Gaming Round-up 2022: The Story So Far
In the wake of a pandemic in 2020 we adapted to change and uncertainty like never before. The situation demanded our physical interactions to be at nil, but we didn’t stop connecting with each other. Gaming provided a platform for us to engage and communicate with each other.
Since then the video game industry has seen a boom, an expansion triggered by the rise of social and casual gaming. The following year we saw steady growth and new opportunities through the rise of NFTs and P2E games. 2022, marked a new beginning, a fresh start in a familiar world.
From new game releases to the plethora of esports tournaments and events, fans surely got it nice this year. For context, Twitch recorded a total of 5.64 billion hours watched on the platform in the second quarter of 2022. On top of the most-watched list were Riot Games (19,406,934) and ESL CS: GO (18,347,682) showcasing a massive surge in concurrent viewers for their events as well. Diving into the metaverse, Axie Infinity NFTs hit an all-time high of $4 billion traded between players.
With the last quarter of the year now upon us, let us take a look at everything that made 2022 a worthwhile year for gamers.
Publishers & Hardware in 2022
Mobile Gaming
Mobile gamers have grown from 2.1 billion to over 2.6 billion active users worldwide since 2019.
With this number dwarfing that of console and PC gamers, the biggest brands and companies in the world have begun to take note. Many popular PC and console titles have also been getting their foot through the door, while others like Rainbow Six Siege, Apex Legends, and Assassins Creed are following suit with their own mobile releases.
To keep up with the increasing graphical and performance demands of these new games, mobile devices are becoming more powerful, even on a budget. Top-of-the-line specs with the latest Snapdragon and Bionic processors, gamer-centric builds with custom-made special editions, and additional peripherals like cooling fans and claw triggers have elevated the capabilities of these simple, handheld machines. Brands like Nubia, Black Shark, and Asus ROG have done a stellar job catering to this audience and bringing in snazzy new phones to the market this year as well.
PC and Console Gaming
Coming to the PC and Console side of things, NVIDIA launched its latest and greatest RTX 4000 series GPU, giving gamers a 2x jump in frame rates and an impressive 4x performance jump in titles that utilize ray-tracing technology. Similarly, AMD announced its latest RDNA 3 GPUs set to launch on November 3rd, which will see a monumental 50% performance-per-watt leap from RDNA 2.
2022 also brought us some of the best games that fans have yearned for. Without much further ado, and not in any specific order, here are some of the biggest games that were released/ will release in 2022: Dying Light 2 Stay Human, Horizon Forbidden West, Elden Ring, WWE 2K22, Forza Horizon 5, FIFA 23, NBA 2K23, Gotham Knights, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, God of War Ragnarok, Overwatch 2 among many more.
In 2022, console sales skyrocketed to 62 million units shipped globally. This is an increase of 11% from console sales in 2020. In 2021, Nintendo Switch emerged as the largest gaming console, with approximately 25 million units sold. On the other hand, Sony and Microsoft sold nearly 18 million PlayStation 5 and 50.53 million Xbox Series X respectively, becoming the most popular consoles of 2022.
Esports in 2022
In 2022, the Esports audience from around the globe is set to reach a monumental 532 million. Popular new esports franchises such as Valorant, along with mainstays like CS: GO and League of Legends have supplemented the rise of Esports in growth markets across Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa as well.
As of today, the Esports market is valued between $1.08 billion to $1.38 billion, rising from its $957.5 million valuation in 2019. The current trajectory also suggests that the industry will reach over $1.86 billion by 2025. As such, let’s take a look at some of the biggest esports events that went down in 2022.
Valorant
Riot Games’ 2020 tactical FPS has rapidly become a household name. With a growing player base and some popular names attached to the game, the project was always going to be a success. Capitalizing on the success of their first year in esports, Valorant returned with Masters Masters Reykjavik and Masters Copenhagen before the third and final event of the VCT 2022 season, Valorant Champions Istanbul.
The concluding event of the 2022 season totaled 60,775,627 hours of watch time, 1.5 million concurrent viewers, and came with a $1,000,000 prize pool. As a result of its success, Riot then announced the Valorant Partnership, with 30 teams from around the world, and an inaugural event in Brazil in 2023.
Counter-Strike
The 2022 PGL Major in Antwerp became the second most-watched tournament in the history of CS: GO. The event totaled 2 million fans at its peak and gathered over 67 million hours watched. The second most watched CS:GO event, IEM Cologne 2022 saw a viewership of 1.2 million peak viewers, 25 million hours watched, with 276,000 average viewers and 93 hours of airtime.
With IEM Rio Major 2022 and BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 is still to come, you can expect a significant rise in viewership. Moreover, we need to mention the fact that live audiences in full capacity will also be a part of these majors, marking a return of the electric crowds and that fulfilling sensation that they bring to any event.
League of Legends
One of the heaviest hitters on the scene, League of Legends was also active with its LCK Summer 2022 which brought a peak viewership of 1.3 million, 200,000+ average viewers, 66 million hours watched, and airtime of 296 hours.
However, we believe that the ongoing LoL Worlds 2022 will overtake the former and is well on its way to doing so after T1 vs Fnatic reached a peak viewership of 1.3 million. With a long way still to go before its conclusion on Nov 5, expect those numbers to multiply.
Other than these games, viewership for the newly released Overwatch 2 is currently through the roof. If the success of its predecessor is something to go by, you can expect big things from this game’s esports scene as well. Pokémon fans also enjoyed a good year with the release of the mobile game, Pokémon Unite which is one of their most successful and popular titles. Similarly, mainstays like PUBG and FreeFire have managed to keep their enormous player base entertained as well.
Web 3.0 Gaming in 2022
DappRadar’s BGR#7 highlights that the Web 3.0 gaming industry is set to raise an estimated $10 billion in 2022, showing a substantial increase from the $4 billion invested in 2021. These investments are divided among infrastructure, games, and metaverse projects and investment firms.
Powered by blockchain technology, P2E games are attracting a lot of attention. Unlike traditional games, Web 3.0 gamers interact with the games in novel and decentralized ways. Players are rewarded for their attention and time spent, this model has been a huge success and paves way for the future of casual gaming.
With Web 3.0 Gaming seemingly the next big thing, here are a few P2E, NFT-based games to get you started: Skyweaver, Guild of Guardians, Illuvium, Axes Metaverse, The Sandbox, Cornucopia, and Splinterlands, among many others!
Conclusion
The future of gaming looks promising, as growth and development remain the only constants. With trends like Blockchain, and the Metaverse being integrated into the industry, the future looks very promising. PwC Global Entertainment and Media Outlook predict the industry to exceed $325 billion in valuation by 2026. The year-over-year growth trend is upward and linear, this indicates the plethora of new opportunities as new stakeholders continue to turn their attention toward gaming.
Did you find our summary and outlook on the gaming industry in 2022 helpful? Want to hear more from us? Leave us your thoughts below and follow us for regular blogs on gaming, web3, and communities! Connect & engage with us to be part of exciting giveaways. Find us at:
