Many who have given me feedback on the articles in the Bill have scoffed at the document as hopelessly idealistic. There is a difference between idealism on the level of ethics and idealism on the level of implementation. I wholeheartedly believe in A Game Developers Bill of Rights in principle. However, in the current state of the game industry, I also think that these principles are unlikely to be implemented. Until some kind of shakeup occurs, shifting the roles of game developers and publishers, then developers will be hard pressed to retain all of the rights expressed in the Bill. However, if you agree with me that the articles of the Bill are a proper set of ethical goals, then the question is: How can we change the game industry to make it a climate where developers could in fact retain these rights?

Similar sentiments have been expressed by other industry figures such as Greg Costikyan, who recently co-founded hopeful indie publisher Manifesto Games, and Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin, who left his company after the completion of Jak 3 (PS2). Rubin's exit was preceded by a notorious address in which he condemned the disrespect paid to developers and demanded that they work to better their treatment.

As the industry continues to consolidate, with plenty of mergers and acquisitions happening all the time, it seems increasingly unlikely that such goals will be attained in the short term. As gaming continues to grow and more demographics are reached, and as alternative distribution methods such as Steam gain more ground, perhaps new avenues will open.