things not returning to how they once were
Ever since I left my premed job back in March to honestly, just have three months off before medical school (and military trainings), I've had the opportunity to revisit video games.
One of them is Cyberpunk 2077. Before I ever touched this game, I watched some random recommended Youtube video on Panam Palmer's voice actor, Emily Woo-Zeller, thanking the fans for their support and how she loved Panam's character. It piqued my interest in Cyberpunk 2077 even more.
A long time ago, before AI narrations polluted every major news outlet, there was an app called Audm. It consisted of professional narrators just reading lengthy news articles and longform journalism articles. From 2020 until 2023, I listened to news and other interesting pieces on Audm daily. It was literally my favourite app and I recommended it to everybody. Emily Woo-Zeller narrated a lot of articles on that app. She was an amazing narrator, and I always heard her name at the end of the credits. To be honest, if I hadn't known her, I probably wouldn't have as much interest in Cyberpunk 2077 as I do.
However, in 2023, The New York Times shut down the app for good and gave a temporarily free membership to the NYT Audio app. It was such a downgrade. It did not have the wide range of publishers like Audm did. Moreover, a lot of the articles just.. straight up sucked. I tried to give the app a chance for a week, until I deleted it off my phone. It wasn't worth it.
Now here was a tale as old as time: enshittification. That's exactly what NYT did to Audm.
Today, I had a Youtube video recommended to me about how IGN scored Crimson Desert lower than the biggest flop in video game history, Concord. The video then started giving a history about how one of IGN's reviewers plagirised someone's Youtube video review for a completely different game.
The video reminded me of my distaste for IGN. Now, I know that company has a long and questionable history, but something that has them in my shitlist forever is when they acquired Humble Bundle.
Back during its peak, Humble Bundle gave such amazing deals on both indie and AAA games. You also had the option to donate to a charity of your choice before you brought a bundle, and I'd always choose MSF/Doctors Without Borders because back during undergrad, my mates and I started a student chapter of MSF for our campus. I honestly think Humble Bundle is to blame for a lot of people having a very LARGE Steam library.
Ever since Humble Bundle joined forces with IGN in 2017, the enshittification began. There were now more bundles, beyond video games, such as books/comics and software, but.. they weren't exciting. You'd get gems from time to time but the new corporate takeover left a stink you couldn't get rid of. IGN gave less profits to charities. Customer support worsened or was non-existent.
Back during my birthday of senior year in college, my friend just opened their Humble Bundle account, filtered by unused keys, and told me to take as many as I wanted. I took three games. They had a subscription to Humble Bundle, back before the IGN acquisition. This is the same person with over 600 games in their Steam library alone.
Heck, I even had another friend who used to share Humble Bundle links with me but he hasn't for years now. I don't even think he uses it anymore.
I'm just sad by how gems of products are worse with corporate buyouts. Only the bottom line and increased profits matter. It feels like things are so much more profit-driven now, with worser quality. I don't have any solutions or suggestions, I just wanted to lament.