The Cost of Horizons | Static Canvas

Ambitious works are never the sole labour of a single brilliant mind, and as the complexity of games ever increases, we need to be mindful of the toll that has on the workforce that builds them. Ask yourself: Do you really need Arthur Morgan's pupils to dilate? Or 3000 square miles of landmass to traverse? Does a game benefit from additional complexities, and are they worth the countless additional, frequently unpaid, hours to craft them?

Are they worth the scores of talent leaving the industry behind in it's wake?

The footage used for this video embraces a number of studios not all of whom have necessarily come under fire for abusing crunch culture, but all represent brilliant monolithic endeavours that are brought into creation by toil of one type or another.

The music used in this video is from the Red Dead Redemption 2 soundtrack, composed primarily by Woody Jackson

Static Canvas is written, recorded and produced by Thomas Ife