Goodbye, gaming

An announcement came earlier today that shocked the nation

FLICKR | PHOTO COURTESY
The gaming industry is no longer.

Earlier today, a livestream began with news that would shock the nation. News that was unexpected and no one was ready for.

The livestream began at 8 a.m. on almost every livestream platform: Mixer, Twitch, Facebook Live, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

The CEOs of Microsoft’s Xbox division, PlayStation and Nintendo of America came on stage to deliver the shocking news — the gaming industry was no more.

The three titans of the industry came to this realization after seeing the popularity of mobile games and YouTube “vloggers.” The time of the “let’s player” and the non “Candy Crush” clone was over.

Effective immediately, Xbox Live, PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Online would begin the process of shutting down. Sure, players can still access some of their games, but the majority of online support began to shut down.

The millions of players playing games like “Fallout 76” and “Anthem” would have their servers shut down immediately because the services would no longer be there to support them.

After the titans made the announcement, Valve had their own livestream. During the broadcast, they announced that Steam just cannot compete anymore and that it would also be shutting down.

This is due to the titans leaving and scaring off the smaller developers.

Valve decided to rebrand themselves as a plumbing company and scrap their gaming division all together.

Activision Blizzard began their process of closing the servers of many of their beloved games. Millions of players cried out as their favorite “World of Warcraft” role-play servers shut down.

The company will be selling their previously unreleased games and prototypes in loot crates to get them out the door. You could receive gems like “Warcraft 3 Reforged” or “Diablo Immortal.” You may also just end up with a .jpeg of the CEO. It really is all about luck.

Bethesda has also sunk into the shadows, vying to return in a decade to single-handedly bring back the gaming industry with “The Elder Scrolls VI.” However, we may never see it come to light with no console to release it on.

Ubisoft announced that we will at least be releasing “Assassin’s Creed LII” before they close their doors because they have been working on many titles for the stealth-action franchise at the same time and would hate for them to go to waste. But despite this, they have already begun laying off their staff, so we may not make it to “LII” unless they release them all in one bundle.

Take-Two Interactive has already closed down every single company they own, citing: “It’s about time. ‘GTA Online’ was only going to make money for so long. Now we can all retire to the Bahamas or something.”

Mojang has begun turning “Minecraft” into a much more educational tool. A spokesperson for the company said they believe that even though the gaming industry has closed, it does not mean that “Minecraft” must die; it must only adapt. Most of the blocky textures have been removed and replaced with numbers and letters.

Amazon instantly cancelled their rumored streaming console citing, “We don’t want to join an already sinking ship.” They have since invested that money into Facebook.

Electronic Arts is one of the few holdouts citing, “There will always be a market for our yearly sports games,” as they began shutting down all “Battlefield” servers and cutting off support for “The Sims 4.”

Epic Games is attempting one last push to try and keep the gaming industry alive by making the surprise announcement of “Fortnite 2.” They promised this sequel will bring everything you loved from the first one, but bigger and better and with more battle pass.

However, the reception to it has not been great, as it is an Epic Games Store exclusive and will not be launching on the now shutdown Xbox and PlayStation platforms.

Sadly, it seems that the days of gaming are coming to a close. The gaming industry had a good run, but just like anything, its time is up.

Even Apple Arcade and Walmart’s rumored streaming console cannot save the once beloved gaming industry,

This does not mean that gamers cannot play some of their games. But much like when Atari went under, many game stores and companies are burying their assets in the desert.

Maybe one day it will be back, but for now, all you will be getting is more and more “Candy Crush” clones.

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