The gaming industry has its fair share of ups and downs in 2014, and although there were controversies and hardships, there was also a lot of progress and maturation in the field.
Multiple gaming studios closed their doors, either of their own volition, as with Irrational Games, or involuntarily, as was the case with Airtight Games.
However, the debacle that was known as Gamergate, brought forth issues that desperately needed to be discussed. Such as the relationship between gaming journalists and their sources, the perception of gamers as a whole and the representation of women in games — all with their merits and follies, granted, but still a conversation that needed to be started.
Sadly, there is still much more room for growth, but at least the industry is on the right track.
Despite the year not being too grand for big studios and triple-A titles, 2014 proved to be a great year for independent developers to showcase their abilities. With smaller budgets and teams, games like The Stanley Parable, Papers Please and Shovel Knight were able to return to narrative and gameplay conventions that did not rely on state-of-the-art graphics.
Granted, there were numerous triple-A titles that garnered attention, such as Grand Theft Auto 5, Destiny, Titanfall, The Elder Scrolls: Online and South Park: The Stick of Truth. But a lot of big-budget games saw more struggle than success, with games like Assassin’s Creed: Unity and Halo: The Master Chief Collection launching with game-breaking bugs, which required immediate patches to the software.
Nintendo proved itself a viable competitor in the game console market, after two years of struggling to gain a foot hold. This was achieved with the release of Mario Kart 8, Bayonetta 2 and Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS and Wii U. All of which motivated gamers to purchase the console.
The year also showed growth in the Esports arena.
In July, DOTA 2 teams played for a piece of $11 million total prize money. The tournament drew in more than 11,000 spectators, not to mention countless people watching online. To put this into perspective, each member of the Seattle Seahawks received $92,000 for winning the Super Bowl. Whereas the five-person DOTA 2 champion team, Newbee, received a $5 million grand prize. That is more than 10 times in winnings for each player than the Seahawks. Additionally, the State Department has began granting visas to professional gamers just as it does for professional athletes. Furthermore, a private college in Chicago is granting scholarships to gamers in the same vein as athletic scholarships.
Big business began staking its claim in the industry as well, with Amazon purchasing Twitch.tv for almost $1 billion Tuesday. Twitch is a streaming site that allows users to watch gameplay footage uploaded by others. The website touts 55 million users and one million content creators, after launching just 3 years ago.
Microsoft purchased the hit indie game Minecraft and its development studio Mojang AB for $2.5 billion, after being established in 2009.
Furthermore, Facebook purchased the virtual-reality company Oculus, which began as a Kickstarter campaign, for $2 billion.
On a disappointing note, the year ended with alleged cyber-attacks on Sony’s Playstation Network (PSN) and Microsoft’s XBox Live services during the holiday season, with a group calling itself Lizard Squad claiming responsibility. An arrest was made Tuesday in England in connection with the cyber-attack.
So, all-in-all, it was another busy year for video games, and 2015 will prove to be just as busy. Hopefully, the industry will continue its current course of maturation and not regression. But time will tell.
Contact J. W. Burch, IV at 900-2022.
