MeinMMO’s editor-in-chief Leya Jankowski is confident that we will still have some gaming trends to discuss controversially in 2022. After 2 years of extreme drought, she finally sees a strong year ahead.
I have never anticipated a gaming year with as much excitement as 2022. Sometimes it almost makes me dizzy thinking about everything that is coming our way.
Two hearts beat in my chest: I am incredibly excited that there will be a lot of action. But I am also a bit afraid of the work that lies ahead of us.
That’s why it’s all the more important to be prepared and ready for all eventualities. Here are my predictions:
1. NFTs will stay and grow
Even in 2021, NFT, along with Metaverse, was a major buzzword that spread in gaming. Major players are testing the waters and unveiling plans:
- Ubisoft wanted to introduce the NFT microtransaction “Quartz” for Ghost Recon Wildlands. However, it backfired after criticism – for the time being.
- The CEO of Square Enix sees blockchain and NFTs as the future of gaming and with that, great potential for the years to come.
If you think about it, blockchain and NFTs are just a logical consequence in online gaming.
Virtual items have been traded since the early days of MMORPGs. Those who lacked the time or talent to earn the craziest items themselves and still wanted to boast in the guild could check dedicated websites or eBay and make a purchase.
However, they did not achieve real ownership. That is exactly what blockchain technology changes.
Why NFTs are currently so attractive to game developers has a simple reason: NFTs have the potential to generate such remarkable sums that every classic gold dragon would immediately switch to pixels to defend digital assets.
We are therefore increasingly seeing reports of games that are already making millions before they even arrive.
So we can expect several announcements and introductions of NFTs in games this year. Despite the current headwinds from the gaming community. It will be controversial.
2. Breakthroughs in poor working conditions for game studios
By now, there is hardly any major gaming studio left that is free from nasty scandals:
Sexism, crunch, bullying, bossing, and drinking parties at work – we have seen more reports on these topics in recent years than we would have liked.
Here is an excerpt:
- A shocking insider report on Destiny 2 explains the many problems of the story
- League of Legends: Harvard professor should save Riot from sexism
- Red Dead Redemption 2: Massive overtime for a massive game
Blizzard Activision stands out particularly. Everything started with a lawsuit in July 2021 from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Shocking details emerged that went through marrow and bone.
You can get a deeper insight into Blizzard’s sexism scandal in the video talk with GameStar:
One could say that the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard was already a breakthrough. There was a high media interest. Employees organized protest marches, work was stalled due to the scandal in parts.
It is clear that the grievances in the industry can no longer continue as they have. I assume that we will read many more insider reports in 2022. Likewise, the studios will reorganize themselves.
3. More “Switch clones,” even though the Steamdeck is flopping
The Steamdeck is Valve’s answer to the extremely popular Nintendo Switch. Even though first tests confirm that the handheld console is of high quality, one question burns in my mind:
Who needs this?
The Nintendo Switch is now 5 years old, and you can see the strain on the console. It’s increasingly hitting its limits. The Steamdeck is supposed to catch that and bring the power of a PC, just in handheld form.
Sounds cool in theory. But how big is the actual target group? Steam is assigned to the PC-gaming community and they are the ones most likely to be addressed by the Steamdeck. But do they really want to play their God of War or Elden Ring on a 4K monitor?
I am convinced that a niche is being addressed here, which probably won’t be enough for the Steamdeck to be a profitable business for Valve.
Cloud gaming is also developing further. With streaming via Game Pass or Stadia, you can already play on the go with a smartphone or tablet. That is the cheaper alternative.
Additionally, 2022 will still be dominated by the pandemic. This decreases the need for a powerful console on the go.
Nevertheless, we will see more “clones” of the Switch, of which there are already some. No wonder. The Switch has now sold nearly 100 million units – others also want to nibble at that pie.
4. We will get more AAA mobile games
The whole platform war has been seriously annoying me for years. I look forward to the days when it won’t matter anymore where we play – and those days are probably closer than we realize.
The mega-success Genshin Impact has shown the way. Even with mobile-typical gacha mechanics, Genshin Impact was able to score on PC and consoles. I played it myself on PC at launch and could not visually tell that I was actually playing a mobile game.
Especially with MMORPGs from Asia, we can observe this trend of high-quality mobile games. They often even release for at least PC as well as iOS and Android.
We will see even more of that in 2022.
Additionally, mobile gamers are now expecting higher quality in games. The smartphone hardware has become increasingly powerful over the years. The graphics of the games are better, and gaming no longer drains so much battery life.
For a few weeks now, I have been playing League of Legends: Wild Rift on my phone and am about to hit 100 hours. In terms of complexity, graphics, and controls, I notice no difference to a console.
I say that in 2022, there will still be a high-quality multiplatform game that approaches the size of Genshin Impact – perhaps even in the MMORPG sector. And we will see more mobile games with the quality of Genshin Impact, Pokémon GO, Call of Duty: Mobile, outside of Diablo Immortal.
I know that this trend will not please every “hardcore gamer.” But when you look at the expected revenues in the mobile games sector predicted by SensorTower to reach 138 billion dollars by 2025, it’s not surprising.
5. The Xbox Game Pass will get serious competition
Over 18 million subscriptions can be counted for the Xbox Game Pass today. I personally use the service and must say again and again that it is really good. This allowed me to replay beloved retro gems or discover cool new games like Psychonauts 2.
At the moment, the Xbox Game Pass offers the best value for money in gaming.
But others are certainly not sleeping and want their own Netflix for gaming. I am convinced that we will see at least one truly serious competitor this year. Valve and Sony are promising candidates here.
For us as consumers, it’s of course a good thing to have more options. After all, every service then has to see how to win our gaming hearts!
6. A lot of great games are coming our way! Big and small
In the last 2 years, we have had to deal with many delays. Which is understandable due to the global pandemic.
But now in 2022, we are getting so many games! Just looking at the release list for February and March makes me dizzy.
Among them are top titles like Lost Ark, Elden Ring, Total War: Warhammer III, Dying Light 2 or Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. There are also big expansions like Witch Queen for Destiny 2.
I personally look forward to a gem called Have a Nice Death. A hand-drawn action roguelike where you play as the CEO of Death Incorporated.
2022 will be characterized by several controversies solely concerning NFTs. Keywords like “Play-to-Earn” already make one ponder where gaming is headed. Personally, I find it fascinating how large the industry has become and what opportunities are all open.
However, we are also expecting a pretty cool gaming year due to the sheer number of cool games in the pipeline. It will be rather difficult to decide what to play from all of that.
Next year we will see how it all turned out in 2022. What do you think?
