Another year passes into times dustbin and what a year its been.
For gamers, the years been rife with controversies and shake-ups.
It hasnt all been positive… but it hasnt all been negative either.
Here are some of the biggest news stories from the gaming industry in 2019.
This company, flying high from its smash hitFortnite,decided tostart a storefront of its own.
It sought to attract users via exclusive games they couldnt get on Steam, and began approaching game developers.
@Ubisoftto release Tom Clancy’s#TheDivision2on Epic Games store.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Okay, so we did the thing!
The thing people get angry about.
It later had to return that money when the exclusivity contract made honoring such promises impossible.
Stadia isnt that different from console-based streaming services, such as Microsofts Project xCloud.
ICYMI: Stadia will start arriving November 19!
Before it came out, some of Googles claims about the product seemed a little farfetched.
As it is, Stadias currently in more of a soft launch state.
There have been mixed reports, but some of the games certainly seem to be a hit.
Then well be able to see how much value the average gamer gets from it.
To put it mildly, mobile gaming is rife with freemium models.
Its not a problem the rest of the gaming world has, or at least not to this extent.
Apple Arcade is here.
An all-new way to enjoy groundbreaking games without limits.
Considering the amount of games on offer, Arcades a good deal all around for $4.99 a month.
The suicide of Desmond Amofah
Desmond Etika Amofah was best known for his involvement in theSmash Broscommunity.
The boisterous YouTuber had an instantly recognizable energy and character.
I was fortunate enough to meet him briefly at TwitchCon a few years ago.
Amofah openly struggled with his mental health, and expressed suicidal thoughts and intentions on multiple occasions.
On June 25, the NYPD reported that Amofah had been found deceased.
The gaming community continues to mourn the loss of Etika.
Users outside the US can find a list of support hotlineshere.
Later, other people in the indie gaming community came forward to tell stories about other figures.
Ive been silent about this for almost my entire career and i cant do it anymore.
But something happened which irreparably complicated the situation.
On August 31,Alec Holowkas sister reported his suicide.
Alec Holowka died last week.
It’s a complex situation, too complex for a tweet thread.
It is not helpful to point fingers, weve seen the harm that that can cause.
As of October, that including the gaming industry more specifically, Blizzard.
It also terminated its contract with the casters.
The ostensible reason was that players were not permitted to express personal views on official streams.
They would become times for people to make a statement about whatever they wanted to, on whatever issue.
Thats just a path that we dont want to go down.
The PS5, meanwhile, is following Sonys numerical naming scheme.
Heres hoping we get a good look at both of them sometime in the new year.
[Update:This article has been edited to correct a mistake in the MeToo story.]
Story byRachel Kaser
Rachel is a writer and former game critic from Central Texas.
She enjoys gaming, writing mystery stories, streaming on Twitch, and horseback riding.
Check her Twitter for curmudgeonly criticisms.
