2022 is shaping up to be one of video games' biggest ever years | Opinion
Christopher Dring
Head of Games B2B
Friday 14th January 2022
There were some really great video games in 2021. Yet when it comes to significant, major releases that get the whole business talking, it was certainly a quieter 12 months.
Xbox delivered some big titles in Halo and Forza, and Capcom had a strong year with Monster Hunter and Resident Evil. But Sony's biggest release was a Ratchet & Clank, and Nintendo's most successful launches were all remasters or remakes of older games. Activision, Ubisoft, Take-Two, Warner Bros and many of the biggest AAA publishers had a reduced slate last year, with many of their big titles delayed.
It didn't really matter a great deal. Big legacy, service-based games were keeping fans engaged, the major new consoles were basically permanently sold out, and there was still some great stuff to be found. Alongside the aforementioned games, there were a handful of strong titles such as Deathloop, Returnal, Psychonauts 2, Age of Empires 4, and Metroid Dread, which were all very good, and all had a chance to shine.
2021 was the year we felt the effects of the pandemic. Big games were delayed as some developers struggled to adapt to working from home, and the chip shortage slowed the roll-out of PS5 and Xbox Series X and S, even if both managed to outpace the sales of their predecessors.
On paper, right now, 2022 is looking like a significant year for AAA new releases
As a result, 2022 is looking like a significantly busier year for everyone. And perhaps one of the biggest years for major AAA titles in over a decade.
In the console space, PlayStation is lining up three of its biggest franchises. First there's Horizon: Forbidden West in February, which is the sequel to the 2017 breakout new IP that
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