Players have enjoyed an eventful 2022, with the award-winning Elden Ring and God of War Ragnarök making headlines for all the right reasons. All was not smooth, however, with the grim situation surrounding Microsoft’s $69 billion attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard. It’s far from resolved. The gambling scene in India was also hit by the Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) ban earlier this July – which had a profound impact on the local fledgling esports industry. 2022 was also the year we heard a lot of (mostly useless) chatter about Web3 and blockchain gaming endeavors.
On this week’s episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 Podcast, host Achil Arora has a chat with industry insider and Orbital veteran Rishi Alwani and Screen Rant game guide editor Akshay Bhalla to discuss the year 2022 in gaming.
2022 in gaming: the biggest news
Arora starts the discussion by asking the guests what they think was the biggest development in gaming this year. For Bhalla, the revelation of starfield was a huge relief given the concerns surrounding Bethesda games. (Fallout 76, anyone?) For Alwani, it was the ridiculous GTA VI leak. With over 90 clips, a leak of this magnitude hasn’t been seen in gaming for a while. Alwani also goes into how the BGMI Ban in India hurt local gaming industry and esports scene.
However, the biggest news – at least in monetary terms – was Microsoft’s constant struggle with Activision Blizzard acquisition. Alwani secretly hopes that it will take longer than it already has. He believes trying to buy a giant from a studio is symbolic of Microsoft’s failure to deliver first-party titles on next-gen Xbox consoles. Bhalla notes that acquiring Activision’s sheer market size has the potential to completely transform the gaming landscape. Finally, Call of Duty – one of the biggest FPS franchises – is tied to this deal.
Our favorite games of 2022
From there, the discussion moves to the games we enjoyed playing this year and would also like to come back to next year. Bhalla chooses an unexpected title – triangle strategy, available on Switch and PC. He was not only impressed by the game’s tactical gameplay, but also by its compelling story. Alwani opts for a three-way tie – sneaky! – between Soul Hacker 2, Monster Hunter Rises Sunbreak extension and Final Fantasy XIV.
What to expect in 2023?
In the final third of this week’s Orbital episode, we dive into what we do and don’t want in video gaming in 2023. Bhalla believes Starfield is a defining moment for Xbox Series S/X. On the other hand, Alwani is looking forward to a Switch Pro coming out next year. With the release of a new Zelda game On the horizon, he’s hoping Switch can match the Steam deck in terms of performance.
Speaking of performance, Bhalla believes it’s about time the next-gen consoles — the PS5 and Series S/X — stop carrying the weight of the previous generation. He’s expecting more proper next-gen titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 announced that will take full advantage of the current hardware. Otherwise, he fears the current consoles could be wasted as a transitional generation.
You can listen to all of this – and more – in our episode in detail by clicking the play button on the Spotify player embedded above.
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