What We Learned About Gaming in 2015
As 2015 draws to a close it’s time to look back on the year and what we learned about the gaming industry. It has been a year of ups and downs for the games sector and more than a few major stories have broken throughout the year.
As far as bonuses go, gamers are done with pre-order bonuses it appears. These gifts are given to those that place their money into the company before the game is finished but this isn’t always a smart move. Prior to the release of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Square Enix attempted to use tiers of pre-order bonuses in a scheme that received widely negative reviews. Instead of taking this developer up on their offerings many players are instead going to one of the list of sites offering free bingo with no deposit, which seems to be a more sensible approach.
One of the biggest stories of the year was the dispute between Kojima and Konami, which left the latter looking like the villain of one of their own games. This spiralled, with fans taking the Kojima side, and has ultimately culminated in the birth of a new brand for the Konami rebel. The worst part of this affair was that Konami didn’t allow Kojima to pick up any of the awards for his games at the Game Awards. The creators of the Metal Gear and Silent Hill franchises wouldn’t comment on the two going their separate ways so the initial reason remains a mystery.
The feminism side of gaming is rocking the industry, with many developers not knowing just how to treat their female fans. This became increasingly apparent when DOAX3 was confirmed to be an Asian only release. Prior to this statement this lesser known game wasn’t stirring up any press, as it was just a generic beach game complete with bikini clad women. Koei Tecmo, the game’s publisher, released a statement that the game would not be launched in the west due to the way it would be taken by players. This instantly provided a rallying point for the likes of Anita Sarkeesian, who came fresh off the Gamergate bandwagon and right into another fight. The whole affair descended into an argument with hundreds on either side, hurling abuse via Twitter.
The most important thing to take away from this year in gaming however is that there are plenty of new releases that focus on keeping games fun. We can easily be bogged down by industry news and warring factions but there are developers making games that are enjoyable and quirky. Some of the best of these releases have come from indie studios and this market is growing day by day.
