Impossible year
Looking back on a testing but transformative year in games
Hard to believe, but there was much to be optimistic about when 2020 began. Journey To The Savage Planet – yes, that really was this year – kicked January off in colourfully amusing fashion, while Kentucky Route Zero finally reached the end of the line, a mere seven years after the first of its five Acts was released. A little way over the horizon was the first Edge 10 in 18 months, as Media Molecule’s dazzling
Dreams emerged from beta as both a co-operative creative tool par excellence, and a platform for artists to share their work with the world. And the much-anticipated
Cyberpunk 2077 was just a few short months away. News was emerging of an outbreak of a novel coronavirus strain in
Wuhan, but it was generally assumed that the outbreak would soon be under control. Then came fatalities and reports that the virus had spread overseas, and the mood changed.
Naturally, the videogame industry, like all others, was severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. As first social distancing measures and then lockdown regulations were put in place, supply chains were broken, while manufacturing slowed and, in some cases, ground to a halt entirely. Format holders and publishers alike were forced to hurriedly change or cancel longstanding plans. Software and hardware releases were postponed, as distribution and certification hold-ups created further delays. And yet, unlike most other fields, the game industry largely remained in rude health throughout the year, and in some ways actively benefitted from the virus. With millions of people spending more time at home, many turned to games as an escape. Reports of yearon-year profit increases came regularly, and sales records were frequently broken.
If the game industry’s resilience in the face of such unusual circumstances is a testament to its adaptability, there were significant casualties, not least the events business. By the end of February, many companies planning to exhibit at PAX East had cancelled their attendance. As late as February 15, Naughty Dog tweeted about bringing an hour-long demo of The Last Of Us Part II to the event, a playable teaser of unprecedented size. Yet four days later Sony confirmed it was withdrawing from the Boston event, with the likes of Square Enix and Capcom following suit. As the reality of the situation began to set in, more cancellations followed, while others shifted to online-only events. The Game Developers Conference hastily shifted tack to a digital event, with the GDC and IGF awards being announced in an online ceremony, and winners recording their victory speeches remotely – and the BAFTA Games awards followed suit. In March, meanwhile, the Entertainment Software Association finally bowed to pressure to cancel the already-ailing E3, though Geoff Keighley jumped in to fill the breach with his Summer Game Fest, a series of online showcases running between May and August, with playable demos for several games made available on digital platforms.
In other words, the industry was already beginning to adapt. As it did, many companies scrambled to find technological solutions to allow staff to work remotely. Invariably, smaller studios were able to handle this much more quickly and easily than triple-A studios, with several blockbuster games having their releases put back. The likes of Ghost Of Tsushima and The Last Of Us Part II slipped by weeks rather than months, but games such as Halo: Infinite and Deathloop were pushed into 2021, while others (including Far Cry 6, already planned for next year) endured unspecified delays as the logistical realities of having multiple teams working from home began to bite. We expect more blockbuster games will follow suit as we enter a new year, even with a vaccine providing some hope of getting back to relative normality, though even as regulations are relaxed, many studios are continuing to provide the opportunity for staff to work remotely. As horrifying as the toll of the pandemic has been, some of its side-effects
Reports of year-onyear profit increases came regularly, and sales records were frequently broken
should help change working practices in the industry for the better.
That’s no bad thing in a year where several major studios were rightly taken to task for their internal crunch culture. Former Naughty Dog animator Jonathan Cooper reported that one of his friends had been hospitalised from overwork in preparing a demo of The Last Of Us Part II for last September, while suggesting that the studio’s reputation was so poor that it had been forced to recruit talent from the film industry because no senior animator in games would go near it. Meanwhile, CD Projekt Red reneged on an earlier promise to avoid mandatory crunch for its staff to finish Cyberpunk 2077. Even with employees continuing to work long hours to push it over the line – the dreaded ‘death march’ – the game was delayed three times, forcing other studios to postpone their own releases to avoid clashing with a game likely to dominate the cultural conversation for weeks to come.
Abuses of a different kind made headlines throughout the year, as the game industry finally had something close to its own MeToo moment. Women from across the industry bravely spoke out about their experiences across social media, with a string of allegations of sexual harassment and assault levelled against a number of high-profile men, ranging from streamers to PRs, veteran writers, designers and more. In July, a succession of claims of similar abuses were laid at the door of Ubisoft, with reports emerging of endemic sexism, bullying and worse, ultimately leading to several senior figures leaving the company. Here was a long-overdue reckoning, although it’s extremely unlikely we’ve heard the last of claims like these. We can only hope that the courage of the women who went public leads to more widespread selfexamination from this predominantly white, male industry. Ubisoft has since vowed to change its workplace practices and hiring policies, and others will need to follow suit to avoid this kind of thing happening again, and to ensure the industry becomes a safe and welcoming place to work for everyone.
While it’s evident the industry still has plenty of growing up to do, it has also demonstrated this year that it is capable of great things when it pushes for change. Nowhere was this more apparent than with the astonishing success of the itch.io Bundle For Racial Justice And Equality (about which you can read more on p81, as part of our 2020 awards celebration), with many other publishers also contributing huge sums to the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of the shocking killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. This is the kind of positive response of which we hope to hear more in 2021, showing tangible benefits achieved through the power of collaboration.
It’s far from the only example this year of games bringing people together at a time when we’ve all been forced apart. Games have provided comfort to those in quarantine, and to everyone who’s been doing their part to halt the spread of Covid-19 and thus avoiding close contact with friends, co-workers and family members. They have become a sanctuary and a boost to our mental health during difficult times. And they’ve given us the chance to enjoy the kind of experiences we’ve been missing while cooped up indoors. At a time when planes were grounded, Microsoft Flight Simulator gained poignancy to go with its staggering technical accomplishments. Those with PCs capable of running it were handed the opportunity to travel the world once more, its realtime satellite data offering a glimpse of the kinds of sights we might have otherwise have seen first-hand in a normal year. Meanwhile, as lockdown arrived and many workers were furloughed, solace could be found in the welcoming form of Animal Crossing: New Horizons (which, again, is recognised elsewhere this issue – see p74). Little wonder that, in the UK alone, sales far outstripped those of all previous entries put together.
Elsewhere, multiplayer games such as Sea Of Thieves and, more recently, Destiny 2: Beyond Light offered opportunities to spend time among those with whom we’ve been unable to meet up. There were surprise hangout hits besides that allowed us all to indulge in
This year the game industry has demonstrated that it is capable of great things when it pushes for change
a little playful malevolence. Its popularity with streamers saw InnerSloth’s Among Us go supernova two years after its original release, this elaborate version of parlour game Werewolf presenting us with a new brand of impostor syndrome. And the feelgood hit of the summer was Mediatonic’s Fall Guys, a combination of battle royale and Takeshi’s Castle that provided slapstick fun and human – okay, more like sentient jellybean – contact at a time when handshakes and hugs were effectively prohibited.
Now there is light at the end of the tunnel. The widespread deployment of vaccines is the big story, of course, but in the meantime, the arrival of a fresh hardware generation – after some prevarication – has provided a lift for anyone who’s been able to snaffle a new console. Between the remarkable value of Game Pass and a strong firstparty PS5 lineup (not to mention the best Assassin’s Creed in years, and the eventual release of Cyberpunk), we’ve been spoiled for a choice of escapes at the end of a year in which they’ve been sorely needed. Time, then, to bid good riddance to 2020 and start looking forward. In next month’s special issue, we’ll be dedicating our pages to the most exciting developments in games for 2021 and beyond. That mood of optimism is well and truly back.