This past year was filled with top notch games, surprising moments, and really cool reveals. Keanu Reeves electrified the E3 crowd for Cyberpunk 2077, Nintendo continued its resurgence with solid first party titles, independent developers continued releasing unique titles like Disco Elysium, and the year gave fans another strong lineup of game of the year titles.
However, 2019 was also a year marked by plenty of controversy, something that the gaming industry can't seem to escape year after year. While many have been resolved or brushed aside, there are a few that remain at the forefront of current events within the industry. Some were a bit bigger issues than others, but all of them certainly had an impact on fans.
Unfortunately, it was another busy year for controversy. Here are the 15 biggest controversies with the gaming industry in 2019.
Blizzard Hearthstone Drama
Arguably the biggest controversial event in 2019 came only a few months ago. In October, Ng Wai "blitzchung" Chung ultimately won the Hearthstone Grandmasters tournament. During a post match interview, blitzchung went on to make a comment in support of the liberation of Hong Kong. Blizzard moved fast after the comments were made, banning blitchung and removing his winnings.
However, the backlash over this act was equally as fast and severe from the community. Everyone from politicians, to pro-players, and community members slammed the company and social media was ablaze with #BoycottBlizzard. Plenty of protests broke out and things got so bad that reports indicated that Blizzard started preventing players from deleting their Battle.net accounts. Eventually, Blizzard reconsidered its initial decision by reducing his suspension to six months and giving back his winnings. Blitzchung responded in kind by acknowledging his fault by bringing up political events, but questioning the lengthy suspension.
All eyes moved on towards the rapidly approaching BlizzCon, which would be the first public event for the company since the incident. While there were protests outside, the venue itself was relatively peaceful. Blizzard President J. Allen Brack addressed the issue head on, apologizing for the company's mishandling of the incident and even acknowledging the protesters outside. He went on to say the company moved to fast in handing out punishment and too slow to talk to the community about the situation. While not much time has passed since the events transpired, the majority of the news coming out of Blizzard these days has been about games and not about controversy. Time will tell if Blizzard really has changed, but so far, it's off to a good start.
Fallout 76 Subscription Plan
Since it launched in 2018, Fallout 76 has seemingly been at the center of countless controversies and issues. While the game managed to gain a little bit of good will back from fans at E3 2019, it was quickly lost once again when Bethesda announced a premium subscription service. Known as Fallout 1st, players could pay a $12.99 monthly subscription or $99.99 for a whole year to gain access to highly requested features like a private server, a place to store scrap, a survival tent, and more.
While many would argue that Fallout 76 wasn't in a good enough place to warrant a MMORPG style subscription plan, many fans took offense that highly requested features were not locked behind a pricey paywall. Worse yet, fans who decided to opt in found that the service had a number of big problems including the storage box actually deleting the items that players added to it. At launch, the private servers actually allowed random players into the player's supposedly private world. This led to instances were NPCs wound up dead or areas where the player hadn't been to be looted before they got there.
While these issues are bad enough on their own, the problems were magnified considering the premium fees that players were paying for access. For a game that had already had its fair share of issues and a fanbase that was dwindling by the day, these problems may have quickly burned through the rest of the remaining good will from the community.
E3 2019 Press Information Leak
While E3 2019 went through a few changes this year, namely Sony deciding to skip the event entirely, there was one incident that shook the gaming industry. In August, the Electronic Entertainment Expo website accidentally leaked a spreadsheet that contained more than 2000 journalists, content creators, and industry professionals personal information including phone numbers and addresses. Worse yet, the breached site also contained media contact lists from 2004 and 2006 as well.
While the ESA attempted to update the site as quickly as they discovered the issue, the first fix removed the details and put additional protections in place, but cached versions of the website remained up and available for those who looked for it. While the situation is long since fixed and the ESA has come out to apologize for the incident, it was a moment that no doubt could have been avoided.
Apex Legends Iron Crown Fiasco
Apex Legends was a surprise hit for Respawn Entertainment, launching in February without a traditional marketing campaign. The stealth launch succeeded thanks in large part to the community as well as it being a well made free to play game. Without traditional ways of earning money on the game, Respawn instead has microtransactions fans can purchase and special events to introduce new skins, heroes, and other cosmetic items.
However, this hasn't always been smooth as a new event called the Iron Crown arrived in August with exclusive skins and other items like the Raven's Bite. Unfortunately, the event ultimately broke Respawn's initial promise of monetizing the game in a way that was fair and respectful of player's money and time. The only way to earn the items in this event was to purchase loot boxes at $7.00 a pop. In order to get everything, players would need to spend around $154.00 and then another $35 for the Raven's Bite, which fans deemed unreasonable.
Criticism escalated online, which quickly got to one of the Respawn developers in particular who went a bit over the line by calling fans "freeloaders and ass-hats." Naturally, things continued to spiral downward from there. Later in the week, Respawn CEO Vince Zampella stepped in to apologize and talk about the situation, saying a line was crossed by his team and that isn't how he wants the studio to be represented. Since then, things have seemingly stabilized as not long after, Season 3 launched with a new map and the game even picked up an award at the 2019 Game Awards earlier this month.
Pokemon Sword and Shield National PokeDex
After the launch of the Nintendo Switch, Pokemon fans around the world had been patiently waiting for a new core title in the long running franchise. They finally got it with Pokemon Sword and Shield, though the more information that released on the new game, the more complaints arose from it.
The biggest issue stemmed from the National PokeDex, which is curiously absent from this latest title. The situation has been dubbed Dexit, mixing the current Brexit situation with PokeDex considering Sword and Shield takes place in an area inspired by Great Britain. The Galar PokeDex is missing nearly 500 Pokemon from previous games including all but one starter evolution line. Charizard remains the only starter evolution line from previous generations available in Pokemon Sword and Shield, besides Pikachu and Eevee. Fans flocked to social media and sites like Reddit to voice their displeasure, though ultimately it may not have mattered considering how well the game has sold since it launched in November.
Nintendo's Joy Con Drift Problem
While the Nintendo Switch has been nothing short of a success for the House of Mario since it launched in 2017, the popular console hasn't been immune to its own controversies from time to time. Its highest profile issue centered on the detachable controllers on the side of the system, known as Joy-Cons.
Players began noticing that the thumbsticks on the Joy-Cons would interpret movement even when the player was not using them. This would result in characters or other objects in games moving on their own. Complaints continued to rise and the Joy-Con drift issue reached a head in July when a law firm began investigating whether or not a class action lawsuit against Nintendo was warranted. Whether the threat of a lawsuit prompted the move or not, Nintendo agreed to not only fix impacted joy-cons for free, but issue refunds for previous repairs as well.
While Nintendo has yet to truly call this a defect or not, the issue continues to exist. Even the recently released Nintendo Switch Lite is also impacted by this major problem. Thankfully, Nintendo continues to offer free repairs.
NBA 2K20 Embraces Microtransactions
Things quickly spiraled out of control for 2K's Digital Marketing Director Ronnie Singh after the launch of NBA 2K20 in September. While the FireRonnie2K hashtag trended on Twitter, fans were upset with what they felt were broken promises and wildly aggressive monetization mechanics. Not only did the game launch with a host of issues with its online servers, but an overabundance of glitches and bugs, corrupted save files, and heavy microtransactions became a big deal as well.
Things began to fall apart in August following a new trailer 2K released to show off the new MyTeams mode only it seemed to have the complete opposite effect on fans. The sub-2 minute trailer showcased six different mechanics that offered new spins on microtransactions and loot boxes, from card packs to actual gambling style machines like a Roulette wheel and Pachinko machine. Fans immediately rallied against the video and left comments remarking that it made the game look more like a virtual gambling simulator. When paired with the final product, fans had a lot to dislike about this year's offering.
Google Stadia's Rocky launch
Game streaming continues to be a major focus for many companies leading into the next generation. While Sony and Microsoft continue to work on its own advancements, Google beat them to the punch when it announced and released Stadia in 2019. While the promise of a Google powered device was enticing for fans, it unfortunately hasn't had the most successful of launches.
The first of many issues is with the launch lineup, which consisted of 21 games, 20 of which are currently available on other platforms. Worse yet, on many of the games, users have reported technical issues such as frame rate drops or stuttering. The biggest problem for many, however, is the lack of promised features. Stadia's director of product Andrey Doronichev held an AMA on Reddit, where he revealed a laundry list of features that actually wouldn't be available at launch. This included things like Family Sharing, Buddy Pass, Stream Connect, and more. In fact, Google couldn't guarantee that all Founders would receive their Stadia on launch day.
While fans continue to wait for new software and features to arrive, things don't appear to be getting much better. Recently, users have begun reporting that their Chromecast Ultra units are overheating and causing games to completely shut down.
Epic Games Store Gets Even More Exclusives
In 2019, the Epic Games Store continued to be a thorn in the side for many PC gamers as it scooped up even more exclusive titles from competitors like Steam. After launching in December 2018, Epic Games made sure its storefront made a splash by securing the rights to exclusive feature some of 2019's biggest names.
The list continued to grow and included some heavy hitters like The Outer Worlds, Borderlands 3, Metro Exodus, and Control. In fact, Shenmue 3 received a lot of flack from its fans on Kickstarter for siding with the Epic Games Store and indie darling The Outer Wilds was also wrapped up in plenty of controversy for siding with Epic Games over Steam. Things continued to get so bad, that fans would routinely review bomb games, leading Epic CEO Tim Sweeney to defend the store and its methods of paying for exclusives.
Things got a little worse for Steam fans just recently as Rockstar revealed that it would be releasing the Epic Games Store version of Red Dead Redemption 2 first, with the Steam version delayed to about a month later. Certainly not the end of the world, but another slap in the face to Steam users.
Continued Twitch Bans
Streaming continues to grow in popularity and there are no sites bigger than Twitch. Being as big as it is, controversy typically surrounds it and 2019 had a ton of moments that could easily make its own list. Bans have unfortunately become a common occurrence, with many of its most popular streamers getting sent to a time out. Foul language, suggestive content, and even stream sniping were the usual reasons for channels getting various bans, but there were a few who stood out from the rest in 2019.
The highest profile member of this list may be the streamer Alinity Divine, who got into trouble multiple times related to animal abuse. A clip of her tossing her cat during a match of Apex Legends quickly went viral followed up by a second clip of her cat being put in danger again. Sadly, a third clip soon followed involved her dog getting kicked after chasing the cats. Interestingly enough, she wasn't banned for these events, though it sure kicked off a firestorm with the community and outside groups like PETA.
The popular streamer DrDisrespect also got into a bit of hot water at E3 2019 when he hosted a Twitch IRL stream from the men's bathroom. His stream was quickly cut short as video tapping in a bathroom is potentially illegal and goes against Twitch's own Terms of Service. His account was banned for two weeks, though the incident also caused him to break character to apologize and address his fans as Guy Beahm, not DrDisrespect.
Another streamer who became very popular after her ban is Amouranth, a popular ASMR and cosplay content streamer. A few months ago, she was banned due to showing nudity on her channel after a wardrobe malfunction occurred. The story went viral and she gained over 400,000 new followers and her ban was removed after only three days.
Moreover, these bans are not always consistent and seem to affect small streamers sometimes more than big streamers. In the case of Twitch streamer Viperous, she was recently banned shortly for using the term "nerd," which Twitch mistook as a racial slur.
For many viewers, the main issue with Twitch is its inconsistent moderation practices. Many times, bans are overturned or reduced at second look, though there are some channels which seemingly get away with things others likely couldn't. When asked about this a few months ago, Twitch CEO Emmett Shear admitted that the company does make mistakes, but ultimately it comes down to context and intent. The reasoning ultimately did not sit well with the Twitch community.
Mixer Makes Moves
While Twitch continued to ban notable streamers, its chief rival Mixer made some seriously surprising moves in an effort to close the popularity gap. The first of what would become a pattern in 2019 is that the streaming service managed to lure the incredibly popular Fortnite streamer Ninja over to its platform on an exclusivity deal. The shocking deal was announced in August and it brought credibility to the streaming service.
Even though his numbers may not be where they once were with Twitch, Ninja has enjoyed a lot of other successes outside of gaming including signing a deal with Adidas and being a performer on the TV show, The Masked Singer. Many have argued that had he stayed with Twitch, none of this would have been possible.
Ninja's move proved to be the spark that other streamers needed as many other notable personalities also jumped over to Mixer. Late in October, Shroud, another top Twitch streamer, made the switch to Mixer. He was followed almost immediately by Gothalion and then DisguisedToast who actually took his talents to Facebook.
Riot Games Settles
While Riot Games has seemingly recovered following multiple League of Legends announcements at The Game Awards, the studio was under fire for reports of a culture of gender discrimination against females at the company. According to reports, female employees were denied equal pay and advancement opportunities, subjected to sexual harassment, and were admonished for calling it out.
These events led employees to stage a walkout earlier this year with some taking things a step further by filing a lawsuit against the company. Riot managed to come to a settlement on the lawsuit a few months ago and the verdict of that settlement recently went public. Ultimately, Riot is responsible and will pay out $10 million to the roughly 1,000 female employees who worked at the company between 2014 and when the settlement was reached earlier in the year. While this is a big win for the employees, the controversy this incident caused seems to have had a transformative effect on the company as a whole.
Borderlands 3 and Gearbox Controversies
Fans have been clamoring for a new Borderlands game for years and in 2019 they finally got it. Following the debut trailer, excitement and hype were at an all time high. Unfortunately, numerous incidents at Gearbox Software did a lot to nearly undermine a lot of the goodwill leading up towards the game's launch.
Things began to go south when David Eddings, the former voice of the iconic robot Claptrap and gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford got into a back and forth on Twitter. After leaving the company, Eddings wasn't asked back to reprise his role to which he aimed to clarify for fans on Twitter. Pitchford took issue with the reasons Eddings described and called him disgruntled and bitter. Things continued to escalate when Eddings accused Pitchford of assault and stalking him at GDC 2017.
As if that wasn't bad enough, fans were a bit upset to find out that Troy Baker was also not voicing Rhys Strongfork, a central character from Tales from the Borderlands. When asked about this, Pitchford again laid the blame at the feet of Baker, who shot back at the accusations by confirming he was ready to do the voice work but Gearbox made it impossible for him to actually come in to perform the role. As he described it, Gearbox essentially wouldn't go union, making it impossible for him to ultimately take the position. As a result, the studio hire Ray Chase to take over as Rhys.
While those two incidents are certainly the most high profile, they weren't the only two to arise following the Borderlands 3 reveal. Randy Pitchford posted a video of a kitten getting pinched by a large crab, which caused all sorts of criticism online. Not only that, Pitchford was also charged with contempt in court stemming from a now settled lawsuit between him and a former Gearbox lawyer Wade Callender.
Sonic the Hedgehog Movie (Re)design
Earlier this year, Paramount Pictures released the first trailer for the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie. Unfortunately, the internet nearly exploded with negativity at how the iconic character looked. The oddly human looking Sonic even received criticism from Yuji Naka, the original creator of the character.
The backlash caused director Jeff Fowler to respond by saying the team was going to fully redesign the character, which not only delayed the movie into 2020 but has pushed the movie budget an extra $35 million over its original target. However, all of that negativity and hardship appears to have paid off in the end as the latest design in trailer has seen extremely positive reactions from fans and even generated 360% more likes in the first 24 hours as compared to the original trailer back in April.
Dragon Ball
Earlier this month, Bandai Namco revealed that the final Dragon Ball FighterZ DLC character was going to be DBS Broly. While the news was no doubt exciting for fans of the highly requested character, many began to wonder what the hulking brute would sound like as his original English voice actor, Vic Mignogna, was fired from parent company FUNimation in January. The firing came after an investigation due to allegations of sexual harassment to fans, some under aged, as well as female voice actresses Monica Rial and Jamie Marchi.
While Vic made a public apology, he eventually decided to pursue legal action against FUNimation and those who had spoken out against him for defamation and interference with existing contracts and potential new business opportunities. The situation became even uglier throughout the following months as the courtroom battle between both sides raged on. Ultimately, most cases were wrapped and dismissed by October, with Mignogna paying the defendants' attorney fees.
For fans of Dragon Ball FighterZ, Mignogna's replacement is Johnny Yong Bosch and the fans seem to quite happy with his performance. While DBS Broly doesn't have much in the way of spoken dialogue, Yong Bosch manages to produce an accurate portrayal and close to what fans have come to expect from Mignogna.
