Haider CW

California needs to act to protect the incredible game development talent present in the state. We should not accept this as a losing battle.

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If you run a live mobile or F2P title with loot boxes, gacha pulls or any paid random item mechanic, check your PEGI rating this week: the Games Rating Authority, which administers PEGI in the UK, has started reclassifying existing games up to PEGI 16, not just new submissions, and titles rated as low as PEGI 3 are being moved. Pokemon TCG Pocket is now PEGI 16 on the UK Play Store, and Fire Emblem Heroes has moved from 12 to 16. This follows PEGI's March announcement that it would weigh paid random items, time limited offers and other monetisation patterns more heavily in age ratings, after years of treating loot boxes as a lighter concern than violence. The policy manager behind the change, Connor Hinde, says more reclassifications are coming through the rest of October, and publishers with questions should go straight to the PEGI Helpdesk rather than wait for a letter. For anyone running live ops on an existing title, this is the kind of regulatory shift that affects storefront visibility and parental controls well before it touches your actual monetisation design. (Source: https://lnkd.in/ecen5KSx)

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The past few weeks have been heavy. More reductions across games. Major tech companies cutting a third or more of their workforce. Friends in our industry and adjacent ones suddenly unsure what comes next. And behind every headline is a human being. What you do not see publicly is the quiet wave of messages. People asking, “Will I ever work in games again?” People wondering if this is a permanent inflection point for the labor force. People afraid not just of losing a role, but also of losing stability, identity, and the ability to provide for their families. Some approach it analytically. Some are angry. Many are exhausted. Most simply need a job. This past month has been the highest volume of inbound messages I have ever received in 3.5 years. A ton of it is just people who are afraid or sad, employed or not. That is why my content has been lighter. Shorter. More focused on direct community support than on long form analytics or commentary. When the community is hurting, the priority shifts. Less commentary. More care. I will always spend late nights responding. Connecting people. Encouraging them. Trying to offer clarity where I can and honesty where I must. An encouraging word does not fix the macroeconomics. A DM does not magically create a role. A connection does not erase uncertainty. But sometimes stability begins with not feeling alone. If you are struggling right now, you are not weak. If you are worried, you are not irrational. If you are tired, that makes sense. I will always show up for this community. That commitment does not change. But I will also be honest: lately, you can feel the weight of it everywhere. The pain is real. The fatigue is real. And still, we keep going because people deserve dignity. Thank you to every individual and every organization trying to provide even a small measure of stability in a very complex moment. We will keep showing up for each other. And I will keep doing my best, no matter what. I wish everybody cared about and invested in human beings as much as they did AI. Or even a fifth as much.

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