r/SocialistGaming • u/thedybbuk_ • 3h ago
r/SocialistGaming • u/NotKenzy • Jun 12 '26
Community Join the Official r/SocialistGaming Discord Server! Meet socialist friends and play games together!
Click here to join! We're always accepting new applicants to join our community where you can discuss and play games without having to deal with the reactionaries and liberals who flood mainstream gaming spaces!
r/SocialistGaming • u/Tiny_Tim1956 • Apr 04 '25
"Vote with your wallet" and other liberal arguments that need addressing
With the announcement of the price increase on nintendo games which has been very sad news for many of us, it's been frustrating to see liberal arguments that shift the blame on consumers posted on this sub.
I am a random idiot that doesn't really understand economics or speak english but i'll try my best to come across and explain to some of you all, because it seems capitalist ideology has collectively fried our brains to the point where people that actively seek to join an anti-capitalist sub to discuss games genuinely believe they can individually affect the market by consuming. I'm gonna start with the liberal theory, then go to a more marxist critique i guess. I feel a bit bad doing this because i am not qualified for the former or the later, but i feel like people don't realize the implications of what they are saying so it's worth putting out the very basics and apply some criticism to common gamer arguments.
Free market according to liberals:
According to liberal economics, the free market is a decentralized, democratic mechanism where quantities and prices of goods produced reflect the needs of society, through the interaction of the laws of supply and demand. What this means is, producers set a price and consumers make a choice according to their subjective preferences, which in turn causes producers to raise or lower the price. So in the case of Nintendo, Miyamoto says games will cost 80 dollars and it's up to the consumers to determine if this price is justified by "voting with their wallets".
If enough people don't buy, Miyamoto will respond by lowering the price. And if the price doesn’t change, this means that the price accurately reflects how the people value nintendo games, and also that the outcome is efficient, which means basically that no resouces are wasted and we have the ideal combination of quanity and price, where incidentally needs are met in the best possible way. You could go ahead and force nintendo to sell their games cheaper via some kind of gamer law for example, but according to liberal economics this would ruin the whole thing and people's needs wouldn't actually be met, instead nintendo would make less games because they'd have less incentive to make them and we'd all get less as a result.
Free market according to people that don't believe in invisible hands:
Ok so how it actually works is, there are literally three corporations in the console market. They set the price that they think will bring them more profit between them,. They don't even have to talk to each other and decide (it's supposed to be illegal) because it's an oligopoly where price hikes are matched and price cuts are ignored. But also of course they talk to each other.
Now because it's an oligopoly, it's not like there are many choices from the consumer side. If you have some money for entertainment and want to get into console gaming, you can get a playstation or an xbox or a nintendo. Now games will cost 70 to 80 dollars. The question is, can you afford games? If you can and you want to play new games, you are not going to be happy about the new prices but you are gonna pay because you don't really have a choice other than abstaining, which on an individual level also doesn't do anything. If you can't afford the new prices, and i'm genuinely sorry to say, you won't get the new games and there's nothing you can do about it on an individual level. Other, richer people will and you won't. For many people that can afford it to a degree, they will just buy less games.
"ok ok so i am not buying/ i am buying less but by doing so i have voted with my wallet so i have the power to affect prices", nope. Nintendo doesn't care about whether the needs of the people that can't afford games are met, as long as they'll make money from people that can afford it. Which they most likely can do because it's an oligopoly. People that buy Nintendo games will buy the next Nintendo system and mario kart, people that buy playstation will buy playstation 5 and horizon or whatever. They will not be happy about the changes, they will not have consented to anything and more importantly they will not be the ones to blame. If i had the money i'd go out and get a ps5 right now, and so would everyone else.
More broadly, prices aren't really set according to demand but by the logic of capital accumulation and profit maximization. Nintendo makes more and more money and uses the money to make more and more money, until one day the whole thing crashes. That's the very basic marxist idea.
Now liberals will tell you that, yeah, some of what i said is true and that nintendo does have the power to get away with a lot of things as a result of their position, but that's because the competition isn't working effectively. So the idea is, there should have been many options for us that do give us power to affect prices to our liking but distortions in the market have created an oligopoly, probably unironically the state is to blame and more deregulation will solve it, like firing people more easily for example or lowering minimum wage.
However, like the bearded man from assasin's creed syndicate predicted, every meaningful market is becoming more and more oligopolistic under capitalism and that's by design. Bigger corporations are allowed to produce cheaper because of scale economies, smaller ones can't compete with them and gradually we have a few very powerful corporations controlling every key market. From tech and gaming to food, media, and healthcare, a small number of giant corporations increasingly dominate each sector. Capitalist competition doesn’t lead to permanent diversity of choices, it leads to concentration of power.
The free market is a tool for the accumulation of wealth and gradually creates more and more inequality. Elon Musk is going to become a TRILLIONAIRE. Can you grasp what i am saying? This is going to happen. And that's how capitalism works. And is this viable you say? No it's not. Capitalism crashes every few years, again like the Kirby antagonist said it would. The Nintendos of the world eventually make more stuff than people will buy, then people don't buy them, then they fire everyone, then no one buys anything and it's a crisis and the states give money to the banks to save capitalism. This has happened before and it will happen again and in the meantime those of us that can afford to game after work will and those that can't won't. And most people won't.
That's the basic idea, please feel free to add any additions or corrections. And please don't blame eachother on the sub. It's not on the consumers that nintendo is able to get away with this, it's a systemic problem that extends to every aspect of our life.
And by the way, i don't have time to write anymore but the inflation argument is also corporate propaganda. Briefly, there are two kinds of inflation, cost push inflation and demand pull inflation. Nintendo here is claiming cost push inflation: because of, for example, US tariffs, they have higher costs and so to cover them they need to raise prices. But Nintendo and every Nintendo is out there making record profits. So rather than thinking of poor Nintendo that won't be able to make even more profits, consider that it is Nintendo that could take a hit from the tariffs rather than the consumer. They could make less and prices could stay the same and Timmy would get Donkey Kong for Christmas. But that's not what's going to happen. Alright i'm done.
r/SocialistGaming • u/DaTurbanator • 2h ago
Industry News NDP Leader Avi Lewis on BioWare: This is private equity, this is what it does. Buy up businesses, run them into the ground, and rip them apart for short-term profit.
r/SocialistGaming • u/Hacksaw6412 • 11h ago
Gaming News On October 23rd, Call of Duty is releasing Modern Warfare 4 — training millions of players to see the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), a sovereign socialist country, as the enemy.
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Call of Duty is not just a game. It's a weapon of imperialist propaganda — designed to dehumanize Koreans, desensitize you to my peoples' slaughter, and make you complicit in the next war on Korea.
Modern Warfare 4 portrays Koreans in the north as the aggressors. But history tells us who the real enemy is.
It was the US that dropped over 600,000 tons of bombs on Korea — 3.7 times the amount dropped on Japan during the entire Pacific War. The US massacred more than 3 million Koreans and obliterated 85% of our villages, schools, hospitals, and infrastructure in the north. The US Air Force killed over 600 people at No Gun Ri — 72% of them women and children.
Today, millions of Koreans still live in the shadow of a war that never ended. Divided families. Mandatory conscription for south Korean men. Camptown prostitution, where US soldiers inflict violence on Korean women. In 2025 alone, the US conducted 274 days of war drills in Korea — rehearsing for nuclear strikes, bombing civilian targets, and assassinations of North Korean leadership.
War in Korea is not a video game — it's happening in real life.
And Call of Duty does more than depict violence — it trains players to inflict it, both in the US and abroad. Families of the Uvalde school shooting victims are suing Activision, Meta, and gun manufacturer Daniel Defense — noting that the shooters in Uvalde, Parkland, and Sandy Hook all played Call of Duty and used AR-15s.
Hollywood and Western media have spent decades dehumanizing North Koreans — and it's not accidental. The Pentagon shapes how games and films depict US wars.
This week, Call of Duty MW4 releases into this moment deliberately — manufacturing consent for imperial wars.
Don't fall for it. Koreans are not your enemies. We survived a genocide — and refuse to be erased again.
Don't play the US's game. Fight the real war machine.
US OUT OF KOREA. Follow @nodutdol to learn more.
By: Sovereign Media
r/SocialistGaming • u/Winter_Ad9598 • 11h ago
Help Brasil boost posts right before our runoff
r/SocialistGaming • u/j_patton • 10h ago
Gaming News My RPG where you start a steampunk revolution just launched on PS5 and Switch!
Hi fellow socialists! Last year I launched Duskpunk on Steam: an RPG set in a dark steampunk city with social tensions about to boil over. I used my experience as a revolutionary communist to inform how that mass movement takes shape and how the final act pans out, inspired by the Russian and German revolutions.
This subreddit was also the most enthusiastic audience for the game - thank you! It made me appreciate this is not some niche story I'm telling; so many people are sick of capitalism, and want actual revolutionary games where they can kick out the ruling class.
Anyway, I launched Duskpunk on Steam last year. Now it's coming to consoles! This is my first console release! Eeeeh, exciting!
Here's what you can look forward to:
- An intense story of survival and resilience: you're a military deserter, in a city ruled by a despot, who just wants to use your bones (and a million others) for war and profit.
- Spark a revolution and overthrow a dictator! Inspired by actual revolutions from WW1 history!
- Story-based dice mechanics, inspired by tabletop games
- A cast of varied characters, only some of whom want to kill you
- Multiple classes: play your way!
- A TON of branching, with five distinct endings
If that sounds like your thing, you can find Duskpunk on the PS5 and Nintendo stores, or on Steam! (Soon on GOG.)
r/SocialistGaming • u/Astraeos_Oneir • 7h ago
A primer on police abolition.
Put this together a few years back; thought I'd share it here. Maybe it's useful to someone. No, I'm not great at video editing, but an attempt was made.
It's built on a body of work on the subject of police and prison abolition. It's largely aimed at people who are sympathetic to the idea but may not know enough about the subject to really commit.
There's a litany of books and essays cited in the video description.
r/SocialistGaming • u/Jazzlike_Run2338 • 9h ago
Question Streamer recommendations for my game, help please!
Many of you have already seen my game - Its a political paper pushing sim where you play as the Minister of Everything, making decisions that affect the entire country while earning points for creating division and misery before getting booted from office.
I'm looking for Streamers and content creators to approach who play these types of games. Do you have any recommendations? Please help!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/5304890/Ministry_of_Misery/
r/SocialistGaming • u/nlitherl • 7h ago
Essay / Article etc My October Patreon Shout Out (And A Small Favor, If You Could?)
r/SocialistGaming • u/FilBencardino • 1d ago
My space opera political RPG has received a major update for Next Fest!
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Hello, everyone!
My name is Ben Cardino, I'm the solodev of Pax Astra, a space opera political RPG. I have talked a few times about my game here on this sub!
It is a political sim, very much inspired by Suzerain, but in a space opera setting and mixed with some 4X elements.
The game has a lot of themes that go around class struggle, socialist theories (adapted to this universe, of course), the dynamics of a revolutionary state, and more, offering you the tools to follow any ideology you want, and even the possibility of leading an actual Socialist Revolution.
Pax Astra has just received a MAJOR expansion for the next fest; there's about 5-6 hours of content.
The new update has lots of new additions, including the possibility of helping the communists during the initial prologue set in a galactic war.
You can play the demo here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4535930/Pax_Astra/?beta=1
I would love to hear your feedback and thoughts; I hope you like it! Please, wishlist the game; as a solo dev, it really helps me a lot!
r/SocialistGaming • u/garlic-naanarchist • 2d ago
Gaming News Developer 'Origame Digital' blocks the sale of their new game 'Penguin Colony' in Israel and leaves a scathing statement in the end credits.
In Penguin Colony‘s Steam forum, a user based in Israel asked why the game wasn’t available in their region. One of the publishers responded in the thread,
“While in general we seek to bring our games to as many potential players as possible, we believe strongly that developers have the right to control where their games are sold. In this case, the developer asked us to block sale in Israel. In the absence of more organized sanctions, this act is intended to demonstrate solidarity with Palestine. We fully support their decision.”
r/SocialistGaming • u/BioCatgirlMusic • 2d ago
Looking for people to play with Trans & Non Binary led anti fascist guild recruiting :3
Hey y'all, new here. I just wanted to say my 540+ member queer-friendly guild <Rainbow Revenge> on WoW Forever Normal (Switching to RP on launch) is recruiting! Feel free to dm me here or on discord @ Katgurlswag (my handle)
The guild has been around since it's first iteration on Season Of Discovery and is meant to be a safe space for people of all marginalised communities away from much of the hate we receive from the more fascist chud asmonguild type people in the wow community.
If you're looking for a space away from hate, where fascists and bigots are banned as soon as they are found out or say something heinous, <Rainbow Revenge> may be the guild for you! We are led by myself (Transfem, Plural, Disabled, Non-Binary Bisexual Demi-woman) and my brother (Trans Man), and our gender & sexuality diverse moderation team, always keeping an eye out to kick bigots regardless of if they're top dps.
We're a casual & new player friendly guild with branches in NA & EU for launch. What's important to us most is inclusiveness, and having a fun time. Progression is the goal, but it comes second to having a good time together!
r/SocialistGaming • u/Financial_Excuse_934 • 1d ago
Looking for people to play with [WoW Forever PvP] [SovietZ] Camaradas da Horda, uni-vos!
Proletários de todos os reinos, uni-vos!
Camaradas, estou organizando uma guilda na Horda para começar no WoW Forever. Busco jogadores que compartilham ideais comunistas, socialistas e internacionalistas.
A proposta é ir além do PvP: o objetivo é construir uma comunidade baseada na solidariedade, na ajuda mútua e na organização democrática. Uma guilda em que o conhecimento vai ser compartilhado, as decisões serão coletivas e ninguém vai ficar para trás.
⚔️ O que buscamos?
- PvP organizado e presença no servidor quando possível;
- Solidariedade e compartilhamento de recursos;
- Decisões democráticas e liderança responsável;
- Respeito entre camaradas, independentemente da classe ou experiência;
- Jogadores que se identifiquem com os ideais comunistas e internacionalistas.
A ideia não é criar heróis solitários e nem uma guilda governada pelo interesse de poucos. Almejamos camaradas dispostos a jogar, lutar e construir uma comunidade juntos.
Se tu compartilhas desses ideais e quer fazer parte dessa iniciativa, comenta ou manda uma mensagem!
Pela solidariedade entre os povos. Pela organização coletiva. Pela vitória dos camaradas.
Proletários de todos os reinos, uni-vos!
Bnet: Minoco#11528
EDIT: Link do Discord para quem se interessar: https://discord.gg/98nVf7x2yu
r/SocialistGaming • u/Neutrality-2 • 2d ago
New here and to bds. Just cancelled my Microsoft game pass because of Macklemore.
Also I just voted today in Houston.
Luckily a lot of the bds targets I don’t do already. I never liked world of Warcraft so that’s easy for me lol.
I was an avid consumer of papa John’s, bk and McDonalds - so that’s literally thousands a year they won’t be getting from me anymore!
Eating seeds is a pastime activity
r/SocialistGaming • u/Ok_Examination8810 • 1d ago
Game Discussion I have an idea for an anti-ai Ranma 1/2 side-scrolling beat em up.
r/SocialistGaming • u/Vitovonburen • 2d ago
Game Discussion The Stormcloaks make much more sense if you had to deal with imperialism in real life

The Imperials vs. Stormcloaks debate has been around ever since Skyrim came out 15 years ago (!). And, at least from what I've seen, many people who consider themselves leftists (or, more accurately, liberals) tend to favor the Empire over Ulfric's boys. The reasoning is simple: in-universe racism.
If you've played the game, you know that many characters who sympathize with the Stormcloaks are, indeed, very racist (looking at you, Rolff, you piece of shit). On top of that, Ulfric used the Thu'um to defeat the previous High King, which makes the whole thing look more like a power grab than a legitimate struggle for independence. These are some of the reasons why many players see the Stormcloaks as an indefensible choice in the Civil War questline.
I'm not here to convince anyone to pick one side over the other. Both have their flaws, and, more importantly, it's a fictional conflict. But I think there's a perspective that gets overlooked in most discussions about it.
The internet is a big place, but the online spaces where most of us gather are heavily influenced by American and European perspectives. And people living in imperialist core countries often have a very different relationship with national sovereignty than those living in countries on the receiving end of imperialism. When your country has historically been a global power, it's easy to look at a separatist movement and focus on its reactionary elements without giving much thought to why people might want to break away in the first place.
I come from a country that knows what foreign intervention looks like. Brazil has experienced and still is experiencing foreign interference in its domestic politics, including the role of the United States in the context of the 1964 coup and the dictatorship that followed. Right now, we're in the middle of one of the most important presidential election in our history, and the dispute is between a very old man who is probably senile and is very pro-corporations but at least respects democracy and our Constitution, and a fascistoid project, pedophile, far-rightist, manchild loser who loves the military and has half of the country's population ready to suck his balls to "own the libs". Sound familiar? We're still dealing with the consequences of living in a world where powerful countries and corporations can influence the political life of less powerful nations. When you grow up with that history, the idea of fighting for your country's sovereignty hits a little differently.
To be clear, I'm not a staunch supporter of the Stormcloaks, let alone Ulfric. Honestly, fuck the guy. He can go to Oblivion with Titus Mede. His movement's racism is real, and independence doesn't magically make a society progressive. But I can understand why someone would want to fight for their country's right to determine its own future, even when the people leading that fight are deeply flawed.
Maybe that's worth keeping in mind the next time we debate the Civil War in Skyrim.
r/SocialistGaming • u/O-Circle-A • 2d ago
Left wing videogames Our Video Game About Anarchism Is Now On Kickstarter!
Hey all, our soon-to-be-workers co-operative Circle-A Studios have been working on our first game together as a team for the past three years, Creatures Like Us.
We're a studio of anarchists, activists, squatters, and inexplicably super experienced game developers.
Creatures Like Us is an anarcha-queer punky narrative sim about squatting in abandoned buildings, creating community spaces, and smashing capitalism along the way. You are a crew of four friends in a five-minutes-into-the-future version of Bristol that must survive housing instability, corporate corruption, and squabbling over doing the dishes.
You can find our KS here!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/circleastudios/creatures-like-us-be-gay-do-anarchy
r/SocialistGaming • u/Neutrality-2 • 2d ago
Looking to get into an mmo with a leftist guild
I know lot of people play wow, but tbh I never liked wow and now that it’s a bds target I don’t want to play it.
I like swtor
Eso also a bds target sadly
Ff14 is pretty progressive and has one of the best communities I seen in an mmo! Though I kinda fell off that game….
Not sure what else, maybe lotro?
I loved gw1, but not a fan of gw2.
Tbh overall I’d say swtor is MY GAME so if anyone wants to play I’m thinking of going back into it. I’m on starforge imp side.
r/SocialistGaming • u/Tiny_Tim1956 • 2d ago
casual game talk So how easy is it to jail break a ps5? Vaguely speaking
I used to be afraid to hack my 3ds.
r/SocialistGaming • u/diogotario • 3d ago
Community Took Kim Kitsuragi to a pro-Lula protest
r/SocialistGaming • u/NotKenzy • 3d ago
Game Discussion In the new "Call of Duty" game, the campaign forces you to hang a man and it is game over (your character is shot) if you refuse. Disgusting imperialist propaganda, particularly rich coming from a country where lynchings are still a normal occurrence.
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r/SocialistGaming • u/SillyShrimpGirl • 1d ago
Video Essay Video Essay to Deplatform Jacob Geller: #1