''Cricket 22'' is a 2021

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by

Big Ant Studios Big Ant Studios is an Australian video game developer based in Melbourne. Founded in 2000 by chief executive officer Ross Symons, the company specialises in the development of sports games. Big Ant's games include '' Cricket 22'', '' Rugby Leag ...

and published by

Nacon Nacon SA (formerly Bigben Interactive SA) is a French video game publisher, holdings company and gaming peripherals manufacturer based in Lesquin. It designs and distributes gaming accessories, and publishes and distributes video games for va ...

. It is the official video game of the

2021–22 Ashes series The 2021–22 Ashes series, named the Vodafone Men's Ashes Series for sponsorship reasons, was a series of five Test cricket matches that were contested between England cricket team, England and Australia national cricket team, Australia for The ...

of cricket matches, and the sequel to the 2019 game '' Cricket 19''. It released on the 2 December 2021 as a curtain-raiser prior to the start of the 2021–22 Ashes series which were held in Australia in December 2021. The Nintendo Switch version of the game was expected to be released in January 2022 and was later confirmed for 28 April 2022. This is the second Big Ant Studios game to be released for the

PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...

and

Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are the fourth generation of consoles in the Xbox series, succeeding the previous generation's Xbox One. Released on November 10, 2020, the higher-end Xbox Series X and lower-end Xbox Series S are part o ...

, the first being

Tennis World Tour 2 ''Tennis World Tour 2'' is a tennis video game developed by Big Ant Studios and published by Nacon, as the sequel to the first ''Tennis World Tour''. It was released on September 24, 2020 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows, and on ...

Gameplay

Cricket 22 introduces a revamped bowling and fielding controls utilizing an arcade style of gameplay with the new after-touch system that allows the player to control the ball's direction after it is bowled. A new "Direct-Hit" system was also implemented for fielding where adding in a cinematic angle to catches and having control over the speed of the ball when thrown to the stumps. It also features a new tutorial system as well for newcomers. Big Ant unveiled Nets Challenge facility for the users as part of the pre-ordering plans which went into full swing from late October 2021. For the first time ever in the series an all-female commentary team for all women's cricket matches was introduced. Furthermore, a new commentary team was introduced with the likes of

Michael Atherton Michael Andrew Atherton (born 23 March 1968) is a broadcaster, journalist and a former England international cricketer. A right-handed opening batsman for Lancashire and England, and occasional leg-break bowler, he achieved the captaincy of E ...

David Gower David Ivon Gower (born 1 April 1957) is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer who was captain of the England cricket team during the 1980s. Described as one of the most stylish left-handed batsmen of his era, Gower played 117 T ...

Mel Jones Melanie Jones (born 11 August 1972, Barnstaple, Devon, England) is an English-born Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented the Australia women's national cricket team. Early life Jones was born in England and moved ...

Alison Mitchell Alison Mitchell is an English Australian cricket commentator and sports broadcaster, working for the BBC, Australia's Channel 7 and the Australian Open among others. She was the first woman to become a regular commentator on the BBC's '' Test ...

and

Ian Healy Ian Andrew Healy (born 30 April 1964) is an Australian former international cricketer who played for Queensland domestically. A wicketkeeper and right-hand middle-order batsman, he first played international cricket in 1988, after six first ...

for the video game.

Licensing

The game features the inclusion of both men's and women's editions of the

Big Bash The Big Bash League (BBL), also known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Australia. Established in 2011 by Cricket Australia, the Big Bash League replaced the previous competitio ...

league for the very first time. In addition, the game also introduced newcomers

Caribbean Premier League The Caribbean Premier League (abbreviated to CPL or CPLT20) is an annual Twenty20 cricket tournament held in the Caribbean. It was founded by Cricket West Indies in 2013 to replace the Caribbean Twenty20 as the premier Twenty20 competition in ...

and The Hundred. The licensing of the game has also been extended and expanded to other geographical territories including New Zealand, West Indies and Ireland in addition to Australia and England as real names and real images of the players of respective countries can be used. The video game cover featured Australian women's cricket captain

Meg Lanning Meghann Moira Lanning (born 25 March 1992) is an Australian cricketer who formerly captained the national women's team. Lanning has been a member of seven successful world championship campaigns, winning two Women's Cricket World Cup and five ...

and men's captain

Pat Cummins Patrick James Cummins (born 8 May 1993) is an Australian international cricketer who captains the Australia men's national cricket team in Test and One Day International cricket. Cummins is widely regarded as one of the finest fast bowlers t ...

who replaced his predecessor

Tim Paine Timothy David Paine (born 8 December 1984) is an Australian former cricketer and a former captain of the Australia national cricket team in Test cricket. A right-handed batsman and a wicket-keeper, he played for the Tasmanian Tigers in Austra ...

who was initially set to appear before resigning the captaincy over a

sexting Sexting is sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually explicit messages, photographs, or videos, primarily between mobile phones. It may also include the use of a computer or any digital device. The term was first popularized early in the 21s ...

scandal, which caused the game to be delayed by a week. In the UK, Joe Root and Heather Knight feature on the video game cover.

Anti-piracy measures

The title has received media coverage for measures designed to "annoy" players of pirated versions of the game into purchasing it legitimately. Big Ant Studios CEO Ross Symons stated that the implementation of the measures, which include turning the screen white during gameplay, had seen sales of the game on

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

go up by 300%.

References

{{Big Ant Studios 2021 video games Big Ant Studios games Cricket video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nacon games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation 5 games Video games developed in Australia Windows games Xbox Cloud Gaming games Xbox One games Xbox Series X and Series S games