Can you believe it's been five whole years since November 2021? Honestly, looking back now from 2026, that month still feels like a turning point. We were all still stuck somewhere between pandemic lockdowns and getting hyped for new hardware, when the gaming industry just decided to drop a whole bucket of drama on us. I remember waking up, scrolling through the news, and thinking: did everything go wrong all at once? From an absolute disaster of a remaster to massive delays and surprise delistings, that week was unhinged. But here we are in 2026, so let’s rewind and see how those headlines panned out.
Remember when Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition dropped and immediately became a meme? Within days it was one of the lowest-rated games on Metacritic, and the backlash was so bad Rockstar even started handing out refunds. The rain looked like milk, character models were meme-worthy, and somehow “unintentional files” – including unlicensed music – got the PC version yanked from stores. I remember thinking, how does a studio with that much money mess up three PS2 games? Fast forward to 2026, and the collection did eventually get patched into a more playable state, but the damage to Rockstar's reputation was real. It's actually why so many of us held our breath before GTA 6 launched. Those technical stumbles forced the company to overhaul its quality control. Now, playing the remastered trilogy on my Steam Deck 2, it's a decent nostalgia trip – but man, the launch was a masterclass in what not to do. Did it kill the dream of future remasters? Not quite, but every time a \u200b\u200bcollection gets announced, you see comments like “hopefully not another GTA Trilogy.”
That same week, the great chip shortage hit harder than a blue shell in Mario Kart. Valve delayed the Steam Deck from holiday 2021 to February 2022, and subsequent pre-orders got pushed into Q2 2022 and beyond. Sony had to trim its PS5 manufacturing target by a million units. Even the cute little Playdate handheld slipped into early 2022. It felt like every device I wanted was just slipping through my fingers. Looking back from 2026, where I can walk into any store and grab a PS5 Pro or the latest Steam Deck model without refreshing browser tabs at 4am, it’s wild to remember the desperation. That period taught the industry a lesson about supply chain resilience – now we see more regional production and better component stockpiling. But would I have believed you then if you told me the Steam Deck would become a whole product family with cloud-streaming integration? No way. I was just praying to get my pre-order in.
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Then there was the Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker delay, only about two weeks, moving from November 23 to December 3. Producer Naoki Yoshida got emotional about it, and the community basically said, “Take all the time you need, king.” That short delay ended up being a blip in the rearview mirror because the expansion released to massive critical acclaim and queue times... okay, those were rough. But in 2026, with the game having gone through the Dawntrail and the current mystery expansion, Endwalker is still considered the emotional peak. The delay actually set a healthy precedent: the development team openly admitted they needed polish, and that transparency built even more trust. Now, when any MMO gets postponed, you immediately see players comparing it to that Yoshida moment. Did it teach us patience? Maybe a little.
And oh boy, the Metal Gear Solid drama. Konami delisted MGS2 and MGS3 from digital stores because of historical footage copyright issues. Nobody saw that coming. For a while it seemed like those masterpieces would vanish forever. But after a few nail-biting months, they came back, and that whole fiasco actually sped up the push for proper remasters – which, if you’ve been following the latest reveals, led us to the Metal Gear Solid Delta lineup we’re playing now. In a weird way, we should thank that licensing panic for reminding Konami that people still cared.
Finally, amidst all the chaos, Among Us dropped its huge roles update – Scientist, Engineer, Guardian Angel, Shapeshifter – and the Cosmicube progression system. It was a breath of fresh air. Now in 2026, Among Us is still a party staple, even if it’s not the streaming giant it once was. That update kept the game from fading into obscurity and showed how live-service games should evolve. So, did November 2021 set the tone for the half-decade that followed? Absolutely. We got more delays, but also better communication. We got disastrous launches, but also accountability. And we got a reminder that even in the worst weeks, the games we love find a way to endure. What a ride.
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