The reality of the videogame industry is that... it's an industry. You have to pay the electric bill, fund salaries, plan R & D, and sell lots of copies of games to stay afloat. So it's not fair to bash any individual company for trying to remain profitable, because that's what they have to do to survive -- and Square Enix in particular should be commended for never compromising on the quality of their triple A titles, even if that quality comes at the cost of short-term profits.
Still, maybe we should start thinking about the ways videogames could be financed in non-commercial ways. Why not fund game artists through nonprofit groups or public grants, the same way film artists, theater and dance companies, operas and other artists get public financing and support? Why should industry money be the only way games get made? I don't have any magic answers, but the time has come to think about these issues. Games are a magnificent art form and a powerhouse mass media, which means videogame culture as a whole (the totality of fans, gamers, industry professionals, creators, media regulators and companies) needs to take its social responsibilities seriously.
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