I have always been intrigued by how, during the ’80s and early ’90s, creativity in game development seemed boundless, and entire new genres would emerge with fascinating new ways of storytelling and challenging, engaging gameplay. This was often achieved by only a handful of people, or even by just a single person. If one looks closely at the modern big franchises of our day, you can see that 95% of the DNA of these games still comes from these early ancestors (minus the loot boxes, online subscriptions, and the myriad ways to keep players in an infinite loop of playing).

At the same time, it seems stunning how desperately people seem to search for this early magic, or for new ways to bottle it up and recreate it. Billions are spent, studios are merged, reopened, and closed, names are bought and sold, and Solitaire and Minesweeper are repackaged for the thousandth time.

Here is an interesting read:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/09/shuffl … -restructuring/

(I think I’ll fire up my 286 and play a few rounds of Sokoban…)