How Mixtape became the biggest video game controversy of 2026

Mixtape – how did it attract so much anger? (Annapurna Interactive)

A three hour long indie game, about teenagers enjoying their final summer together, has inspired an internet hate campaign of disturbing proportions, but why is everyone so upset?

The term non-game dates back to the Nintendo DS, in the mid-2000s, and was not intended as an insult. In fact, it was coined by former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and used by him to describe titles such as Brain Training and Nintendogs which, as he put it, don’t ‘have a winner, or even a real conclusion.’ Non...