working in games

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I’ve read 2 of Jason’s books and enjoyed them both however the audio in this one was terrible! I had to listen to it on lower volume to enjoy it.

Shame the sound is bad!!

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Was way more interesting and exciting than I thought it would be, almost on par with the first book! Worst thing is the quality of the audio, which would sometimes sound like the guy was talking through a walkie talkie o_O

Another good and interesting read!

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I love games! I'm a gamer. I do not want my favourite past time to be at the cost of people's lives, mental health or anxiety. learning about game studios closing and how we got here is a must to enjoy your past time responsibly.

a must read for all gamers and aspiring game devs

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