With Elon Musk’s recent acquisition of Twitter, gaming developers and companies are voicing their concerns it might negatively impact their business.
Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of Twitter this week has caused concern about the social media platform's future, and game developers have joined the conversation to express their doubts.
Although Twitter is not the more popular social media site, it has become an integral tool for solo entrepreneurs and businesses alike, including in the gaming industry. Per IGN, individual game developers and companies used the platform to promote themselves and their work, share recent games and network with industry insiders. “Twitter is generally a great networking tool for developers — trending hashtags, asking for advice, the ability to retweet work or portfolios, and just casually replying to tweets has helped many folks connect with each other,” said Victoria Tran, Community Director for Inner Sloth, the developers of Among Us. Musk's acquisition of Twitter has left many in the community concerned over how it might change such an essential part of their business.
Tran explained how part of what makes Twitter so valuable for developers is its ease of access and how it instantly connects them with those they need to reach the most — namely players, content creators and journalists. The same is true for corporations, with the platform providing advantages that other social media sites cannot compete with. “Twitter is also relatively low lift in terms of producing content — it focuses on words, while other platforms like Instagram and TikTok require more work with images or video,” Tran said. “It’s a quicker way to connect, and unlike Facebook, you don’t necessarily have to friend request people in order to chat with them.”
Another factor for concern is Musk's claims of being a "free speech absolutist," raising fears he may allow a loosening of rules which protect users from bullying and harassment. This stems from Musk's repeated comments about the virtues of "free speech" and descriptions of Twitter as a "digital town square." Recently, he told attendees at a TED conference that, short of illegal content, he would allow "gray area" Tweets on the platform. This by far marks the most significant concern for those in the gaming industry.
One AAA game developer currently employed at a major studio anonymously expressed their concerns about the buyout. "We can already see a very cautious response from the Twitter userbase, especially among those who are victims or witnesses of harassment and abuse on the platform.” According to them, a loss of standards could mean a loss of audience. “We spent months and years cultivating our audiences on this platform, we’re very concerned that they might choose to leave it behind in fear of even more abuse at the excuse of ‘free speech.’ The same goes for brands, as it’s still unclear what some of these features would mean for content moderation and reporting, which is already an issue today.”
Colin Cummings, who runs Social Media and Community for Evolve PR, also spoke on the subject. “Twitter has been the go-to platform for video game developers and publishers for a long time now and its ease of use and accessible audiences made this platform important to rely on. If anything disrupts this or makes this worse, then my role as a community and social media manager just got more important.”
Musk's acquisition of Twitter comes at an already embroiled time for the gaming industry, with several companies in hot water. Nintendo was recently accused of violating labor laws, allegedly firing an employee for wanting to unionize. Sony cut 90 employees from PlayStation as part of a "global transition," specifically targeting sales and marketing workers in a move many suspect is due to a turn towards digital direct-to-cosumer initiatives. Perhaps most infamously, Activision Blizzard is currently being sued by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing for workplace discrimination, sexual harassment and the company's "frat boy" culture.
Source: IGN
Julia Anderson is a Gaming News Editor for CBR. She is a life-long gamer and bookworm, spending most of her childhood either glued to a novel or the computer. As a teen, she found herself deeply embedded in the fanfiction community and discovered her talent for writing and editing. Since then, she’s run her own freelance writing and editing business, Anderson Wordsmith. When she isn’t reading or playing D&D, RPGs, or stealth-based games, Julia is usually found imitating old age: drinking herbal tea in her favorite chair, crocheting, and watching a Shakespeare or Jane Austen adaptation with her faithful dog, Ben.
