Salvaging satire: An essay review of Blackbird Interactive’s Hardspace: Shipbreaker (2022)

Abstract

Shipbreaker, a game where players disassemble ships to enrich the coffers of a ruthless corporation, is a canny satire of the modern corporate doublespeak that positions corporations as bastions of freedom and social responsibility even as they systematically immiserate their highly skilled ‘independent contractors’ and strip them of their basic rights. However, the game crossed a line for some players in that it loudly and unapologetically advocates for unionization and collective industrial action as a counter to corporate greed and exploitation. While this player hostility is simply a reflection of the long-term success of anti-labour initiatives, particularly in North America, it is also fair to ask how seriously we should regard a pro-union message from within an industry whose exploitative treatment of workers is legendary. More problematically, the game not only fails to deliver on its satirical premise, but manages to reinscribe in its gameplay some of the very elements the satire sets out to challenge. This may be due in part to a widespread cultural confusion concerning the nature of satire, but the example of Shipbreaker also suggests that the Early Access development model may itself place severe limits on the satirical potential of games.