THIS year has been jam-packed with news of every kind, and gaming has been no different.
If you’ve missed out on some of this year’s hottest gaming news, then don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
There was a lot of drama surrounding Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Everything from the Activision Blizzard acquisition to Xbox’s price rise is here for you.
Here’s our round up of the biggest gaming news this year.
January
Microsoft’s offer to buy Activision Blizzard for almost $70billion was accepted at the start of 2022.
The process is still ongoing, as official bodies around the world decide whether the acquisition would create a monopoly in the industry.
Activision Blizzard is the publisher which owns a number of popular series including Call of Duty, and Candy Crush.
God of War released on PC this month, and quickly became Sony’s most popular PC port.
This success opened the door for Sony to potentially port more PlayStation exclusive games to PC in the future.
February
The first customers received their Steam Decks, which had been on pre-order for a number of months.
Not only does the portable console play PC games via Steam, but can also be used as a portable computer.
The Steam Deck has been a huge success, and some of the first consoles were delivered by Gabe Newell himself.
March
PlayStation announced its new subscription service which combines PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now.
The service has three tiers, and also introduces a whole new library of older games at the most expensive tier.
May
EA Sports announced its FIFA series of games will continue under the name EA Sports FC.
The first game will apparently make few changes from EA Sports’ established series, but the name will change due to its split from the football federation.
Square Enix sold three studios and the Tomb Raider IP for $300million.
The Embracer Group bought the studios and gaming IPs including Crystal Dynamics, Square Enix Montréal, and Eidos-Montréal.
August
Sony announced that it will raise the price of its PS5 consoles, with the price rise changing depending on the region.
Almost every region outside of the States was affected, with the price increasing on both digital and disc-based consoles.
PlayStation claims the price increase was due to global high inflation rates.
September
Google announced that its streaming console service Stadia will shut down in January.
The company fully reimbursed everyone who purchased the console, any of its services or games.
In the gaming industry’s biggest ever breach, a hacker illegally downloaded and distributed almost a hundred videos of GTA 6.
The videos were leaked online, and were available for a few hours before they were taken down by the publisher.
October
Konami announced Silent Hill’s return, including four new games coming to the series.
The rumoured remake of Silent Hill 2 was officially confirmed, alongside other titles set in the universe.
CD Projekt announced a number of new projects including a new Witcher trilogy and a remake of the original Witcher game.
Another game based on Cyberpunk 2077 was revealed, as well as a new IP.
November
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet launched with a number of technical issues including crashes and glitches.
Despite this, it was one of the fastest-selling video games of all time, selling 10million copies in just three days.
December
The Game Awards revealed that Elden Ring is the best game of the year.
A number of other games win awards including God of War Ragnarök and Stray.
Xbox announced that it will raise the price of its games from 2023.
The company stated previously in the year that its prices would remain stable, but changed strategy towards the end of the year.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
