LOS ANGELES — Self-proclaimed cinephile Jordan Akerman, who had previously sworn off games as a lowbrow form of art, is currently playing through Annapurna Interactive’s entire catalogue and applauding at the end of each game.
Akerman’s negative attitude about video games immediately changed once he learned that independent film distributor Annapurna Pictures had a game publishing division. Now, he insists on standing up and clapping at the end of each of his playthroughs, despite no one else being in the room with him.
“It’s really getting out of hand,” Akerman’s roommate Jean Melville explained. “I have to walk through the living room to get to the kitchen, and I’ll just hear him going on and on about how What Remains Of Edith Finch is a brilliant, modern callback to Robert Altman’s Shortcuts. He’s not even explaining it to anyone, he’s just talking at the credits.”
As part of his newfound obsession, Akerman now exclusively refers to game developers as “auteurs,” going so far as to call Wattam a “singular artistic vision that could only come from someone as tuned into the current socio-political climate as Katamari Damacy director Keita Takahashi.” He considers staying seated at the end of a game to be an insult to the form.
Akerman’s Twitter feed has slowly filled up with tweets about “Game Awards season,” including one 34-tweet rant complaining that Outer Wilds’ snub at this year’s Game Awards was a travesty on par with The Master getting shut out at the Academy Awards.
“Megan Ellison is changing this industry and the gaming Academy refuses to acknowledge her contributions,” read one tweet, which had received no likes as of this article. “Meanwhile, a soulless theme park like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate gets a Game of the Year nomination. What has a big budget studio like Nintendo ever done for this medium?”
After finishing every game in the studio’s “ouvere,” Akerman lamented that no one else was developing games like Annapurna, a publisher that works exclusively with outside developers, nearly all of whom have other games available for purchase.
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