PlayStation game news, Game Pass, etc. 2022, such a good year for the industry?
Published on 31/12/2022 at 12:30
Quality games, mouth-watering announcements and big licenses… In short, 2022 has been a fun year for gamers around the world. Finally, is this really the case or just an illusion? To find out, watch the new episode of 5 Things to Know available below.
Summary
Games, do you want some? Here it is! PlayStation and Xbox, impossible love? 2022, goodbye to the gaming niche? Change in the industry?
=Big money in video games=
2022 has been an exceptional year from a strategic and economic point of view. Notably because of 3 major firm takeovers. Thus Take Two buys Zynga, a former glory of mobile games and social networks. For its part, Sony PlayStation acquires Bungie to extend its brand and its universe to other media and audiences. Finally, Microsoft Xbox buys Activision Blizzard King, one of the most massive publishers in the world. Finally, if you follow the news, you know that it is not so simple for the last one. Billed as the biggest deal in entertainment history (69 billion dollars), its cost represents the annual GDP of countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, Belarus or Uzbekistan.
However, Sony is trying to convince regulators around the world to ban the takeover. It’s been pretty successful so far, because this case has been stalled for months. Machine level, the PS5 has increased by 50 euros and the Japanese firm announces a VR headset more expensive than the machine on which it runs. If you’re more Xbox or PC and a curious gamer, the Game Pass subscription has surely become an essential. Even better, it will save you from the announced price increase of Microsoft’s first-party games.
Games, do you want some? Here’s !
Level game, we were quite spoiled. Among other things, Nintendo continued to surf on its flagship licenses. Even to the point where Big N did not release any new franchise during the year. In addition, the various games, with very variable technical quality, were often hits. These successes confirm them in their strategies and it is not the planned release in 2023 of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom that should change things. For Sony, the year ended on a high note with God of War Ragnarök. It was also supposed to start with a bang with Horizon Forbidden West, but the latter was launched at the same time as Elden Ring. Difficult to play elbows with the GOTY… Finally at Xbox, it was not flamboyant in terms of licenses. However, we felt that Microsoft did not want to bet on this in 2022. Its objective remains clear: to continue to improve accessibility to a large number of titles via the popularization of the Game Pass.
PlayStation et Xbox, l’amour impossible ?
As in Shakespeare’s best plays, one senses that the two firms have a strong mutual respect for each other’s work. But be careful, they will obviously avoid showing it too often. Example is: Sony’s new PS Plus is intended to be quite close to the idea of the Game Pass. Proof of this is that CEO Jim Ryan compared the number of subscribers between the two services in an internal note to the Japanese firm. On the Xbox side, rumor has it that they would try to take inspiration from the DualSense for their next controller. In addition, PlayStation will welcome the little brother of its controller popular with gamers with the DualSense Edge. Small problem, this elite controller will cost € 239.99, which is more expensive than an Xbox Series S. Between this project and the PSVR 2, the Japanese company seems to be aiming for maximum quality. This, without necessarily providing lower cost alternatives, as Xbox does.
2022, goodbye to the gaming niche?
For a while now, video games have been becoming more and more democratized. The arrival of smartphones has notably allowed a lot of people to try their hand at the good pleasure of the video game industry. At the same time, the first hardcore gamers are aging and their references are (logically) integrating popular culture. In 2022, this wave that began fifteen years ago continues to sweep through the industry. So say it like that, it’s scary. But the reality is that it could give rise to a lot of ultra-interesting projects. At the head of the queue, we find Sony, which makes agreements with a lot of players in the audiovisual world to adapt its flagship licenses. To pave the way, production on the HBO series The Last of Us is winding down to see its first episode air in mid-January. Prime Video also announced the adaptation of the reboot of God of War.
Change in the industry?
We talk about it less often, but 2022 also marked the beginning of freedom of speech for certain actors. In the video game industry, the culture of crunch and untenable deadlines is very present. This practice leads to a lot of exhaustion among developers. Sometimes, certain games come out barely finished and with a colossal amount of bugs. But we are now witnessing a wave of unionization that is changing things. Little by little, a counter-power is organized in the troops of craftsmen. So that all decisions are no longer solely concentrated in the direction of the studios. Another major fact is that industry giants like Activision Blizzard are throwing in the towel in China. Faced with a particularly painful Chinese government, some give up.
If you want to know more, the 5 things to know about the year 2022 is available above.
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