Edge February 2022

Having begun the year with a special edition entitled ‘Look Forward’, it’s inevitable that we end it by doing the opposite – and, in the tradition of predictions revisited after the fact, consider how the ensuing reality differed. The scope of Edge 355 wasn’t necessarily limited to these 12 months, and we even called a few of the pushbacks (hello, Horizon Forbidden West), but, even in our COVIDtempered optimism, we might have reasonably expected more of the forthcoming games discussed to see daylight in 2021: of the 56 namechecked, exactly half have seen final release. That’s indicative of the industry at large, of course, as the long-term effects of the pandemic continue to bite. God Of War Ragnarök, Dying Light 2, Gotham Knights, Ghostwire: Tokyo – we could fill this page…

Having begun the year with a special edition entitled ‘Look Forward’, it’s inevitable that we end it by doing the opposite – and, in the tradition of predictions revisited after the fact, consider how the ensuing reality differed. The scope of Edge 355 wasn’t necessarily limited to these 12 months, and we even called a few of the pushbacks (hello, Horizon Forbidden West), but, even in our COVIDtempered optimism, we might have reasonably expected more of the forthcoming games discussed to see daylight in 2021: of the 56 namechecked, exactly half have seen final release. That’s indicative of the industry at large, of course, as the long-term effects of the pandemic continue to bite. God Of War Ragnarök, Dying Light 2, Gotham Knights, Ghostwire: Tokyo – we could fill this…

When it comes to acquisitions, 2021 brought nothing on the level of last year’s Bethesda buyout. In fact, Microsoft made no gaming acquisitions at all, leaving Sony to pick up the slack. In March, Sony took joint ownership of Evo, the fighting-game esports organisation, and followed it with the acquisition of five studios: Housemarque, Bluepoint, Nixxes Software, Firesprite and Fabrik Games. There’s a difference in strategy from Microsoft’s purchases here, with Sony bringing allies closer. Housemarque and Bluepoint have made some of the only true PS5 exclusives in Returnal and Demon’s Souls, while Firesprite and Fabrik, responsible for PSVR’s The Persistence, are studios built from the ashes of Studio Liverpool. How many people can say they’ve been bought by Sony twice?…

The eventual decision in the Epic Games v Apple case fell in favour of Tim Cook’s company rather than Tim Sweeney’s, on all counts but one: the judge ruled that Apple cannot prohibit iOS developers from linking players outside of their apps to alternative payment mechanisms, a small but significant victory for Epic’s stated mission to let developers avoid the App Store tithe on every in-app purchase. After its initial appeal was denied, though, Apple was then granted an indefinite stay, on the eve of it needing to change the App Store’s rules. Epic has yet to respond; maybe a parody of the old iPod ads this time?…

When it comes to acquisitions, 2021 brought nothing on the level of last year’s Bethesda buyout. In fact, Microsoft made no gaming acquisitions at all, leaving Sony to pick up the slack. In March, Sony took joint ownership of Evo, the fighting-game esports organisation, and followed it with the acquisition of five studios: Housemarque, Bluepoint, Nixxes Software, Firesprite and Fabrik Games. There’s a difference in strategy from Microsoft’s purchases here, with Sony bringing allies closer. Housemarque and Bluepoint have made some of the only true PS5 exclusives in Returnal and Demon’s Souls, while Firesprite and Fabrik, responsible for PSVR’s The Persistence, are studios built from the ashes of Studio Liverpool. How many people can say they’ve been bought by Sony twice?…

Taber sees Analogue OS, Pocket’s operating system, as a separate platform that will open the doors to playing classic games with save-state management, game databases and much more. It will feature in its future products, such as Analogue Duo (PC Engine), and may be back-ported to older ones, such as Mega Sg and Super Nt (Mega Drive and Super NES). It will also exist as a PC and Mac app which Pocket can connect to via its USB-C port for managing thirdparty cores and sharing save states and settings.…