In the video game industry, 2022 saw the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry, slowing hardware sales for most of the year as well as development delays for major titles. The industry continued its trend of acquisitions and mergers, highlighted by Microsoft announcing its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion. The industry as a whole still dealt with issues such as workplace harassment and discrimination, as well as crunch periods, leading to at least the quality assurance staff at three separate studios to vote to unionize. Production of the ninth generation consoles, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, remained constrained for the first part of the year, but eased up later in the year. New hardware trends included the widespread availability of graphics cards with real-time ray tracing, increasing realism fidelity in some games, and the release of the Steam Deck by Valve, a handheld personal computing device capable of playing most games available on Steam. The gaming community remained cautious on the metaverse and blockchain games, though leading publishers expressed their desires to move more into that space. Top-rated games Major awards {|class="wikitable" style="border:none; margin:0; width:100%; font-size: 90%;" ! colspan="2" style="width:16%;"| Category/Organization !! style="width:14%;"| 26th Japan Game Awards !! style="width:14%;"| The Game Awards 2022 !! style="width:14%;" | 12th Annual New York Game Awards !! style="width:14%;" | 26th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards !! colspan="2" style="width:14%;" | 23rd Game Developers Choice Awards !! style="width:14%;" | 19th British Academy Games Awards |- ! scope="row" colspan="2" | Game of the Year | colspan="4" | Elden Ring || colspan="2" | || |- ! scope="row" colspan="2" | Mobile / Portable Game | rowspan="7" || colspan="3" | Marvel Snap || rowspan="2" colspan="3" |- ! scope="row" colspan="2" | VR / AR Game | colspan="2" | Moss: Book II || Red Matter 2|- ! scope="row" colspan="2" | Art Direction | Elden Ring || || God of War Ragnarök || colspan="2" | || |- ! scope="row" rowspan="2" style="width:9%;" | Audio || Music | God of War Ragnarök || Metal: Hellsinger || God of War Ragnarök || rowspan="2" colspan="2" | || |- ! scope="row" | Sound Design | God of War Ragnarök || || God of War Ragnarök || |- ! scope="row" rowspan="2" | Character or Performance || Leading Role | rowspan="2" | Christopher Judge as KratosGod of War Ragnarök || rowspan="2" | Manon Gage as Marissa MarcelImmortality || rowspan="2" | KratosGod of War