A good insight into the development troubles of several recent games which is undermined by a lack of alternative perspectives.

The author had clearly managed to gain broad access to the influential people in most of the games he covers, and piecing together the tales of what happened is no simple feat, so as an uncritical review of the recent state of the game industry it is a useful document, and that's what keeps it over 3⭐. However.

It's hard to see how you can release a book like this in the wake of Gamergate and a swathe of solid critique of the industry's culture and practices and make almost reference to it. If there is any thesis to the book, it's that games are chaotic to produce and crunch is unavoidable. Little attempt seems to have been made to find counter examples or uncover the underlying reasons for either of these notions, and ongoing accusations of sexism and racism are at best mentioned in passing.

The end result is a book that gives more insight than the industry's usual rebadged PR approach to journalism, but that's a low bar to clear and it feels like there was a much better book that could have been written but this author has chosen not to.