Redfinger | Top Ten Gaming Industry News You Should Know 2022

Amid the increasing globalization in the gaming sector, let's take a quick look at the top news in this industry, which may indicate the development trend in 2023 and beyond. 

• The Acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft

On January 18, Microsoft announced that it would acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in all-cash, a deal that sets a record for the amount of acquisition in the global gaming industry.

Since the two sides' business lines around the world, there is a need for the approval of 16 countries and regions, including China, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and other regulatory authorities around the world. However, so far, only a few countries such as Brazil and Saudi Arabia have unconditionally approved the plan, and regulators in the gaming sector are still conducting strict reviews of the case.

Also, it is associated with the actions from Sony. Call of Duty may therefore quit the PS platform and lead to the loss of users, although Microsoft noted that the game will not be exclusive to Xbox in the next 10 years.

• Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February, the Russian economy has been shaken by Western sanctions. Among them, the seemingly unimportant game industry in Russia has also suffered from industry collapse and the loss of talents.

In this context, the Russian government is discussing a systematic support program for the gaming industry. Previously, Russia had already made a comprehensive attempt to replace domestic products in areas such as app stores. This support program is aimed at rebuilding the Russian gaming industry.

• Luna Avalanche & FTX Bankruptcy

The global economic downturn allows the capital market to suffer from volatility, exerting an impact on Web3 in 2022. In May, Luna, the cryptocurrency launched by South Korea's Terra, suffered an avalanche plunge, falling from a high of $80 to a life-or-death level of $1. 

Meantime, FTX – the world's second-largest crypto token exchange - officially declared bankruptcy in November, which also directly impacted Korean gaming companies that had virtual tokens and digital assets in the exchange. In addition to the general decline in token prices, some companies share prices also fluctuated.

Although giants including Line, Japan's largest IM platform, still choose to start Web3 business lines including the gaming platform in 2022, there is no doubt that the continued collapse from tokens to platforms has enabled users to feel the loss of confidence about Web3. 

• Google's Stadia Closed & Setback in Cloud Gaming

In February, on the second anniversary of Stadia, Google lowered Stadia's internal rating. on September 29, Google officially announced that it would close the cloud gaming platform on January 18 next year, and opened a refund channel.

For the failure of the Stadia business, industry analysts believe that the lack of exclusive games and high-quality games are the key reasons for the failure. Google, on the other hand, said that although Stadia was shut down, its underlying technology will continue to play a part in YouTube, Google Play, and AR projects.

• EU Adopts Resolution to Develop Gaming Industry 

In November, the European Parliament formally adopted a resolution on the development of video games by an overwhelming vote of 560 in favor, 36 against, and 16 abstentions. It means that the European Parliament officially recognizes the value behind video games, and urges the European Commission and the Council of the European Union to develop a long-term video game development strategy.

Saudi Arabia, a country that is highly dependent on its oil economy, is also investing in gaming as a focus of its green economic transformation. In 2022, the country's sovereign fund has invested in a host of game publishers and developers such as Capcom, Nintendo, NCsoft, Nexon, and SNK. At the same time, the country has also launched a $37.8 billion investment plan, which aims to establish 250 gaming companies locally so as to enhance the gaming industry's GDP contribution to 50 billion rials (about $13.3 billion) by 2030.

• Third-party Stores May Avail in iOS

Apple's iOS ecosystem has always been known as safe, and secure but closed. Unlike the Android platform, Apple has always prohibited users from getting and installing apps from sources other than the App Store. 

For this reason, the EU officially introduced the Digital Market Act this year, which aims to guarantee fair competition. As such, it requires Apple to download apps from third-party stores and allows developers to use third-party payments. The anti-monopoly changes to the Internet ecosystem will be concerned for a long time to come.

• Meta Suffered from Loss in Metaverse

Since Facebook officially changed its name to Meta at the end of last year, Zuckerberg's determination to create metaverse has become clear. To this end, Meta has invested tens of billions of dollars in the past year, breaking ground on comprehensive R&D from hardware devices to content ecology. However, in addition to the crisis of various financial indicators, Meta's stock price also fell by 60% in the past year.

As a result, on November 10, Zuckerberg issued a letter to all employees, noting that he would lay off a massive 11,000 employees, accounting for 13% of the total number of employees. Although Zuckerberg admitted that he had made a mistake, he would continue to develop the metaverse and firmly believed that Meta was undervalued. 

• Another MMO Publisher Amazon Emerges 

If you still see Amazon as a cloud computing business-developed e-commerce platform, you may need to refresh your mind in that Amazon becomes the most successful MMO publisher in the European and American markets in 2022. 

After distributing New World and Lost Ark, Amazon is setting new records on the MMO track. As of press time, Lost Ark is the highest number of players online in real-time on Steam, with a stable peak number of about 300,000 users in a single day, and a historical peak of over 1.3 million. 

On December 8, at The Game Awards, Amazon Games announced a new publishing agreement with Bandai Namco Online Inc. to bring Blue Protocol, a multiplayer online action role-playing game featuring beautiful, anime-inspired art, to North America, Europe, South America, Australia, and New Zealand. 

• Netflix Stepped into Gaming Sector 

In the fiscal year of 2022 after the release of the third quarter earnings, Netflix game studio director and vice president of the game department MiKe Verdu noted that Netflix's 55 new games are being developed, and the firm is also exploring cloud gaming products.

In October this year, Netflix set up a dedicated game studio and invited Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonny to take the lead. Subsequent job postings also hinted that Netflix has plans to develop FPS or TPS-type 3A games.

After acquiring studios covering Spry Fox, Netflix now has six in-house game studios. It indicates its determined commitment to the gaming industry. This has also allowed Reuters to recently issue a prediction that Microsoft may acquire Netflix.

• TGA Annual Rewards by Falcom 

Elden Ring became the biggest winner, gaining the title of Game of the Year, which is also the second time for Falcom to obtain the TGA annual award after Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

The soul-based open-world design of the game has brought the soul-like gaming experience to a new height. On August 31, Japan's Kadokawa issued a statement agreeing to let Tencent subsidiary Sixjoy and Sony's SIE Tokyo use cash to buy new shares issued by Kadokawa's subsidiary FromSoftware. Following the completion of the transaction, Tencent and Sony will become the second and third largest shareholders of Falcom respectively. The funds will be used mainly to strengthen the ability to create and develop game IPs.