Why a new huge video game is being released every week
polygon.comIf you feel overwhelmed by the number of big new game releases, you’re not alone.
The next two months are noticeably swollen from video game release dates: Blockbuster titles like Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Horizon Forbidden West, Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, Elden Ring, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, andKirbyand the Forgotten Land lead out these first few months of the year, surrounded by plenty of other notable titles. Babylon’s Fall, Dying Light2: Stay Human, Sifu, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and more. If your backlog was already filled to the brim, the first few months of 2022 aren’t going to make it any cleaner.
This appears to be temporary, a side-effect of years of delays from the COVID-19 pandemic that bumped games months or even years from their originally planned release dates. And those adjustments, across 2020 and 2021, have disrupted the familiar rhythms of the game release calendar. But the schedule adjustment also appears to have been shifting for years now.
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Why are so many big games willingly competing against one another? Is this the new normal? And is this healthy for an industry notoriously operating on tight deadlines?
Historically, it’s been the fall release window — leading up to the holidays — that’s been the most crowded with video game release dates. It made sense: Huge new titles would launch before the gift-giving season, when people typically have a bit more free time during a holiday vacation, and plenty more are spending money on gifts. The Call of Duty franchise, which typically has a new game released annually, and the Assassin’s Creed franchise have long staked out the fall release window, nearly guaranteeing a successful holiday season. But 2020 and 2021 were different: There were still a lot of
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