Update Patch | 2021 - A Big Year For Bad News
Content Warning: Mention of Suicide
To end 2021 and the year of the Update Patch, I was going to do the usual update. Instead, I thought that it would be best to reflect on what we’ve all learnt from the maddening cycle of news that came across our screens and magazines. After a year of recounting the tales of the month and releases of the month of gaming, there was one solace to be drawn.
The Game Awards 2021. 100% More Josef Fares. -100% Schick Hydrobot.
With most AAA fare delayed, excellent and inspired indies took centre stage as they should. It was a year defined by titles without spectacular budgets. All these were celebrated at Geoff Keighley’s Game Awards, with an eclectic range of titles in all categories. Exclusives from the big three console makers and indie gems from small studios that no one saw coming were on display. Yet, the ceremony marked the general tone of the industry, focussing on the final efforts of developers and titles, opposed to the marked changes and systemic issues plaguing the industry, instead choosing to make a quick comment and move on.
Throughout the year, we have followed the lawsuits of Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft closely from our July entry, seeing these industry behemoths plagued with accusations and stories of sexual harassment and worker exploitation. Whilst the biggest profile cases were here, they weren’t the only cases. The very start of 2021 saw similar internal issues at Scavenger Studios, and even Playstation found themselves facing a complaint. None of these are the same, and shouldn’t be treated as such, but speak to an undeniable truth. The industry still isn’t doing enough for women, and these stories will continue to happen in an industry unwilling to be accountable to itself.
The fight is only getting started.
Beyond that, other individuals in the industry and the community showed their ugly heads, demonstrating not just the large systemic problems belong to professionals, but within communities. Former Overwatch League MVP Jay ‘Sinatraa’ Won was suspended for 6 months from competition in Valorant after sexual assault allegations, talented developer Near committed suicide following a harassment campaign and Twitch streamers speaking out with the #ADayOffTwitch campaign against hate raids in their live streams.
These happened against the backdrop of an industry undergoing numerous shifts including the companies consolidating their business through acquisitions, such as Microsoft finalising their purchase of Bethesda or Netflix acquiring Night School Studio or even Epic Games acquiring Mediatonic. Feuds within the industry demonstrated the large-scale economic issues facing developers in what is now a billion dollar industry, whether it be the lawsuit of Epic v Apple or the issues for Outriders developer People Can Fly indicating a lack of revenue from Square Enix. Of course, late in the year, the industry also got on the NFT trend with little understanding of what it would be. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 tried including these and backtracked quickly. Ubisoft added them in the form of Ubisoft Quartz and Square Enix have declared their interest.
* extreme Jack Sparrow voice *
Well, I own something more valuable than Bethesda!
It’s a JPG of Bethesda the keyart for the acquisition of Bethesda!
Even the art form and games themselves face issues. Preservation remains a contentious topic going forward, with the new consoles having their own separate issues with batteries, issues with DRM resulting in people unable to play games, and even calls from Phil Spencer of Xbox to support emulation, showed the worry around the titles of the past becoming inaccessible. Of course, service games and loot boxes continue to dominate, with the U.K now looking at the regulation of the latter and some titles still face the issue of launching in buggy and unfinished states despite the powerful hardware available. Looking at you, Rockstar.
Between all these along with numerous other smaller stories, there’s no other to cut it. 2021 was a year in which we have seen the gaming industry for what it is, an industry polluted with amoral decision-makers and enablers, a mix of genuine creative forces who want to master the art form and people who see economic output as the one maxim that towers above all and seek it at any cost, expect monetary cost.
If this comes across as aggressively cynical, that's because it's easy to be so when faced with an industry this flawed. Since being a kid, gaming has been my escape from my troubles, and remains so as a taller kid. That escape shouldn't require exploitation of workers and doesn't need to chase dangerous or unnecessary fads to be relevant. Unfortunately, that’s where we appear to have been for a long time.
This is just a very useful template.
There have been some positives to take from 2021. Whether it be the continued success of the AGDQ event in generating plenty of money for charity, and the positive strike action and group formations that brave men and women have taken in protesting against the issues we’ve all seen over the last year, including members of the ABK Workers Alliance group and A Better Ubisoft, there are reasons for hope that the industry can change for the better, can become a more positive influence.
So what can the average person do going into 2022? Well, supporting these movements is a start. Collective action is a start in the industry, and that support shouldn’t just come from gamers, but senior industry officials. It’s all well and good that Jim Ryan sends internal emails to staff & Phil Spencer “evaluating” Xbox’s relationship with Activision, but actions speak louder.
Perhaps it's time to speak more clearly with wallets. Whilst there is the concern that this hurts developers more than the CEOs and executives, people ultimately have the final decision of how to spend their money on games. If 2021’s release schedule showed anything, it's that there is something for everyone on all sorts of scales and budgets, that a choice can be made to support the games and companies you want.
Hopefully, 2022 sees the industry actually hold itself accountable and if not, that accountability may have to come from elsewhere.
