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xb-squaredx · 3 years

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Gaming in 2020: The Year of Best Laid Plans Laid to Rest

The year of 2020…need I say more? An incredibly volatile year, filled with strife and horror in all forms. Every walk of life has suffered in one form or another, and every industry has had several challenges they’ve had to juggle. This includes the video game industry of course, and pandemic or no, this year was always going to be interesting. With two new consoles launching and continued advancements in the industry, there would be no shortage of things to discuss but uh…2020 had other plans. So let’s talk about a particularly crazy year not just in gaming, but just in general!

ONLY TOM NOOK CAN SAVE YOU NOW

(credit to TheDashingDoctorK on YouTube )

Arguably two of the biggest releases of the year came out within the same week RIGHT as most of the Western world was starting to go into lockdown. DOOM Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons couldn’t be more different in demographics or content, but nonetheless they had a fair amount of fanbase camaraderie around this time. Both games served as comfort during a very uncomfortable time, but of the two, New Horizons clearly became the face of early quarantine life. The colorful, wholesome world of Animal Crossing served as escape from a world going to hell, and as a result, the game would go on to become one of the best-selling console exclusives of this past generation, with the sales figures in Japan only being surpassed by the Pokemon series. Undoubtedly one of the hottest games of the year, that will likely be remembered fondly years down the line when we can hopefully look back on things and breathe a sigh of relief. Sadly, controversy was just around the corner, and not even Tom Nook could do anything about it.

THE LAST OF US HORNET’S NEST

Sony had a fairly good showing this year, with plenty of anticipated titles in the pipeline. While a new console generation was on the way, the PS4 still had some hits lined up. However, Sony eventually decided to delay both The Last of Us Part 2 and Ghost of Tsushima indefinitely. This was a disappointment to be sure but made sense; it was going to take time to adjust to a changing world, and in the former game’s case…well, it felt kind of in poor taste releasing a game about a world ruined by an airborne virus considering current events. Ultimately, however, The Last of Us Part 2 suffered a massive leak not long after the delay announcement with multiple cutscenes thrown up onto YouTube for the world to see alongside several other posts from the supposed leaker that seemingly gave the entire plot away. This forced Sony’s hand and in the end, the games were released shortly after.

Fans were mad about the supposed leaks; not just because of being spoiled mind you, but rather the actual content within the leaks. Without actually spoiling the game here…let’s just say fans were not happy with the direction the story took and how certain characters were treated. There were also a number of lies or twisted details mixed in with the leaks which painted an even worse picture, which didn’t help. It’s one thing to think the story in a story-driven game was bad (and full disclosure, I’m kind of in that camp), but many fans took it well past that, harassing the developers and certain others working on the game, most of all actress Laura Bailey, who plays Abby, one of the major characters in the game. Fans sent her death threats, livid over things a fictional character did, and even the face model used for Abby suffered similar harassment. There were a number of transphobic insults thrown at the game and let’s be clear here: for one thing, that’s just a shitty thing to do, and trans rights are human rights. And number two…the insults weren’t even levied at a trans character. The fact that a lot of discourse around this game centered on how “realistic” it was for a woman to have muscles, in a game about fungal zombies…yeah sadly the irony was lost on a lot of people. Regardless of how you feel about the game overall, it’s certainly one of the most controversial titles to come out this year, not at all helped by Naughty Dog’s reputation for being a toxic workplace that has some of the worst elements of “crunch culture” attached. Not a great topic, so let’s switch gears to something a bit more feel-good for a minute, yeah?

INDIE FOR THE WIN

As the years go on, I know I can rely on smaller, independent developers to deliver on fun, worthwhile gaming experiences, often with far less drama! There’s…hundreds, if not thousands of indie games that release every year, so it’s hard to spotlight all of them, but there are definitely a select few that really popped up a lot in conversations this year. For starters, Mediatonic (admittedly a lot larger than most indies out there) managed to get a huge hit in Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. A battle royale-styled game taking inspiration from obstacle-course game shows like Takeshi’s Castle or Wipeout, the game became an overnight success, no doubt helped by being a free game on the PlayStation 4’s PlayStation Plus program. A colorful, easy to understand but hard to master game, it served as a great way to pass the time and continues to add more content in a seasonal model not unlike many “games as a service.”

However, Innersloth’s Among Us quickly took over the spotlight, which is all the more impressive as the game actually released to little fanfare back in 2018. After several high-profile streamers showcased the game in 2020 however, a massive boom of new players followed, resulting in the game being thrust into the public consciousness. A game based around spotting imposers hidden among a group of players as they attempt to complete tasks in a given location, Among Us struck a chord with players as it focused on talking with others and finding ways to prove your innocence. Being free on mobile (and only five dollars on Steam), the game had a low barrier to entry and right at the end of the year, it also comes to Switch, arguably the hottest console as of now, so the future is looking bright for Innersloth. Goes to show that sometimes hidden gems get a second look that they deserve.

Lastly, I have to give credit to those at Supergiant Games. A studio with a fair amount of fans before now, known for narrative-driven, artsy games in Bastion, Transistor and Pyre, it is their latest title, Hades, that has really seemed to grab people. A dungeon-crawling rouge-lite, Hades took the repetitive, failure-ridden process of playing a rogue-lite title and wove it into the story, as Prince Zagreus attempts to escape the bowls of Hell again and again. It is a game that really feels like it took everything the developer learned from every previous game and improved on it; Hades really is the full package with an engaging narrative, fantastic character designs and characters in general, all with addictive action that is constantly rewarding and challenging players. It easily became my personal Game of the Year, but what was surprising was seeing just how many people feel the same, to the point where it found itself nominated in many different categories at The Game Awards, including a nomination for Game of the Year alongside industry giants. Now, I don’t take much stock in award shows in general, but it’s nice to see smaller developers that can really benefit from the increased exposure get their due. It helps that Supergiant, going off of a Kotaku interview from last year, seems to be a great place to work, and with how prevalent crunch and turnover is in the industry, it’s important to point out the types of workplaces that strike a better balance.

NINTENDO’S ROUGH YEAR

(Credit to Nintendo, Sakurai, I guess?)

For Nintendo fans, 2020’s been a bit of a struggle. Nintendo was impacted by the pandemic, same as any other company, and perhaps due to the sudden inability to guarantee release dates and keep production going, Nintendo went radio silent for much of the year, only giving updates on games when they were literally weeks away from launching. Several titles, like Paper Mario: The Origami King, Pikmin 3 Deluxe and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity were announced in tweets, and smaller-scale “Developer Showcase” Directs were often shadow dropped on YouTube without any build-up. Fans were frustrated at Nintendo’s silence for a time, though I think by the end of the year people finally realized that…you know…a global health emergency was going to impact all walks of life. Nintendo clearly made the best of a bad situation here, and I think they realized fans would be upset if they were to announce a whole slew of games just to delay them a short time later, and so waited until things were more or less done. That said, their lack of transparency and seeming disconnect from their audience would continue throughout the year with a number of business decisions that have really had fans up in arms.

For one, 2020 was Mario’s 35th anniversary and Nintendo planned a huge blow-out for it, however two games that are part of the celebration, Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Super Mario 35 ruffled feathers for having limited-time releases and will eventually be delisted from the eShop and stop being sold at stores at the end of March 2021. Later in the year it was also announced that the first-ever Fire Emblem NES game would be localized for the first time…and was also to be discontinued in March 2021. While Nintendo has done this a lot in the past with various other anniversaries, it’s still artificial scarcity and manipulates people into buying these games before it’s “too late” when in reality these games could likely enjoy a long sales life if Nintendo just left them alone.

Probably the worst thing to come of this however, was Nintendo’s actions in the later parts of the year concerning the competitive scene of several of their games. Nintendo sent a cease-and-desist notice to a prominent Smash Bros. tournament, who was using a modified version of Super Smash Bros. Melee that allowed for online play, and following this, many competitive players have been sharing stories of Nintendo’s apparent efforts to keep the Smash competitive scene from growing. The Splatoon community ended up protesting Nintendo’s actions during a recent tournament which caused Nintendo to decline to livestream the tournament finals. Couple this with other efforts to “defend their trademark” be it with taking down channels that post Nintendo music (despite Nintendo offering no clear alternatives themselves), or various bits of fan merchandise and the overall opinion of Nintendo as a company is pretty negative as of now. I still consider myself a fan of Nintendo, but I’m not going to go to bat for a multi-million dollar company. While they might be in the legal right in at least some of these cases, it really does feel like the executives up top are more than a bit out of touch and certain laws are likely woefully out of date in today’s world. I’m sure this isn’t the last time Nintendo will be in the news for this kind of behavior, and it’s also worth noting that they’re far from the only company that does this kind of thing. That doesn’t make it OK of course, but seeing as they project this kind of harmless, squeaky-clean image, it makes these actions seem all the more shocking. Of course it’s also worth noting that Nintendo’s still doing rather well this year in general. Animal Crossing: New Horizons was there to save people from despair as the lockdowns started, several of Nintendo’s titles this year broke sales records, and the first half of the second round of DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate have been well-received, with the two most recent picks, Steve from Minecraft and Final Fantasy VII’s own Sephiroth being seen as shocking additions. For a casual fan, nothing seems wrong with Nintendo as far as they’re concerned, so I don’t exactly expect a lot of change to come out of the various hashtags and Twitter callouts, sadly.

THE CONTINUED STRUGGLE OF THE FGC

The Summer of 2020 will likely go down in history as a very rough time for the Fighting Game Community. Several high-profile Smash players were accused of a variety of sexual misconduct, often with minors. Later in the year the Smash Bros. competitive community’s Code of Conduct panel ended up disbanding, citing the sheer number of allegations would take years to fully address and feeling they were not equipped to deal with the current situation. Considering Nintendo’s own efforts to quell the competitive scene, their future seems uncertain as of now.

Outside of Smash itself the CEO of EVO, the West’s largest fighting game tournament, also stepped down following allegations levied at him. Following this, the EVO tournament for this year, which had already rebranded to EVO Online following the pandemic, was officially cancelled as several developers withdrew support for the event. The FGC has always had a bit of a reputation for toxicity, and considering how high up the ladder corruption seems to have spread, it will likely take time to rebuild faith in the community on the whole. Also worth noting is the sorry state of Lab Zero, developers of the cult-hit Skullgirls. Mike Zaimont, the “face” of the developer as well as a higher-ranked member of the development team, seemingly couldn’t go two weeks without some amount of controversy following him. From crude, poor-taste jokes during the civil rights protests in June, to various allegations of abuse and sexual harassment, it eventually culminated in many prominent members of Lab Zero resigning, Zaimont firing the few who did not resign and the publishers of both Skullgirls and their most recent release, Indivisible severed ties with the Zaimont-led Lab Zero. However, several former Lab Zero employees went on to form Future Club, a worker-owned co-op that will, hopefully, be free of the toxic work environment Zaimont generated. Here’s hoping!

Even just casual fans of fighters have faced issues this year, as the pandemic discourages large in-person gatherings. Online play is really one of the few ways to engage in these games and the netcode for many of the more high-profile games are…less than ideal. Fans have frequently complained that Japan’s delay-based netcode largely doesn’t work for the vast majority of international players due to weaker Internet infrastructure among other things, however in recent years rollback netcode has been seen as a better overall solution. While many Western-developed fighters use it (such as the Mortal Kombat games), as well as many indies, the titans of the industry (namely, Namco, Capcom and Arc System Works) have foregone rollback netcode. Street Fighter V made some headlines this year when a lone fan managed to improve the PC version’s netcode, only for Capcom to implement an update that broke said fix in response, and while they have stated they will be attempting to improve the netcode in general…as of December 2020, few changes, if any, have been noticeable. It is noteworthy that Arc System Works has heard fan feedback and will be implementing rollback netcode into Guilty Gear Strive, their next game, though it remains to be seen how well it will work out in the end as the game has been delayed into 2021. Fighting game fans definitely have had a challenging year, but if nothing else, they always rise to the challenge, so here’s to a brighter future. Hey, speaking of the future …we have a hot, fresh new generation of consoles releasing right?

THE UNATTAINABLE NEXT-GEN

(Credit to Or0chi__ on Twitter)

A new generation of gaming is always an exciting time, but call me cynical…this generation doesn’t seem all that great so far. A huge part of this can of course be chalked up to the pandemic affecting development on a number of titles, as well as impacting production.It’s clear that it’s a small miracle that new consoles could launch this year at all. Sony and Microsoft kept details close to the vest for much of the year, playing coy about price points, launch lineups and even what the damn console looked like in the PS5’s case until only a few months before their eventual November release. As of this writing, the new consoles have only been around for about a month, and supply constraints are likely to continue for some time. Many have bemoaned the efforts required to place even a preorder on a new PS5, for instance, due to bot accounts basically cutting in line. For many, the new generation simply hasn’t arrived yet and likely won’t for some time.

Looking at the two consoles in general, there are definitely advancements. Both consoles seem to be making faster loadtimes a priority, and while higher-quality visuals are expected, the big buzzword of sorts for this generation seems to be “ray tracing” which, as far as I can tell, just means making things look shiny and reflective…which is fine if you like that sorta thing I guess. The PS5 at least has the DualSense controller going for it, featuring more detailed rumble and adaptive triggers, though it remains to be seen how many games will actually use those features. As for the Xbox Series X, despite an AWFUL name (alongside the potentially confusing Series S launching at the same time), I have to give it to Xbox for it’s extensive backwards compatibility as well as the new subscription service they’ve launched in the form of the Xbox Gamepass. As of now it’s a steal if you’re in the market for the most bang for your buck, so enjoy it before those prices skyrocket!

Of course we HAVE to talk games when we talk new consoles and I’m sorry, but Sony wins this flat out. Spider-Man: Miles Morales and a remake of the PS3 classic Demon’s Souls are some of the biggest heavy-hitters, looking gorgeous and making good use of the new controller. Sackboy gets his own platformer that looks pretty adorable in it’s own way, alongside the Astro’s Playroom pack-in game in the PS5 itself and the quirky Pokemon Snap-esque game Bugsnax also seems to be a rather big hit (though that’s also on PS4). Microsoft…had nothing really even remotely as compelling as far as exclusives go, which kind of goes for most of this year. While Sony was releasing two high-profile games during the summer, Microsoft finally released the new Battletoads game…with barely any promotion and to mixed reception. I suppose there are other game releases this year, like Gears: Tactics or Microsoft Flight Simulator but they don’t seem to have set the world on fire. Their big ace in the hole this year was clearly Halo Infinite however following a bad reception during the official gameplay reveal, the game was eventually confirmed to be delayed into 2021. Many assumed it would likely launch by March, only for 343 to later confirm the game would launch in Fall of 2021. While Microsoft assures us that Xbox will be receiving a number of exclusives from the many studios they keep buying up, all they seem ready to show are CGI trailers that feature no gameplay, which seems to suggest they’re years away, while Sony’s own PS5 reveal showed a lot of games that are due out at regular intervals, like Returnal or Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. Xbox is stumbling out of the gate of a new generation but it’s entirely possible for them to recover. What’s a delayed start if you eventually stick the landing right? Speaking of delays…I’ve put it off long enough.

YEAR OF DELAYS

2020 is a year of delays; weddings, holiday gatherings, and of course…video games. The vast majority of titles released this year suffered delays in at least one form or another. Nintendo’s celebration of Mario’s 35th Anniversary is extending into March of NEXT year, as a pretty telling example, but titles both large and small often had inconclusive release dates for a good chunk of the year. Sony’s bigger summer titles were moved around as I discussed earlier, and Halo Infinite’s nearly year-long delay is undoubtedly one of the larger projects facing issues. We somehow managed to get two new consoles launching this year, though just barely, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the PS5’s large size is partially a byproduct of not having enough time or resources to design a better way to manage heat without slapping a huge heatsink on the thing. I’d expect a slim version in a year or so that’ll be way more conventional. But all of this stuff is peanuts compared to one particular title that saw delay after delay and eventually led to a launch that proved it needed to likely be delayed even further: Cyberpunk 2077.

One of the most highly-anticipated games of the year, it would take the entirety of the year for the game to see release. First projected to launch in April, the game saw a delay to September, then to November and then, finally, to December. Delays are nothing new for games, and considering this year and the scope of this particular title, most were understanding…to a point. It was clear that as the year ended, developer CD Projekt Red did not have everyone on the same page. As social media proudly proclaimed that there would be no more delays as the November release date neared, the company was then quick to go back on their word. Word of the developer’s harsh crunch culture, which had been circulating for months prior to release, also showcased a development team that was stretched to the absolute limit as they attempted to meet unrealistic deadlines. But hey, it’s all worth it in the end right? Heh…yeah about that.

MORE LIKE FALLOUT 2077

(Credit to Dillion in the Details on YouTube)

Cyberpunk 2077’s release was undeniably rough. Before official release, one journalist issued a PSA that the game had some particularly rough areas that could trigger seizures, even moreso than most games. Upon release, fans were dismayed to learn that the console versions of the game ran far worse than on PC, alongside a myriad of glitches and visual errors as well as potential game-breaking bugs and constant crashes among others. While the PC version is generally held up as being far better and more stable, this is only really true on the higher-end machines. For the vast majority of players it would seem that Cyberpunk 2077 would look and run far differently than it had been marketed, and that was just the start of problems.

Following the game’s release, angry fans effectively forced CD Projekt Red’s hand and they stated they were working with Microsoft and Sony in regards to offering refunds…except that was a lie. In truth, neither company was made aware of any such deal, and as various investor meetings would lay out, the developer repeatedly lied and twisted the truth regarding the state of the game when it came to certification and the quality of the console ports. In response to this, Sony has not only allowed for refunds of the game but have straight-up removed the title from their online store, a real first for a game of this magnitude. CD Projekt Red’s stock prices have gone down dramatically following all of this bad press and in the eye of the consumer any and all goodwill their previous hits, the Witcher games, gave them seems to be gone. Time will tell what ELSE is going to happen to this game as this saga unfolds and while it is certainly possible to turn it around, trust is a difficult thing to win back.

Ultimately, Cyberpunk 2077 is likely going to go down as an example of how to not market OR develop a game. The amount of hype for this title was out of this world, and even if the game had launched in pristine condition, it was clear it was not going to satisfy everyone’s overinflated desires. It’s clear that the scope of the game was too much for the developers, the deadlines too unreasonable. For a game that was announced before the PS4 and Xbox One were even formally announced to then go on to have those versions of the game be nearly unplayable is certainly something. Features that were shown off in initial trailers were slowly removed, while features that were talked up a lot during development (such as the various “lifepaths” players could choose, or romance options) were found to be more superficial than fans had hoped for. In some ways, it feels almost fitting that 2020 ends with a game release like this. A year filled to the brim with challenges and upended plans birthed a game that barely managed to crawl to the finish line. A shame, really.

THE END IS NIGH

When you’ve had a year like 2020, it’s easy to focus on the negatives; the delays, the rough launches, the controversies. While I think it is important to discuss these aspects of the industry and not just let them skirt by unopposed, it pays to remember the brighter spots in kind. When I think back on gaming in 2020, I’d rather think of success stories like Innersloth’s Among Us and the game’s overnight success. I want to think about a character like Miles Morales being the opener of the PS5’s initial showcase of games. I want to think about a great developer like PlatinumGames striving to become independent and start publishing their own games, freed from the shackles of outside forces trying to stifle their vision. While the Smash community has had troubles this year, they also came together and raised money for charities. At a time when people couldn’t be together in-person, gaming brought them together. People could retreat to an island paradise in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, they could get some catharsis as they fought off Hell on Earth in DOOM Eternal, or maybe just catch some adorable little critters in Bugsnax. Gaming as a medium has so much to offer and in a year where other entertainment mediums suffered a lot of issues and in some cases, may never be the same, games seem almost uniquely equipped to deal with the challenges presented to us this year. If nothing else, if you made it to the end of 2020 and are still here, you can tackle anything. And what do gamers do, if not rise to the challenge, and overcome? Here’s hoping for a better 2021, not just in gaming of course but…well, everywhere. Stay safe, be kind, and of course…happy gaming.

-B

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