Author: Rachel Kaser / Source: The Next Web
2018 has been a year with some awesome games, and some not-so-awesome things happening in the gaming industry. Here are the biggest stories we saw in gaming this year.
The Jacksonville shooting
We can’t bring up this year’s events in the gaming industry without bringing up the tragedy in Jacksonville, Florida. Two gamers lost their lives and several others were wounded during a Madden tournament when a competitor entered the venue with a gun and opened fire.
Several viewers, watching the tournament gameplay live on Twitch, could hear the sounds of the gunfire.This is a horrible situation, and our deepest sympathies go out to all involved.
— Electronic Arts (@EA)
Following the shooting, gaming events all over the world have had to tighten their security, as the Madden tourney had none. As several esports event organizers pointed out, it was not something the community as a whole had really had to think about before. But the gaming industry can no longer be complacent in that regard if it wants to help keep gamers safe.
We as a community continue to mourn the loss of Elijah Clayton and Taylor Robertson.
Fortnite takes over the world
In lighter news, Fortnite achieved world-shattering success this year. It’s hard to believe that only a year ago, this was a game with an up-and-coming battle royale mode that seemed to be following the lead of more popular games. Now it’s all anyone can talk about or play.
Both the game and its battle royale mode were originally released in 2017, but it was still trailing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds at the time. According to Twitch’s 2017 year in review, PUBG was the most-watched new game of the year. But it steadily built its fanbase, and quickly the student surpassed the master. Data from Streamlabs suggests Fortnite was topping the list of most hours streamed as early as Q1 this year.
The fact the game got an infusion of interest from some of the most important streamers and more than a few celebrities definitely helped. The clear peak of the game’s upwards surge in the first half of the year was the team-up of Drake and Ninja, which broke several streaming records.
Video games targeted by the White House
Not that I want to bring up another shooting so soon, but the gaming industry became involved in a tragedy earlier this year when it was tainted by association somehow with the Parkland shooting in Florida.
Just two days after the shooting, which resulted in 17 deaths, Kentucky governor Matt Bevin blamed video games for the tragedy, and compared them to pornography. Gov. Bevin even implied video games and their like should not fall under protected speech. So far, so typical, and that ought to have been as far as the matter went.
However, President Donald Trump apparently endorsed the notion, calling together both game developers and gaming’s detractors for a confab about the topic. It never amounted to anything, but at least we got the bizarre spectacle of the White House YouTube channel hosting a video of video game gore.
Telltale Games’ closure rocks the industry
Episodic…
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