5 Gaming Controversies in 2020, That Just Seemed So Avoidable
Gaming has over the years, been full of controversies, some caused by bad management, some caused seemingly by human error, and some that just seem avoidable. 2020 has had a slue of these controversies, so let's talk about what happened this year that ticked all of us off, but didn't need to.
Nintendo will probably appear on this list more than once, but the most obvious controversy caused by them that could have been avoided, is Joy-Con drift. The Switch has had issues with this since not long after release, and if the PS5 and Xbox Series X are anything to go by, it's natural to assume that issues on a new console are expected, in fact given the history of console launches, I 'd say that is unavoidable. However, the Switch is going to be four years old this coming March, so for this persistent issue to still exist, it seems like a lack of concern from Nintendo. A number of class action lawsuits have been filed against them because of Joy-Con drift, and as recently as October, in order to try and deny the problems coming from those legal cases, Nintendo denied there was anything wrong at all. They've had years to fix this problem, and didn't even manage to do so with the Switch Lite, which is a much worse situation for Lite owners, as they'd have to give Nintendo their whole console to get it repaired. Then there's the fact that they originally charged almost as much to fix Joy-cons on regular Switches, as new Joy-cons cost to buy, and even suggested that Switch owners should plan to buy a new set of Joy-cons every two years. While they did eventually reverse course on that due to pressure from lawsuits and general backlash, it's safe to say, Nintendo went really anti-consumer with this, and as you probably know, it's not the only time they did it this year.
While crunch has been a part of this industry for far longer than the Switch has, people really started to take notice of it this year after many developers were interviewed about their horrible working conditions. Naughty Dog, who was seen as one of the better developers out there got hit pretty hard after Jason Schreier wrote a piece about how bad their hidden crunch culture was. Crunch in the industry is seen as a major problem, because at times, due to a lack of a union, developers are overworked, and underpaid, and many of them, are either looked down upon by their fellow developers for not partaking in it as much as others, or more importantly, by their management, which could jeopardize their career. Mandatory crunch is also a thing, sometimes seeing developers work twelve to sixteen hour days, and only getting paid for the first eight or so. It only gets worse, when you realize, that delays tend to cause more crunch, because more ideas are shoved into a game when more time is given to develop it. An article by Kotaku, made a valid point recently, when it called out The Last of Us Part II and Naughty Dog for winning best direction of the year at The Game Awards, despite their crunch culture. Many games have gone through it this year, espeically after COVID caused delays, but none may be more announced than CD Projekt Red, something you've probably seen me talk about here before, but that I'll save for another entry down the line ... when it called out The Last of Us Part II and Naughty Dog for winning best direction of the year at The Game Awards, despite their crunch culture. Many games have gone through it this year, espeically after COVID caused delays, but none may be more announced than CD Projekt Red, something you've probably seen me talk about here before, but that I'll save for another entry down the line ... when it called out The Last of Us Part II and Naughty Dog for winning best direction of the year at The Game Awards, despite their crunch culture. Many games have gone through it this year, espeically after COVID caused delays, but none may be more announced than CD Projekt Red, something you've probably seen me talk about here before, but that I'll save for another entry down the line ...
3. Xbox Series X and PS5 pre-orders.
Microsoft and Sony, despite being on the cusp of a new generation, spent the majority of the year keeping certain secrets from the public in a bid to outdo each other price wise for their console. While in the end, it played out exactly as most people predicated, top end consoles priced at $ 499 with variations priced one hundred, and two hundred dollars cheaper respectively, they took too long to get to that point, and pre-orders were a mess as a result. Sony announced it's prices and said PS5 would go on sale only a few days removed from that reveal. While that was already a problem, most people need more time than that, the fact that certain retailers let the pre-orders go out early, only added to the confusion, and bots ended up sweeping the majority of the consoles anyway, because those were easier to set-up for scalpers, than buying the system outright. Microsoft tried to be a bit better about that, and give people more time to prepare, but that also fell through, as the demand for the console, was much higher than the supply even tried to prepare for, an issue both systems faced. Even Japan, which is notorious for not selling Microsoft consoles, sold out far quicker than anyone could have expected. Had Sony and Microsoft just put the prices and pre-orders up earlier, and let them be bought over a period of a month or so, instead of just one, super hectic day, all the issues could have been avoided. which is notorious for not selling Microsoft consoles, sold out far quicker than anyone could have expected. Had Sony and Microsoft just put the prices and pre-orders up earlier, and let them be bought over a period of a month or so, instead of just one, super hectic day, all the issues could have been avoided. which is notorious for not selling Microsoft consoles, sold out far quicker than anyone could have expected. Had Sony and Microsoft just put the prices and pre-orders up earlier, and let them be bought over a period of a month or so, instead of just one, super hectic day, all the issues could have been avoided.
2. Smash Bros, Splatoon and musical takedowns
Nintendo is back on this list as they recently fell under fire from fans of the Smash Bros community, for disallowing a major tournament to take place, because it simply chose to emulate a game that is out of print, using a mod called the Slippie Mod , so those partaking in the tournament, could play from home, instead of having to meet and risk spreading COVID to each other and tournament goers. A few weeks later, several people in an official Splatoon tournament changed their names to show support for the Smash Bros community and Nintendo's response was to shut down the whole finals of said tournament, in an attempt to try and lower the visibility of support for people who simply felt wronged by Nintendo. This of course backfired because it's the internet, and that's not going to go unnoticed, which only made them look worse. Not long after that, Nintendo started taking down videos and songs on YouTube that were from Legend of Zelda, Mario Kart Wii and others. Hundreds if not thousands of videos were taken down, and while Nintendo was within their rights to do so, they crippled several channels by issuing copyright strikes against them, which not only removed their ability to make money on their channels, it can disable streaming, and even cost them money they are no longer making, to try and get their channel back. In the end, Nintendo was in their rights to do all that they did, but that doesn't mean it was the right thing to do, especially in 2020, where leaving these things well enough alone, would have only led to more people enjoying Nintendo products. Instead, games like Bravely Default II and other major upcoming Switch game releases, are facing potential boycott's, because of Nintendo's sour attitude towards it's own communities. It was once said, that a corporation, is within their rights to make people hate them, and Nintendo has embodied that well in 2020.
1. Cyberpunk 2077, The Whole Thing
Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that has been worked on for years at this point. It was announced the January before the 8th gen consoles, the PS4 and Xbox One released, and only managed to come out, about a month after the following 9th gen began. Despite this fact, the game runs horribly on consoles, and requires a pretty beefy PC to run well. The delays that happened in 2020, which lasted 8 months, were supposed to be about optimizing the game for 8th consoles, which are by far still the largest market for any multi-generation, multi-platform titles, but it came out recently that CDPR lied about that, and were instead focusing on the PC release. They also lied to Sony and Microsoft about how well the game ran, lied to their consumers when they didn't put out any review copies for the game before launch, lied to everyone regarding returns, which only came up three or four days after the game launched, meaning digital owners were pretty much out of luck, lied to retailers who's reputations were put on the line based on their return policies, and oh yeah, they lied about crunch to. They also promised the game would release “when it was ready” and obviously lied about that as well. Lying is a choice, and CDPR has lied, and lied, and lied. It wouldn't be shocking to find out more lies were made by them in the coming months, such as maybe the two major upcoming patches in January and February not being as effective as they are proposed to be, or the fact that they will need more patches after those to run properly. They even lied about in game content, making it seem like the path you choose in the start of the game would last a long while and have a major effect on the game, but that doesn't appear to be true either, as many people have gotten through the start of the game, in about 20 minutes. It's a shame really, to see a game with such promise, be ruined by such habitual liars, but alas, here we are. Even time might not save CDPR as they are currently as a loss of billion dollars total because of this disaster, and their trust with consumers is all but gone.
Can you think of any other avoidable controversies for 2020? Let me know with the notes below.
