This week brings several long-awaited events, whether it’s the Game Awards orCyberpunk 2077’s long-awaited release. Game Rant has compiled some of the biggest gaming news stories from this past week together into a concise post for fans and enthusiasts to stay up to date on the most important events in the industry per week. Highlighting the most relevant stories, this list is not inherently and totally objective, and will not contain every news story this week. Rather, this is intended for gaming fans who want a quick rundown on the largest/most impactful stories that occurred in the last week in games.
Inthis week’s gaming news roundup, the Game Awards andCyberpunk 2077led the pack in gaming news. Gaming’s biggest show of spectacle hosted plenty of exciting new game reveals, as well as an impressive showing fromThe Last of Us 2in the award categories.Cyberpunk 2077, perhaps this year’s most anticipated and long-awaited game, has finally released. Reception has been generally favorable, but mileage seems to vary significantly depending on the platform gamers are playing it on. Additionally, the NPD Group unveiled interesting consumer trends from the console launch last month. Here’s a recap of the biggest gaming industry news this week.
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The Last of Us 2 Wins Big at the Game Awards
As the last big show of spectacle from the gaming industry this year, the Game Awards came out in full force on Thursday. 2020 was quite the competitive year for the awards show, with heavy hitters likeFinal Fantasy 7 Remake,Ghost of Tsushima, andHades, all competing withThe Last of Us 2. As it turned out,The Last of Us 2edged out most of the awardsbetween all of these games, winning seven of the nine categories it was nominated for. Some of the biggest wins from the awards show included:
Even in a year withThe Last of Us 2sweeping awards, games likeAmong UsandHadesstill had standout victories in their respective categories. Of course, aside from the awards themselves, like every year the Game Awards was filled with plenty of big game reveals and performances. Lyn Inaizumi and thePersonalive band performed a rendition of “Last Surprise” fromPersona 5 Strikers, andEddie Vedder performed “Future Days,“the song used as a narrative element inThe Last of Us 2.
Some Surprising Reveals at the Game Awards
As for game reveals themselves, there were quite a few surprise announcements at the Game Awards show this year. Whether it was the familiar face of actors like Vin Diesel or Bruce Campbell, or familiar video game characters likePerfect Dark’s Joanna Dark orLiara fromMass Effect, there were several huge announcements on Thursday. Some of the biggest reveals of the show included:
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Cyberpunk’s Priase, Cyberpunk’s Glitches
Outside of the awards show, the other major event this week came with the official release ofCyberpunk 2077. Nearly a decade in the making, fan hype for this game has been immense, and it’s finally here. Critical reception of the game has been largely positive, with the game’s PC Metacritic score still hovering at a 90 as of this writing. Although, it hasn’t exactly been flawless user scores, especially for those playing on last-gen consoles.
One recurring problem point across all versions ofCyberpunk 2077have been the various bugs and glitchesin the game. For one thing, the last-gen consoles versions have had some serious issues with texture streaming and loading, resulting in some strange low-poly graphical issues. Outside of that, every version of the game has had some variety of glitches, ranging from minor clipping and texture irregularities to game-breaking NPC behavior and unfinishable quests.
NPD Group Reveals Highest Selling Games and Consoles for November
Lastly, the NPD Group revealed its consumer market research analytics for November, showcasing someinteresting consumer trends across the industrylast month. Given that November marked the launch of the next-gen consoles, understandably console sales were high. The PS5 had a record-breaking debut as the best-selling hardware platform in terms of spending in November, but interestingly Nintendo Switch still sold the most hardware units of all console makers. Additionally, Nintendo Switch has been the best-selling hardware platform for 24 months straight.
In terms of the games themselves, November’s best-selling game wasCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, which in turn also became the best-selling game in 2020 altogether.Assassin’s Creed ValhallaandSpider-Man: Miles Moraleswere not far behind for sales, in second and third respectively. After that were many of the usual suspects likeWatch Dogs: LegionandAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, one of the best-selling games this year.
