Art Divisive

I think the art/media community/profession is in one of it's most precarious positions ever. Every day it seems I'm reading an article that talks about how some big multi-million dollar project became a massive flop and then the artists behind it are laid off without a second chance. Video games and movies have been the biggest failures recently since they've been chasing trends rather than setting the tone. I don't think it's entirely the industry's fault: Art does have to follow the money often times because without funding, well, it's hard to live and continue your unpaid work. It looks like there is a shift back towards quality experiences versus quantity (thank Marvel and DC for the flood of mediocrity in the last few years). 

But.

I say "but" with a big emphasis because quality used to dictate whether or not something was successful. That is no longer the case. Look at the recent release of Dragon Age: Veilguard of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (you could probably look at some upcoming/recently released movies, too). Both of those games are arguably high quality products that deliver the experience they say they will, yet before the games actually released there were hundreds if not thousands of negative reviews. Why? No one had played either title. When the games released, more reviews flooded in with flagrant negative comments that literally had NOTHING to do with the game, experience, or quality of the title. Or you have a slew of misinformed people who never played the previous titles and were somehow expecting an entirely different game. It's like ordering a hamburger, knowing you like hamburgers, and then when you buy a hotdog from a similar vendor, you hate them for not delivering you a hamburger. How is that their fault? They didn't hide the ingredients list or what it would come with but somehow their dissatisfaction is warranted. Wrong.

It'd be a lot easier and more honest to give something 3 out of 5 stars and say that it just wasn't for them or what they were expecting. Unfortunately, the problem is within.

I'm going back to Dragon Age: Veilguard. Cheers.