The main events of 2021: the failure of GTA, the announcement of the portable from Valve, the scandal around the Activision Blizzard

At the beginning of 2022, it is time to recall the most noticeable events, obsessive trends and loud scandals that happened in the game industry in 2021.

Everything is delayed

It is safe to say that 2021 became not just the next after 2020, but its logical continuation. The pandemic has not weakened its grip too much, and its influence on the game industry is still felt. It is expressed primarily in regular delays and transfers. But what to do if many studios still have to work on the remot? So, let's remember what we did not wait last year.

Warner Bros. Games Earlier, I realized that I did not fit in the declared dates, and transferred two major releases at once – Gotham Knights And Hogwarts Legacy. We will probably see the first in the next six months, but about the second we strongly doubt: it may well move to 2023.

Solo adventure of Gollum from "Lord of the Rings" They also postponed up to twenty -second, although there was a ghostly hope that Daedalic will have time to finish it until the end of the 21st.

The third part of the two franchises beloved by the people did not ripen at once – Total War: Warhammer And Shadow Warrior. The strategy was promised to be released at the beginning of the new year, but the action movie at the time of writing the text does not even have an approximate release date.

Ubisoft postponed three noticeable projects. And if Rainbow Six Extraction I must finally go out at the end of January, then here is a fucked remake "Prince of Persia" , And with him Skull & Bones, It seems to be thrown into a long box. The pirate action, as we found out, generally fell into production hell and was on the verge of closing several times. Will be a miracle if he at least ever gets to the release.

Almost the same can be said https://sister-site.org/lucky-barry/ about Dying Light 2, Vampire: The Masquarade – Bloodlines 2 And Ghostwire: Tokyo. So no one was surprised at the twenty -second.

The decision of Sony to postpone the sequels turned out to be quite predictable Horizon , God of War And Gran Turismo. In addition, the company fenced some fans and pleased others with the news that the new adventures of Ela and Kratos would be available on PS4. The course is quite justified, given that the situation in the console market has not become better over the year.

Nekstgen deficiency not only did not end, but, according to analysts, it can last up to twenty -third. This is because factories still cannot work in full force, which means that the offer still does not match the demand. Resellers still fill their pockets, and gamers are still patiently waiting for the Xbox Series X and PS5 will be even more accessible to a little more accessible. The developers are also waiting for this, because so far it makes no sense to release large exclusives for the next generation.

Microsoft and Sony continue the breeze

And although the console confrontation had to be suspended due to the unrequelus of opponents, Microsoft and Sony continued their cold war. The former methods – expanding the influence by buying new studios. The Japanese in a year marked with two noticeable acquisitions – a team Housemarque , responsible for the militant Returnal , And also Bluepoint Games , What the remake did Demon’s Souls.

Phil Spencer in the 21st took his appetites, but promised that Xbox did not finish with his "salvation" in need of companies. According to insiders, including a very authoritative Jeff Grabb, on the sight of the corporation Crystal Dynamics , Io Interactive And Avalanche Studios. They even say that the "T-shirts" can lead the "grill" from under the wing of the wing Netherrealm And Rocksteady. But these are all yet speculation and rumors.

But what Phil Spencer has already done was pretty much in ranging competitors. About a sports simulator MLB: The Show Has hardly anyone heard in view of the low popularity of baseball, but in the west of the franchise is very famous. For fifteen years she was published by Sony, and exclusively on her consoles. And then suddenly the new part was in the Xbox Game Pass, and on the day of the release. And this happened on the initiative of the license holder – in fact, the main baseball league. A small, but very bright victory for the "shirts", almost a spit in the face of an opponent. The main blow was very predictable: Todd Howard finally admitted that the long-awaited Starfield, And, most likely, The Elder Scrolls VI will not go out on the consoles PlayStation. In war, as in war. Well, let's see what Sony will answer.

Launch Switch OLED And announcement Steam Deck

While the main console players can not start the battle in full force, Nintendo Again, everyone could quietly get around how it happened to the original Switch. An improved, much more powerful model, maybe even with 4K support, they have been expected from the company for a couple of years, especially since rumors went about it. But the Japanese old -timer again preferred to ignore all the trends. Instead of Switch Pro Nintendo introduced Switch OLED. She seems to be better than the original model, but only a little. Plastic another, the stand is better, and most importantly, the screen – honest seven inches. But otherwise – the same console. However, this was enough for someone-the starting sales of Nintendo are satisfied.

But while the Japanese cost half measures, the porting market seriously decided to storm Valve. She introduced Steam Deck – a full -fledged game computer in a case suspiciously similar to the same Switch. There are sticks, and touchpads, and gyroscope, but at the same time on board a hybrid processor AMD , RDNA 2 graphic processor with 8 computing blocks and 16 GB of RAM. The very budget model, for $ 399, 64 GB of internal memory, and the most expensive, for $ 649, – 512 GB. According to the creators, eighty of the hundred most popular Steam games, including those are launched, are launched without any problems CS: GO And GTA v. At any time, Steam Deck can be connected to the monitor and keyboard and used as a stationary PC. The start of sales has already been transferred once, but now it is appointed for February 2022. Alas, Russia is not yet listed on the list of regions, so enthusiasts will have to look for workarounds. Well, in a year we'll see which niche will be able to win Valve.

The result of the confrontation of Apple and Epic Games

One of the most high-profile events of 2020 was a clash Apple With the publishing house Epic Games. Then the trial just began – so what ended? The answer depends on your point of view. After a long and tedious tug of war, the judge recognized the correctness of Apple at nine points out of ten. “Epicians” even obliged to pay a fine for violation of the AppStore rules – a little more than $ 4 million, a ridiculous amount by the standards. But the very tenth point on which the Yablons lost can be called the most important in the whole process. Now, based on the court decision, the developers will be able to place links to third -party payment systems in the applications, that is, bypassing the AppStore. So, in the future, Apple will lose millions, if not billions of dollars from commissions. The judge has already rejected the first appeal on this issue.

That is, formally, Epic Games and Tim Suin lost, but in the process they pretty spoiled Tim Cook life. Perhaps this was their main goal.

Take -off and fall of New World

Megacorporation Amazon This year finally burst into the game industry and on the move proved that there was her place. After all, her MMO New World turned out to be as in demand and successful as a curve – all according to the canons of large publishers. The game for health began: although even during the beta test it became known that it simply breaks some video cards, on the day of the launch of the New World managed to collect 707,000 simultaneous users in Steam. This is the most successful release of the year. True, the players immediately began to swear for long lines – and this was only the first of the many complaints. Maybe Amazon Game Studios was counting on success, but people were ready for such an influx. The servers were massively disconnected for maintenance, the intra -game time jumped for several hours or a month in advance, everywhere bugs and imbalance. In the shortest possible time, some craftsmen felt for several loopholes and defeated the New World economy to hell, which is why the creators had to completely block trade. In the meantime, the developers desperately tried to fix what was, a significant part of the players went through, got bored and fell off. In just a month, MMO lost 70% of users. There was no trace of past records. Now the team continues to fill the holes and slowly adds new content, but for a long time there is enough New World, it is difficult to say.

Final Fantasy XIV at the peak of popularity

But the other MMORPG in 2021 blossomed with renewed vigor. Speech about Final Fantasy XIV, which broke several of her own records at once. In early December, the developers said that the number of registered users exceeded 25 million – despite the fact that there were 20 of them before last July. That is, over the past year and a half, the total increase in users has amounted to five million! And just a few weeks ago, Final Fantasy XIV broke its own record of simultaneous players in Steam – their number exceeded 95,000 people. How many seven -year projects can boast of similar results? It is difficult to say whether to thank the streamers or a well -deserved positive sundress for this, but the fact remains – the "final line" is more lively of all the living.

GTA remasters have inflated everyone

Well, now let's move on to the most juicy – fail. This time it flew from where they did not wait. No, we, of course, have seen everything, and there were never a lack of crooked remasters, but in order to divert something related to the worst releases of the year Rockstar and GTA – this is nonsense. The announcement itself The Definitive Edition Hardly a delight caused someone, but even despite the general skepticism, the players hoped that with three such significant projects would be at least respectfully respectfully. That before the new generation they will appear in the best possible technical performance. In vain. Proof of this is time selection of hilarious bugs on YouTube and the anti -record on Metacritic. The trilogy managed to surpass even the notorious Warcraft III: Reformged. In addition, the matter was not limited to glitches. Even before the release Take-Two I took up arms at the Modder community, and then completely removed the original versions of all three games from stores, albeit temporarily. In addition, it turned out that not even Rockstar herself was responsible for the disgusting remaster, but the studio that was engaged in the mobile ports of the militants. Actually, she took them as a basis. It is noteworthy that the most extinction bugs Definitive Edition have corrected the craftsmen in a matter of days. In general, not a release, but a disaster and a powerful blow to the once impeccable reputation Rockstar.

Battlefield And Call of Duty Fuck together

However, without already familiar objects of ridicule, it was not either. Electronic Arts Again I am one of the most hated companies thanks Battlefield 2042. The reasons are exactly the same: everything was broken at the start, and what worked was not terribly balanced. A lot of lovers of the community fell under the knife with the plot campaign, and few people impressed the remaining content. The result was the collapse of the playing rating on Metacritic and the devastating reviews in Steam. At the moment, positive – only 33%. The franchise had problems before, but for the first time she degraded so clearly. It is worth noting that this failure at least did not remain without consequences, let them feel not the top management of “electronics”, but, as always, simple hard workers. Studio Dice Updated so radically that now it is actually a different team, and the fate of Battlefield was handed over to the former chapter Respawn Vince Zapopell. Let's see what comes of it.

However, the usual competitor "Batla", series Call of Duty There is nothing to brag about this year either. New part with subtitle Vanguard met even cooler than usual. Neither the story campaign for five hours, nor a multiplayer copied from past games, nor a cut zombie-mode have attracted customers. The project has shown the worst sales in the franchise over the past 14 years. It's still about very solid numbers, but in the context of the series this is an unconditional decline.

Although now Call of Duty: Vanguard is the smallest of the publisher's problems.

People against Bobby Kotik

Well, so we got to the main game event of the year, the most discussed and most significant. Namely – to the reputation collapse Activision Blizzard in general and Bobby Cat in particular. The prerequisites for this have been accumulating for a long time, remember at least last year's scandal around low salaries and unjustified abbreviations. But it turned out that these are all the flowers. While the company slowly plugged separate leaks, missed traces and answered all uncomfortable questions according to the old manual, the Department of Fair Hiring and Housing Construction of California consistently collected evidence. For two years, lawyers dug under a game giant in order to eventually go to court with a very weighty set of charges. The investigation showed that in a corporation, which, at any opportunity, boasts of its progressiveness, the principles of a stereotypical student brotherhood reign. Sexism and consumption were elevated to the Absolute, and the harassment is not limited to selective jokes and inappropriate comments, but sometimes crosses the boundaries of criminal offenses. Moreover, all this with connivance and even approval of senior management. It is claimed that the cat knew very well about the situation and personally helped accused employees avoid punishment.

The reaction to such serious accusations began immediately – rallies in Azerot and in reality, boycotts, storm in social networks. At first, Activision Blizzard tried to somehow smooth out the loss by the forces of the PR managers-it did not work out. Then a demonstrative self -flagellation went into the course – the head of the Blue Allen Brack left his post. The one who publicly apologized for each of the jambs of the company over the past few years. It didn’t help too much too. Bobby Kotik's name mixed with mud The Wall Street Journal – a solid edition, its investors read. In addition, their “FI” hastened to express all noticeable people in the industry, including Phil Spencer and Jeff Kili. As a result, I had to put 18 million from the wallet for charity, and specifically in various funds that support women in the game sphere. Yes, financially, this is a thing of a trifle, the price is worthless to avoid large showdowns. Maybe ultimately the corporation will remain unpunished. But still there is a tiny chance that such a blow to the reputation will take away the Activision Blizzard and long -term consequences. And which – we will find out at the end of the twenty -second.

All results of 2021 from gambling