Framing this in terms of The Beginner's Guide, I think it's more like:
"I just completed a project into which I poured not just all of my time and energy, but also all of my self-worth. It was a massive success. Now I have nowhere to place my self-worth. Doing this again would be both (1) unlikely to succeed, and (2) extremely toxic, just as doing it the first time kind of was. So how do I get out of this mindset without completely destroying myself?"
Amusingly, his response to that question was to make a game about it.
Few people get rewards on that scale (and thus the chance to exit, or at least the time to think about it), but many develop similar relationships to their work (or art). An exploration of the problems in that dynamic (as in The Beginner's Guide) is therefore relevant to a lot of people.
To add to that -- one part that stuck out to me was when he said he "...[feels] like a guy who had gotten rich making jokes about video games, trying to deceive real writers into thinking that I’m a real writer." The article implies present tense, as if perhaps Wreden still feels this way.
If your dream is to make a great game, and you achieve that, sort of -- it's great to everyone except you -- I think it makes sense to feel more alienated and unsure of yourself than ever, or if your game had not been received as well.
"I just completed a project into which I poured not just all of my time and energy, but also all of my self-worth. It was a massive success. Now I have nowhere to place my self-worth. Doing this again would be both (1) unlikely to succeed, and (2) extremely toxic, just as doing it the first time kind of was. So how do I get out of this mindset without completely destroying myself?"
Amusingly, his response to that question was to make a game about it.
Few people get rewards on that scale (and thus the chance to exit, or at least the time to think about it), but many develop similar relationships to their work (or art). An exploration of the problems in that dynamic (as in The Beginner's Guide) is therefore relevant to a lot of people.