Only a handful of days remain until 2021 comes to a close, and the world ushers into a new year. 2022 already looks packed with video games to enjoy, but looking back on the past 365 days, 2021 had no shortage of surprises of its own. 2021 has been a busy year in terms of interactive entertainment, both in regard to events within the industry itself, as well as outside circumstances.
After the launch of the new generation in late 2020, the PS5 and Xbox Series X have slowly been picking up steam, establishing themselves as solid new consoles for the foreseeable future. Formal video events such as E3 and TGA also made some comebacks this year despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Although fun and positivity are what players usually look to in this field, the gaming industry sadly was home to a fair share of controversies and shocking news stories as well over the past year. From happy highs to disappointing lows, brilliant reveals to horrific scandals, these are the biggest news stories and surprises from 2021 in no particular order.
Nintendo Switch Online Finally Adds Nintendo 64 Games
Although the added price increase to Nintendo Switch Online was met with more than just a few raised eyebrows, the novelty of having N64 games on the go was long overdue. Nintendo Switch Online has slowly been creating a backlog of legacy content for Switch users to enjoy under the monthly subscription costs.
NES and SNES titles were already added to the service, but it took quite some time for the Nintendo 64 library to hit the console as well. Now, classic games like StarFox 64 and Paper Mario can be enjoyed by gamers young and old, anywhere and everywhere.
G4TV Revival
Speaking of classic gaming content, G4TV was a trusted source for reviews, previews, and everything between when it came to games during the mid-2000s to early 2010s. Before the rise of the internet age and several gaming publications, it was a popular way to get information for all the biggest upcoming titles.
Another pleasurable aspect of the show was the enthusiastic and likable hosts such as Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb. Unfortunately, G4TV was shut down in 2014 with no sign of coming back. To the surprise of many with its initial announcement, G4TV was revived and returned to the air last month with new content. That means a whole new generation of gamers get to meet the ideas that former G4TV, while older generations get to return for the nostalgia.
Colette wins Oscar for Best Short Film (First Ever for a Video Game Studio)
Just like how TGA celebrates the best that gaming has to offer, the Oscars are the respective event for the film industry. Earlier this year, cinephiles anticipated the nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards, and surprisingly, a short film made for a video game secured a spot on the shortlist.
Co-produced by Oculus and Respawn Entertainment, Colette was part of a virtual gallery in Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. While a nomination was already a surprise, the short film ended up winning the award itself, becoming the first-ever for a video game studio.
Activision-Blizzard Lawsuits and Harassment in the Games Industry
Unfortunately, the gaming industry wasn't just made up of sunshine and rainbows in 2021. On July 20, Activision-Blizzard was sued over allegations of the worst kind possible. Gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and worse paint these lawsuits, and history takes it even further. Activision-Blizzard's response was addressed as tone-deaf and, just when it looked like AB was taking it seriously, new reports revealed CEO Bobby Kotick knew more than he initially let on. The situation is ongoing, but marks an unacceptable turn of events that hopefully makes way for a more inclusive work culture going forward.
Activision-Blizzard may be the face and focus on harassment in the industry right now, but it's far from the only one. This year alone, new details about Ubisoft's mistreatment of women surfaced, Bungie's past came to light, Twitch streamers were hate raided left and right with no support, and gamers threw misogynistic and racist comments at God of War: Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West. Games, perhaps more than anything, bring people together. They have this entire pandemic. But there's a dark side that all too often goes ignored, and from big to small, it's something the industry should have zero tolerance for.
Sora Joins Super Smash Bros Ultimate
Nintendo's mega-crossover hit Super Smash Bros Ultimate has had a healthy lineup of DLC since it launched in December 2018. New fighters were consistently added to the game, with the final addition to the roster set for this year. Speculation mounted among fans for who exactly it could be, with theories bouncing between many notable gaming mascots from Crash Bandicoot to Master Chief.
In early October during a special livestream, it was confirmed that Sora from Kingdom Hearts would be the final new fighter, sending fans of the game into a flurry of excitement. No one believed it would actually happen, thanks to a ton of legal work that Sora would require, and it's no secret that it was a lot of work on the developers. Still, to this day, many just want to thank them for making this legitimate dream, years in the making, a reality.
Halo Infinite Multiplayer Surprise Release
The Halo franchise is synonymous with the Xbox brand, something that was set to be celebrated with the launch of the Xbox Series X/S. Halo: Infinite was originally intended to be the killer launch exclusive, but had to be delayed into this year.
As fans patiently waited day by day for the latest Master Chief adventure to become available, Microsoft made a surprising announcement on November 15 that Halo: Infinite's multiplayer component would launch early. This helped ease the wait for the campaign, and left many fans beyond happy to get hands on the game earlier than expected. Of course, there have been some issues with the Battle Pass progression and Playlists, but developers have responded swiftly introducing many fixes and update since then. For many gamers, just the surprise factor alone was big for the franchise.
Sony Acquisitions
The PlayStation brand is recognized for its lineup of first-party exclusives such as Marvel's Spider-Man and The Last of Us. Over the years, Sony has accomplished this by establishing strong relationships with proven studios and eventually purchasing them to make games exclusively for PlayStation platforms.
As if this first-party family wasn't strong enough, 2021 brought with it a bevy of new acquisitions from Sony, adding new talent to its team. This includes Housemarque (Returnal), Bluepoint (Demon's Souls), and Firesprite (The Persistence). Not only that, but smaller teams focused on PC ports and development support such as Nixxes Software and Valkyrie Entertainment joined the family too.
Alan Wake 2 Announced
While some gamers went into TGA believing that a Silent Hill announcement was imminent, an entirely different horror IP made an appearance instead. Although a return to the Alan Wake franchise had been teased and rumored after the DLC for Control and Alan Wake Remastered, nothing had been outright confirmed.
After a brief, but creepy teaser trailer, Alan Wake 2 was confirmed for release in 2023 as director Sam Lake took to the stage to talk more about the game. It will be a full-on survival horror experience, and considering it's been over a decade since the original, this sequel has clearly been a long time coming.
Return of Lucasfilm Games
Similar to G4TV above, Lucasfilm Games was once a staple of the industry many years ago. Established for the purpose of developing video games based on the Star Wars franchise, the company gained plenty of success with many products over the years. In 2012 however, Disney acquired Lucasfilm and all of its assets, and by 2013, had shut down the gaming division and handed off video game responsibilities to EA.
After a rocky few years under EA's guidance, it was announced that Lucasfilm Games would be reestablished to oversee all future video game developments in early 2021. Later that same week, a new Indiana Jones game and open-world Star Wars title from Ubisoft were announced, indicating a bright future for Lucasfilm Games.
Epic Games vs. Apple Trial
Lastly, the lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple had been an ongoing point of contention between both companies for several months this year. In summary, the lawsuit was brought about by Epic in regards to Apple's business practices within the iOS app store. Epic Games specifically challenged Apple's restrictions on apps from having other in-app purchasing options besides the ones on offer inside the app store itself.
Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney was not pleased with the 30 percent cut that Apple took on every purchase, prompting changes to be made to Fortnite to workaround these payment systems. This resulted in Fortnite being removed from the iOS app store entirely, and from here, things quickly escalated. Apple fired back with a lawsuit of its own, claiming that Epic had breached its contract with them in order to get this entire lawsuit in motion. By September 2021, the court had decided in favor of Apple on nine out of ten counts, but found against Apple based upon the companies anti-steering policies.