Just like the street carnival, the Cologne video game trade fair Gamescom follows a long-established choreography. The organizers are talking about new records in terms of exhibitors, partner countries and visitors, and, oh yes, they also have a good time, are often dressed up, film themselves doing their antics and ensure user engagement.
The reporters from the television stations, who were sent out especially for the event, looked into the camera with a worldly expression and emphasized that they were dealing with “the new mainstream.” Politicians from the middle to upper ranks – Economics Minister Habeck was there – were happy about the change of scenery at the largest trade fair of its kind in the world.
But it is also true that the past two years have been a nightmare for the industry. Sales have even been declining for a long time. An estimated 11,000 people have lost their jobs in the industry this year, more than in the whole of 2023. Fear of generative AI is spreading, and while the powerful actors’ union in Hollywood only has to flex its muscles for a few weeks, the gaming sector’s negotiations with employers have been dragging on for 18 months. The strike was called at the end of July.
Where are the new ideas?
There is not only a lack of solutions for the future, but also of ideas in the present. The vast majority of the new titles presented in Cologne are either sequels or video game adaptations of other entertainment franchises such as Marvel’s pantheon of superheroes.
Germany is hit particularly hard. The funding pots, which are already meager by international standards, are being frozen; most recently, more than 60 million euros fell victim to the budgetary wrangling of the traffic light coalition. It doesn’t help that Robert Habeck speaks of video games as “social participation” and “digital biotopes”. The cynic would like to apply for species protection straight away and would like to grant the inhabitants of the endangered habitat a few days of joyful self-forgetfulness.
Unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple, because 2024 also marks the tenth anniversary of the so-called Gamergate controversy. In 2014, a culture war broke out among video gamers over who should interpret the medium. At that time, organized trolls attacked female video game developers and critics, and there were death threats, doxxing, and other attacks. Gamergate articulated a particular kind of toxic masculinity, an anger about losing power, about no longer being the sole target group.
Male stereotypes still prevail in the gaming world
What began as childish whining against more diversity and fewer stereotypes has since evolved. The fan cultures of the internet continue into political discourse. Thus, the desperate desire to maintain the male status quo – and anger at its decline – can be found in many of the codes of the new right itself.
Gamergate continues in the so-called masculinist movements and even in the current version of Trumpism. Although Gamergate emerged from a niche subculture, the same elements can now be found in influencers such as Andrew Tate, as well as Elon Musk and JD Vance. A “Gamergate 2.0” is already being proclaimed in the wake of the sad anniversary.
Gamergate offers archetypal, stereotypical extremes of masculinity and outlines what it means to be a man in certain corners of the internet. The notoriously left behind continue to find an outlet in a culture where female gamers in online multiplayer arenas are harassed simply because their voices identify them as women. This too has unfortunately become mainstream.