"That's why it's okay if I vote for Trump. The other guy isn't good either."

This guy is insufferable. Also, I'm pretty sure Jim hates just about everything lol - especially Ubisoft. He sure does moan a hell of a lot in his videos about a hobby he likes (to hate). Gotta pay the bills I guess, for the hits. There are so many of these 'I hate modern AAA games' on his channel, its gotten to a point on preaching :P That, and Jim's constant political leftist views are constantly rammed in our faces. He was good before, now he's just like every other ResetEra drone.

But yeah I just buy games that I like. I just avoid the crap stuff like micro-transactions. And if there are planned DLC season which are integral, I just wait for the complete editions. You can't really avoid shitty practices. Hell, even Nintendo are dabbing into microtransactions and split DLC content.

That is basically saying: don't criticize the player, criticize the game. And I agree partially: capitalism is a screwed up system and needs to be reformed.

While I agree with that, I meant it more in the sense that I dont see a company looking for its own interests as "shitty", cause thats the only way companies thrive, so to me thats amoral in itself. Speaking generally, without talking about specific practices, the idea that a company has to put itself first is the way it should be. 

I guess the "shitty" part is relative, but I personally link it more to "dishonest practices" like misleading marketing, "pay to win" models and such.
Ideally as Ferrari said, their interest of making money shouldnt come at the expense of their product's quality, and thats what we should support. I suppose that could be Jim Sterling's point too. 

Sterling speaks both about practices like microtransactions, but also about abuse allegations ranging from exploitation of the workforce to sexual abuse.

Yes the bad practices like mistreating employees, false advertisement, etc shall not be rewarded, but when a company is looking for its best interest in a moral way the result is a better product and smaller prices for customers since scale is really something that reduces costs and that is translated to us (unless of course you chose premium products that the value isn`t that much related to price and cost).

So if the best interests of a company matches your needs, most likely you`ll be satisfied with whatever you buy. But also agree that whenever you can try to buy local to support small business that will be much more affected by your personal decision (and you can reach out to say your opinion) than a multinational.

Yeah against all urges i have withold myself from buying some games, there are so many other options to enjoy myself.

Considering your playing habits I would say it is very unlikely that you buy games from companies that have the shittiest practices because that usually shows up on the product as well. Unhappy employees do to poor working condition, paying or abusive overtime is more likely to be bad quality.

Depends, are they called Slaughtering Grounds? There are some indie developers who actually could give some AAA a run for their money in terms of shittyness or anti-consumerism.

And while they all tend to be shitty, the AAA companies very easily take the cake by being deeply exploitative on top of it, both to their employees and their consumers. For them, having their cakes and eating them too is just plain not enough...

Edit: Just for the record: My last titles I bought from:

EA: Dragon Age: Origins on (PC)

Activision Blizzard: Marvel: Ultimate Alliance(Wii)

Ubisoft: Child of Light: Ultimate Edition, Just Dance 2018 (both for the Switch and for my Wife. Last game I bought for myself was South Park: The Stick of Truth on PC)

Bethesda: TES: Morrowind (PC, though admittedly I got some of the modern Wolfenstein titles through Humble Bundle and the like)

Epic: Unreal Tournament 2004