As the Seasons Change, so Does the Gaming Industry
By Luke Condon
Winter has begun to make itself known in ever-so-subtle ways; for example, it’s now lashing rain every second day instead of every third day, and it’s gotten cold enough outside that you can start justifying your daily €5 spend on coffee as a means of keeping yourself warm on chilly mornings. But the seasons aren’t the only thing undergoing the process of change at this time of year. The gaming industry continues to transform at an almost alarming rate, and it can be tricky to keep up to speed; luckily, you’ve got me here to fill you in.
Overwatch 2’s launch earlier this month was met with a mixed reception from players; while some lauded the game’s new character additions and switchover to a free-to-play module, the consensus reached by many was that Overwatch 2 is no more than a glorified update to the original game, doing little to earn its sequel status. Server troubles on release day only exacerbated criticisms; some players faced over an hour of queueing on the main menu before even being able to access the game. Despite this negativity, Overwatch 2 is still essentially the same old Overwatch, meaning that it’s still as enjoyable and impressive as its predecessor was. However, many of the game’s concerning new practices speak volumes about the direction the gaming industry is headed in as a whole.
Overwatch 2’s new free-to-play system unsurprisingly comes hand-in-hand with additional monetization features, which are usually a necessary evil whenever free games are in question. Cosmetic micro-transactions are often considered a worthy trade-off in order to get free access to a game, but Overwatch 2 has now gated playable characters behind a paywall for the first time in series history. Players are given the option to instantly access a hero by paying for the game’s ‘battle pass’, or simply grind out the game over a long period of time to unlock the new character. Players normally aren’t too enthused upon being presented with this choice, but it’s becoming increasingly common in games, even full price ones; see Star Wars Battlefront II, which caused controversy for a similar mechanic on release. Despite the gaming community’s near-unanimous disdain for them, it seems that micro-transactions aren’t going anywhere for the time being.
Meanwhile, the console wars between Microsoft and Sony rage on, as they have since the release of the first-generation Xbox as a competitor to PlayStation in 2001 (Nintendo have managed to carve out their own niche in the market, avoiding the crossfire). But consoles may not be the primary focus of this battle for much longer; Microsoft has switched things up with its Xbox Game Pass service, an equivalent of Netflix for video games that isn’t limited to Xbox platforms, despite the name. Sony have recently returned fire with the launch of additional tiers within the similar PlayStation Plus service, their own alternative to Microsoft’s subscription program. But who has the upper hand here, if anyone?
A few weeks ago, an audit of Microsoft’s games division revealed that Xbox Game Pass had earned them a figure of 2.9 billion dollars in 2021, and that’s on Xbox consoles alone; if PC subscriptions were included, the amount would be even higher. It’s an impressive figure, yes, but it doesn’t tell us a whole lot; it’s likely that Microsoft is running Game Pass at a profit deficit in order to gain market share for both their Xbox Consoles and PCs that run Windows operating systems in 99% of cases. Nevertheless, Microsoft seems to be happy with the service’s performance, and it’s hard to tell if Sony’s new PS Plus tiers are performing to a comparable standard, considering that they’re limited to PlayStation consoles only. On the other hand, Sony’s PlayStation 5 continues to dominate the Xbox Series X in terms of units shipped, likely owing to its critically acclaimed console-exclusive games; however, with Microsoft’s purchase of Bethesda Softworks, and the accompanying promise to bring Bethesda games to Xbox Game Pass upon release, Sony may not hold the high ground for long.
From shady business practices to exciting new initiatives, there’s always new trends arising in the gaming industry, and it can often be difficult to tell the ones that will end up having a lasting impact apart from the ones that will slowly die an unceremonious death (here’s hoping that’s you, microtransactions). It’s worth staying in the loop all the same; at least when video games start charging gamers hourly rates to play, you’ll be able to tell your friends ‘I told you so’.