The games industry is stifled by a culture of fear

The games industry is stifled by a culture of fear A workshop at Madeira Games Summit concluded that maintaining courage in your convictions is the key to successful game development The games industry is stifled by a culture of fear that prioritises algorithmic trends and market research over the creative conviction and personal taste required to produce genuine hits. That was the conclusion of a workgroup hosted by developer and consultant Rami Ismail at the 2026 DevGAMM Madeira Games Summit, which took place in May. The Vlambeer co-founder's workgroup – entitled "We're moving fast and losing what made us good (creativity, craft & the future)" – called for the industry to reject risk-averse decision-making, asserting that the reflexive avoidance of failure has become a greater threat to success than the inherent uncertainty of creative work. Ismail gave the following summation: "The industry’s fear of risk is currently the largest risk it faces." Read this next - Compulsion Games officially separates from Xbox – "The team told me we would rather eat rocks and drink gasoline than be split up" - Rover's Tale developer Observer Interactive parts ways with Team17 as it moves to self-publishing - Report: Live-service removed from Horizon Hunters Gathering following negative player feedback