Top 10 Biggest Video Game Controversies of 2022
#10: Streaming is the Way of a [Dead] Future
Will You Pay for Video Game Streaming?
Over the last few years, big tech corporations have tried to convince us that streaming is the ultimate way of the future and that we don’t want plastic boxes in our homes. Google was among the first to start this aggressive push with Stadia back in 2019. Despite a tumultuous launch, the platform admittedly did get better over time in terms of performance. But did we really want to pay for access to this thing on top of having to pay for games we already owned on other platforms? Nope. So, to see Google announce Stadia’s closure in September 2022 was anything but surprising. Unfortunately, many developers found out about this at the same time the public did, forcing everyone to go into overdrive and help migrate Stadia players to other platforms.
#9: Trapped in a Blizzard
Ever since their massive wave of lawsuits towards the end of Summer 2021, Blizzard seems to be on a tirade to burn all bridges with its player base. Activision’s other half has pulled all kinds of shady business practices in 2022. Where do we begin? First, we had “Diablo Immortal’s” launch when players slowly discovered the game’s pay-to-win mechanics. Then, they acquired Proletariat, the developers of the free-to-play shooter “Spellbreak”, and delegated the studio to solely work on “World of Warcraft”. Next came the shutdown of 2016’s “Overwatch” and forcing the entire playerbase over to the underwhelming and unnecessary “Overwatch 2” along with the failure of delivering a PvE story mode as originally promised. Needless to say, Blizzard has seen way better days.
#8: A Brand Dead Twice
Top 20 Worst Video Game Controversies of the Century (So Far)
The resurrection of G4 was already questionable as the brand had not been around since 2014. One launch in November 2021 and an estimated twenty to thirty million dollars burned later, and G4 is once again dead. So many factors chalked up to its inevitable demise from a questionable rant from Indiana “Frosk” Black that attacked the audience (and was allegedly doctored during editing) to the network’s constant pivot to odd segments like…”pickle ball”, G4 was on a constant decline before it initiated layoffs in September 2022. It wasn’t long after that an email leaked to Deadline, revealing that G4 was no more as of October 16, 2022. The skeleton crew that remained did not know they had lost their jobs until after the leak had been made. To call this a disaster in cash-grab nostalgia would be an understatement.
#7: It’s All in the Frame
Top 10 Biggest Video Game Controversies EVER
October 2022 saw the gaming industry, media, and community in a frenzy as we approached the launch dates for “Gotham Knights” and “A Plague Tale: Requiem”. Upon learning about the games only running at thirty frames per second on modern hardware, many took to social media to voice their outrage. However, for every person that was demanding sixty frames and only sixty frames, there was another stating their acceptance and apathy towards the difference in frames. No matter which side of the coin you fall on, this wave of conflict will most likely become a selling point for other games as we enter 2023 and beyond.
#6: A Fractured Ecosystem
Top 10 Video Game Leaks For 2022 and Beyond
Blizzard Entertainment is not the only video game corporation facing public image problems. PlayStation has been actively chasing players away across the board. Earlier this year, Sony manipulated an upgrade path for “Horizon Forbidden West”, which we will dive into more in a bit. Then, the conglomerate raised prices for the PlayStation 5 consoles in several regions across the globe except for North America. The PlayStation Plus revamp has been deemed a scam by Premium members due to Sony’s drip feed of content for that tier. And now, it looks as though Sony wants to remake games from the PlayStation 4 generation with “The Last of Us” and “Horizon Zero Dawn”. Arrogant Sony is back and in full force.
#5: Forbidden Purchase
10 Hidden Secrets in Horizon Forbidden West
As a means to mitigate outrage over PS5 exclusives becoming cross-gen titles, Sony offered players upgrade paths for certain games. If you buy the PS4 or PS5 version, you get the other version for free. However, the company tried getting out of this promise with “Horizon Forbidden West”. As shown by attorney Richard Hoeg of the Hoeg Law firm, Sony put up a store page for the game that prominently displayed the seventy dollar PS5-only version. The option to buy the cross-gen package for sixty bucks was thoroughly buried at the bottom of the store page underneath the marketing, blurbs, and promo images. And to make the situation even more sketchy, Sony did not allow the cross-gen version to be available for purchase through the PS5 storefront. Not exactly a smart delivery for a much-anticipated game.
#4: Tell Us Lies, Tell Us Ugly Lies
Top 10 Biggest LIES in Gaming History
In the weeks leading up to “Bayonetta 3’s” launch, the internet was thrown into a frenzy after Hellena Taylor, the original voice actress for Bayonetta, made a series of allegations towards developer Platinum Games. According to her, she was only offered four thousand dollars to reprise her role for “Bayonetta 3”, thus prompting her to call on fans to boycott the game and scrutinize Bayonetta’s new voice actress, Jennifer Hale. However, sources of Bloomberg and Video Games Chronicle would clarify that she was offered four to five thousand per recording session for a total of fifteen thousand dollars with an allegedly separate offer for four thousand dollars just to cameo as Bayonetta in a separate game. Taylor did confirm that she was offered more than what she originally stated, but also claimed the sources were “lies” and asked fans to donate money to questionable charities instead of buying the game.
#3: It’s Cuffing Season
Top 10 Biggest Gaming Controversies of 2020
Throughout 2022, it seemed as though companies were getting bought up left and right, most notably from questionable parties. Tencent, which is operated by members of the Chinese Communist Party and veils themselves as games publisher Level Infinite, acquired three studios and bought large stakes in Ubisoft and FromSoftware while hiring former “Assassin’s Creed” director Ashraf Ismail and former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden. Netflix also acquired three studios for their Netflix Games initiative, bringing them to a total of six in-house gaming studios. Sony bought “Destiny” and former “Halo” studio Bungie as well as Haven Studios, who has yet to put out a game. Chinese gaming enterprise NetEase acquired Quantic Dream while Saudi Arabia claimed massive stakes in Capcom, Embracer Group, Nintendo, and almost all of SNK. Know who is getting your money, folks.
#2: Dramatic Corporations
Of course, the biggest acquisition that happened in 2022 was Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard King. Between commentary from pundits and concerns from credible analysts, this sixty-nine-billion-dollar deal has shaken up the industry in such a way that even head of Xbox Phil Spencer and Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan have made their beef public, and it all stems from the possibility of “Call of Duty” becoming an Xbox-exclusive IP. On one hand, you have Spencer telling regulators that doing so would cost Microsoft money and PR. On the other, you have Jim Ryan claiming that PlayStation cannot compete with “Call of Duty” (despite Sony owning several dormant shooter IPs) and complaining about exclusivity while his company announces PlayStation exclusives week after week. At the time of writing, the deal has not yet been closed, but regulators like the CMA are at odds with one another.
#1: The War in Ukraine
Top 10 Video Game Studio Controversies
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it seemed as if the world stopped in fear. The actions of president Vladimir Putin have cost countless lives, and it has affected not just video games, but every other market across the globe. Companies located in or around Ukraine were forced to cease operations and relocate staff. Unfortunately, the people of Ukraine have lost offices, parks, historic landmarks, and homes as a result of Russia’s invasion. This tragedy prompted many organizations across the video game space to actively promote charities like the Ukraine Relief Fund with some studios going so far as to donate all proceeds within certain windows.
