It’s The State of Gaming Podcast, Popzara’s in-depth look at what’s shaking up the gaming landscape delivered on a monthly basis. Our hosts Cory Galliher and Nate Evans guide you through the best, worst, and everything else making headlines and headway in the world of interactive entertainment. Plus, it’s the first episode of the new year!
The Games of January 2022
January, as it happens, turns out to be a great month for PC ports of blockbusters formerly known as console exclusives. The biggest of all is Sony’s PlayStation system seller God of War (2018), which finds new life on beefier hardware. Capcom’s once Switch-only Monster Hunter Rise hits the PC in all its upgraded wrath and glory. Another former Sony mainstay, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves, brings Nathan Drake to the PC party while Nintendo mixes Breath of the Wild-style open adventure with Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Ubisoft joins the party with their latest survival-thriller Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction, only this time there’s aliens.
NPD: December 2021
Sales of new gaming hardware and software fell a minuscule 1 percent from last year ($7.546 billion from $7,632 billion). While sales of new games remained the same, a slight dip in new hardware fell a slight 3 percent despite all three major hardware vendors, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, selling every console they could produce. Some of them actually found their way into gamers homes!
The Top Twenty software charts was mostly familiar, lead by Activision’s returning champ Call of Duty: Vanguard. Second was Microsoft’s much-delayed Halo: Infinite, signaling a return to form for the former chart-topper. Nintendo’s Switch remakes Pokemon: Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl came in third, while EA’s Battlefield 2042 fell to fifth and Ubisoft’s Far Cry 6 fell even steeper to fifteenth.
Everything Else
Did you know Popzara produced a The Best, Worst (and Everything Else) Games of 2021 podcast special? Did you know we had a special guest star? Did you know you can listen to it right now and it’s totally free? The same goes with our special podcast wrap-up for CES 2022, which also featured special guest stars and a surprising amount of gaming-centric news for the tech show that just won’t quit!
Did you hear that Techland’s upcoming Dying Light 2 could take up to 500 hours to completely finish? Who needs college? Elsewhere, Microsoft made their play to buy up Activision for more billions than you could ever count. Are these good things? You’ll have to listen to find out…did we mention it’s free?
