Rip It Up and Start Again
"Being too far ahead of your time is indistinguishable from being wrong."
Howard Marks, "On Bubble Watch"
In 2017, we published Punk Playthings: Provocations for 21st Century Game Makers. We argued for playthings over products. Culture over commodity. Entrepreneurship over ennui. We were too far ahead of our time wrong.
Revisiting it now, on the cusp of 2026, the timing fits.
- Empires are dying..
- Industry is deprofessionalising..
- Tools, techniques and technologies are democratising..
- Lofi, DIY playthings are creating culture and collateral.
"Most people…still cling to what I call the rearview mirror view of their world...an environment becomes fully visible only when it has been superseded by a new environment; thus we are always one step behind in our view of the world. "
Marshall McLuhan, "The Playboy Interview"
Punk Playthings was prescient. Many probes and provocations feel right for the hard times the games industry finds itself in now. But you can't map the future in the rearview mirror. There are newer, better ways to dream, think and do the work of play in the age of amusement.
"Well, how did I get here?" Talking Heads, "Once in a Lifetime"
So we're remixing the thesis for a post-industrial reality. But first, a short detour to establish provenance from Punk Playthings to today.
Across the remainder of 2025, we'll publish a season of Punk Provocations from the Punk Playthings archive ahead of a 2026 launch of Post-Industrial Playful Media. Subscribe for new essays.