If you follow the game industry, sometimes it’s hard to view the future with much optimism. Between January and May, there have been more than 10,000 layoffs, already trumping last year’s tally. The media sphere is shrinking, too, with sites shutting down and others being bought out, prompting further layoffs. Rising budgets at the top end are leading to dwindling profits, forcing publishers toward ever-safer bets or more exploitative monetisation. And discoverability is an ongoing problem for smaller teams, with more games than ever but fewer outlets to cover them.
Yet there are always signs of hope – and often it’s the games themselves that provide them. Kaizen Game Works’ Promise Mascot Agency, a game in which you run the eponymous organisation from a rundown former love hotel (while soliciting new business by driving around a Showa-era town in a beaten-up old truck), offers plenty of cause for cheer. Developed with financial support from indie fund Kowloon, it’s a game with a spirit of collaboration at its heart. The creative linchpin behind this issue’s cover game, Ikumi Nakamura, helped on the project with both cultural authenticity and mascot designs. And the game reflects its creation somewhat: this is a tale of outsiders helping one another to thrive in the face of capitalism, its bighearted yakuza protagonist Michi learning to adapt to the new reality of an evolving world with the help of kindly locals and a growing cadre of misfit creatures.
