8 takeaways from the year in video games

Just like that, another year of amazing (and not so amazing) games has come to a close.

An overwhelming amount of games were released in 2018, from enjoyable indies to hefty AAA titles. And now that we’ve reached the end of the year, everyone’s favorite pastime has becoming ranking them.

It’s undeniably fun to delve into discussions about what game deserves to be declared the best of 2018, how to compare a sprawling open world to a platformer, or whether a game that stumbled at launch can still claim a spot at the top if its developers did enough to fix it.

But the gaming industry has ballooned to the point where just ranking the games feels like we’ve left half of the year untold. As more and more people play living games, the relationship between game developers and consumers has increasingly become a part of the gaming experience. And as the culture of gaming merges into the mainstream, the narrative of the year has moved beyond just the titles which were released to include everything around it and how it was consumed.

So we’ve decided to take a look at the gaming industry as a whole to sum up what 2018 will be remembered for in the world of video games. From standout games to standout gamers, from game studios going big to going broke, here is what will stand out when we think back to 2018 years from now.

1. The Fortnite industry

It’s difficult to describe what a massive phenomenon Epic Games created when it released Fortnite. The best we could come up with was calling it an industry of its own, because not only is the game itself successful but everything that has developed around it has seen success as well. Twitch streamers have built lucrative careers off of playing it on camera, which Epic Games then capitalized on by inviting them to play in prize-heavy tournaments. With the final added touch of celebrities also playing the game publicly, Fortnite‘s magical aura was assured.

For better or worse, Fortnite introduced many to the world of gaming. Most people outside the gaming community didn’t know about streaming or esports until Fortnite helped them discover it. Gaming now has more people’s attention than ever before, to the point where CBS is hosting game award shows and colleges are offering esports scholarships. Indirectly, Fortnite lifted all of gaming up to the mainstream’s consciousness and where it goes from here is something we’ll be following closely.

2. The reign of Ninja

It’s hard to talk about Fortnite without also talking about the most popular Fortnite player, Ninja. In fact, Ninja is the most prominent and well-known gamer ever, gracing the cover of ESPN magazine, appearing on The Ellen Show, and playing video games with famous musicians and athletes on his Twitch channel. Ninja took his live streams and undeniable Fortnite skills, made it into a brand, and then built that brand into an empire. Now he is collaborating with big-name DJs to drop music albums and streaming live from New York City on New Years’ Eve, all while still competing in high-level Fortnite tournaments.

Ninja certainly isn’t the first professional gamer, but he became the first bonafide gamer celebrity with an avid fandom in 2018.

3. An obsession with battle royale

Multiplayer first-person shooting games used to bring to mind frenetic 25 vs. 25 fields of war, with players respawning onto the battlefield as soon as they were downed. This year, the definition of a multiplayer first-person shooter has slightly changed. More often than not, what comes to mind is an island where 100 players are parachuted in with the sole objective to be the last one standing.

Battle royale games of all makes and models exploded in 2018. After PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds proved to be a hit last year, game developers all scrambled to make their own version of a battle royale and they were released in 2018 like a tidal wave. If Fortnite’s version of BR wasn’t your cup of tea, there were plenty of others to choose from — Realm Royale, Cuisine Royale, Battlerite Royale, Ring of Elysium or Islands of Nyne, just to name a few. Even established franchises like Call of Duty and Battlefield felt the need to include battle royale modes in their newest installments. The obsession with battle royales was so strong this year, one can only hope that we’ve hit the saturation point with this genre.

4. Red Dead Redemption 2, Celeste and God of War

Fortunately, there were plenty of excellent games this year that were not battle royales. Three standouts getting a majority of the attention in the end-of-year accolades are Red Dead Redemption 2, Celeste and God of War.

RDR2 scooped up awards for its narrative, music, audio design and voice acting at the Game Awards. It’s unsurprising, as this highly anticipated sequel more than lived up to its expectations. The amount of detail and craftsmanship in the game is unprecedented, and worth experiencing firsthand. Also worth experiencing is the game that beat out RDR2 to be named Game of the Year: God of War. This franchise made a masterful return to the PS4 with its beautiful fantasy world laden with lore and Norse mythology.

Celeste is very different from these two AAA titles. Made by an independent studio, Celeste is a visually beautiful yet punishing platformer about climbing a mountain. Nominated for a bunch of Game Awards along all the big studio titles, it took home Best Indie Game and Games for Impact.

5. The closing of Telltale Games

While some studios flourished with success in 2018, others faltered and none more so than Telltale Games. Heartbreakingly, the studio closed its doors in September after running out of money, laying off 250 people with no severance pay. It was shocking, especially because Telltale’s episodic retellings of popular series like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones were decently popular. But the company struggled with a toxic work culture and a leadership that refused to allow developers to innovate. With titles not bringing in enough revenue and major investors withdrawing their support, Telltale went under.

6. The debacle of Fallout 76

Bethesda Game Studios is an example of a game studio that is not struggling. With several big successful IPs to their name, Bethesda has many big games coming down the pipeline that fans are excited about. One of those games was supposed to be Fallout 76, a game that takes the beloved post-apocalyptic world from the Fallout franchise and makes it multiplayer. It’s a big task, transitioning a single-player RPG into a multiplayer experience. It’s also been something fans of the franchise have heavily requested, but what they received was not the game they were looking for.

Fallout 76 bombed as soon as it came out. Bethesda received tons of constructive feedback during the game’s short beta, but none of it was implemented by game release. For a game that wants its players to be invested for the long haul, base building and inventory limits were frustratingly small. Unwise game design choices and a baffling amount of bugs, all combined with Bethesda’s ancient engine, made even the most diehard Fallout fans displeased. Bethesda has since released several patches in an attempt to fix the game’s myriad of issues, but the bad taste of Fallout 76 will linger on.

7. The debut of the Overwatch League

Organizing and launching an esports league is a giant undertaking, one that Blizzard took head-on when it announced the creation of the Overwatch League. Just like any other big venture, the league was a gamble, especially because Blizzard wanted to buck esports convention by having its teams be based on geography instead of by esports organization. This idea seemed risky in the esports space, even though it’s basically the only model traditional sports has ever followed. Asking a company or organization to plunk down $20 million for a team only to have the team neutrally named the San Francisco Shock seemed a lot to ask.

But it worked. The inaugural season of the Overwatch League drew tens of thousands of viewers every single week, culminating in a huge grand finals staged at the Barclays Center in New York City. The grand finals were even televised on ESPN thanks to a deal that Blizzard struck with Disney. The Overwatch League took home several accolades in this year’s Esports Awards, including Game of the Year and Live Event of the Year. But nothing indicates success quite like growth, which is exactly what the Overwatch League is doing for its second season. Six more teams have been added, and Blizzard has plans to integrate home-and-away matches throughout the season to make teams more tethered to their fan bases. But even with 2018’s success, a league as young as this one will need a lot of continued nurturing for it to stay a success.

8. A Pokemon RPG finally comes to a Nintendo console

For too long, Pokemon’s main games were only playable on Nintendo’s hand-held devices. But that changed in November when Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! came out for the Nintendo Switch. The game revamps the story from Pokemon Yellow, taking it from pixels to 3D characters and altering the game mechanics slightly to make it welcoming for players new to the Pokemon world. At its core, the game is the same as it was 20 years ago and yet everyone still went crazy for it.

Never underestimate the power of nostalgia. Adults were excited to replay a game from their childhood, complete with all the original 151 Pokemon. Kids were interested because of the game’s similarity to Pokemon GO and easy point of entry. Intense gamers immediately became fixated on collecting every single Shiny Pokemon. Even if the Let’s Go games were essentially a remake of an old game, a Pokemon RPG on a console is a no-brainer. The success of these games should only bolster Nintendo’s confidence as they continue to work on the next installment in the Pokemon franchise.