Gaming predictions 2023 - and 2022 recap

[Qazimod]

We go again. This will be a bit of a rough list as I’m on my phone, but I’ll tidy things up later. Here’s the 2022 thread again:

 

 

On 31/12/2021 at 12:19, Qazimod said:

Persona 6 gets its first for-realsies unveiling.

The unveiling is every bit as vague as the Persona 5 chairs. PS5 and Switch.

Street Fighter VI. It's announced.

Everyone is Luke. Still no 2D sprites, because Luke. And time, and money. We're all too busy playing Ultimax anyway.

Enhance Games provides some news and updates on Humanity but it isn't released in '22.

We go again.

Tunic actually gets released this year!

Pretty confident about this one since the demos I've played have been pretty solid. Everyone ignores it because it doesn't have Zelda in the title.

Babylon's Fall and Forspoken both get released to Partridge shrugs all round. Yellow metascores by the end of the year.

I feel like this isn't even that controversial.

I didn’t do well. I nailed my predictions of SFVI being announced and Tunic being released, but that was about it. Enhance waited a year to tell us "actually we'll have news next year lol", BF and Forspoken were worse than "meh", and P6 is still shrouded in secrecy. But that won’t stop me trying again!

 

My rough 2023 thoughts for the moment:

• Street Fighter VI is released to positive reviews because they actually have a game rather than whatever SFV on day one was
• Zelda Tears is the most critically-acclaimed release of ‘23. Duh.
• FFXVI gets released. Rebirth gets a 2024 release date
• No Persona 6 news
• No “Switch 2” news
• No news of an Elden Ring “expansion”
• Forspoken bombs. By the end of the year it has a yellow metascore at best
• Someone at Giant Bomb tests PSVR2 without calibrating it properly and the internet goes nuts

Some of my predictions have been carried over from last year (Forspoken), but I feel like most of these are fairly safe bets. It’s too early for Switch 2, P6, Elden Ring expansions or Rebirth… but I’d love to be proven wrong.

 

What do you think 2023 will bring? No prizes; it’s all for fun.

[MW_Jimmy]

New Mario platformer is announced and released in the Summer

Zelda is delayed to Autumn/Winter

No new Switch hardware news

Sony announces a handheld PS4 and PS5 slim

In total, Microsoft studios release more exclusive games than Sony studios

New 'direction' for 343 Studios

Housemarque reveal new game 

New Devil May Cry announced

Shinobi announced by Lizardcube

Activision deal goes through but with significant caveats

Swimming in 7s : Forspoken, Hellblade II, Bayonetta Origins

 

[footle]

Ok last year seemed pretty good from my point of view:

 

On 31/12/2021 at 17:31, footle said:

Last years wasn’t bad.

 

for this year then…

 

1. You know that stacked February, it’s not happening.  At least two major games slip past the end of March.

 

2. God of War Raganok reviews better than Horizon Forbidden Ubisoft Clone.

 

3. BOTW2 slips into 2023.

 

4. Starfield shows the problems with the Bethesda narrative approach, taking more from Fallout (bleak, cynical) than Skyrim. It’s as buggy as a buggy thing (it’s a Bethesda game) and hilariously divisive. If only because there will be a forum war or two because it’s an exclusive. I’ll try it, then bounce off it because it’s not GOTG levels of polish or story.

 

5. GTA Online Next Gen edition launches and passes with barely a comment. who cares?

 

6. GTA 6 isn’t announced. [I don't count 'was leaked']

 

7. No switch pro is announced.

 

8. PSVR2 doesn’t get released, but we do get a teaser.

 

9. Microsoft, fresh off a year of not buying anyone, buy someone. [well try to]

 

10. It’s been a while since Mario Odyssey, so Nintendo announce Odyssey 2.

 

11. Bonus Prediction: Kotick retires to spend more time with his money.

 

 

 

This year:

 

1. [Easy] Starfield disappoints. Or at least once it's filtered through the Console Wars it disappoints because everyone will pretend that Bethesda games aren't ganky bugfests. I'll still bounce off it.

 

2. [Easy] BOTW2 is the best reviewing game of the year.

 

3. [Easy] PSVR2 disappoints. Which is a shame because I've preordered one, but I suspect the software doesn't turn up.

 

4. [Medium] GTA 6 gets a proper announcement.

 

5. [Medium] Acquivision Blizzard falls through.

 

6. [Medium] Nintendo announce Odyssey 2 🙂

 

7. [Hard] Tencent buys Ubisoft.

 

8. [Hard] Saudi Arabia buys 2K.

 

9. [Hard] Sony buys Sega to bolster their IP and PC aspirations.

 

10. [Hard] Sony decide to consolidate their Premium and Extra tiers on PS Plus.

 

 

 

 

[Stanley]

Metroid Dread follow up announced and then released around November to tie in with the release of Switch Lite OLED
 

Half-Life Alyx launch game for Meta Quest 3, timed exclusive before arriving eventually on PSVR2

 

Microsoft to expand their reach further with Meta Quest by making it compatible with Xbox consoles, Game Pass to include many VR compatible titles
 

Dragon Quest X gets a western release on all platforms

The Last of Us Part III announced

 

PS5 Slim & Pro models Oct/Nov 

 

Starfield delayed until 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kirby]

Metroid Prime HD Trilogy for Switch still not released.

[Benny]

Microsoft will buy Sony AND Nintendo in Q1.

 

Their entire back catalogue will be announced for Game Pass.

 

Game Pass will still only account for a fraction of revenue.

 

Microsoft will declare bankruptcy in Q3.

 

Sega will announce a surprise re-entry into the hardware business with a new games console for Christmas 2023

 

No-one will buy it, despite it being the only games console on the market, heralding the next great video game crash.

 

PC gamers will not care, because nearly every new release will be a Boomer Shooter with Steam Deck support.

 

But you can only buy direct from the developers, as the GoG, Steam, and Epic stores will now have pivoted to exclusively publishing Hentai games.

 

A Twitch streamer will declare their intention to run for US President in 2024.

[Nick R]

Microsoft close the cheap Gold -> Game Pass conversion offer.

 

 

Dreams come true as a Bluepoint Games remaster of Bloodborne is announced, for real this time, not merely leaked or rumoured, actually confirmed.

 

 

Predictions about licenced games:

 

* Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League will be better-received than Arkham Origins and Gotham Knights, but not as well-received as Arkham Asylum/City/Knight.

* Hellboy: Web of Wyrd won't come out until 2024.

* We won't see any gameplay footage or casting news of IO Interactive's James Bond game until 2024.

* Nothing of Insomniac's Wolverine game either.

* But we will see something of Monolith's Wonder Woman game!

 

 

1 hour ago, Benny said:

A Twitch streamer will declare their intention to run for US President in 2024.

 

Yes, that's pretty much a given. Seems only slightly less likely than "a Twitch streamer says something controversial."

[Benny]

2 minutes ago, Nick R said:

Microsoft close the cheap Gold -> Game Pass conversion offer.

 

Lets not get silly now.

[MidWalian]

- Metroid Prime 4 announced...and released!

- Persona 6 announced, not released.

- Microsoft release some games but mainly from recent acquisitions and deals. Reviewers mistake features as bugs in Redfall.

- No Wolverine.

- New Mario platformer announced and released for Switch.

- Succesor to Switch not announced.

- New co-op game announced where you play as either Keighley or Kojima, is awesome.

- PS5 slimmer goes on sale.

- I play Witcher 3.

[Siri]

I'm not near a keyboard to review last year's post, but I can use my phone to throw out a couple of thoughts:

 

- Nintendo will announce new hardware, but it's in the same vein as the New 3DS - slightly better in terms of guts, but only enhances new games like Zelda. Because of Nvidia charging out the ass for Tegra, Nintendo uses the non-OLED screen for it. Everyone malds over it.

 

- Another GPU manufacturer bows out of the production of AIB graphics cards because there's simply no money to be had in it. At least, compared to the NFT carnival of stupid.

 

- 2023 Forza Motorsport will come with some batshit microtransaction system that nobody likes.

 

- Critical media reception for Armored Core 6 will be lukewarm because it's not a Souls game, despite the fact Miyazaki has already made it clear that it's not a Souls game. Because they're idiots.

 

- Skull and Bones actually releases this year. It's a shitfest on the same scale as Anthem.

 

- Hot on the heels of that dumpster fire, Ubisoft start hyping up the Beyond Good & Evil 2 with some new media for it. Everyone points out that it's full of AI generated art assets because of the amount of fucked up hands in screenshots and all hell breaks loose.

 

- Gaming media will continually write articles on the Series S and Steam Deck 'holding back' this generation. Nobody owning said hardware continue to not care while playing Street Fighter 6 all year.

 

- Microsoft really does close the live gold loophole, but only once closing the ActiBlizz deal and announcing another big acquisition.

 

- Ghost of Tsushima will be out on PC by the end of 2023. GT7 and Demon's Souls are rumoured/hinted at for 2024.

 

- GOTY awards will mostly be flooded with praise for Zelda and Resident Evil 4 Remake. My GOTY awards will mostly be flooded with praise for games played during Steam Next Fest.

[bradigor]

I did miserably last year. So with that being said... 

 

Steam will release a new Steam controller based on the Steam Deck layout. 

 

PS5 redesign hits stores. 

 

Nintendo release a new mini console

 

2654 new Anbernic devices release. 

 

 

[AK Bell]

A smaller Steam Deck with bigger battery. 

 

If Valve don't make it, every factory in China will knock them out. Making the Anbernic prediction by @bradigor seem conservative. 

[MansizeRooster]

Sony will utterly overhaul their PlayStation Plus premium tier, with decent non-streaming emulation for PS1, 2 and 3. The games will be labelled correctly according to their original platform, and they will start releasing decent amounts of games, possibly even entire series at a time.

[SeanR]

I might get to play something this year.

[Kevvy Metal]

No new Nintendo console / Switch Pro / Switch 2 released or announced this year. It's all still 100% all-in on the Switch. The only new Switch hardware released or announced in 2023 are game tie-in special editions like the one leaked for the new Zelda.

 

No major hardware revision for the PlayStation 5. A stealth revision will be released that looks exactly the same although with further weight reduction and has a new plug or something and the internet explodes with YouTube tear down videos galore. 

 

No revision for the Xbox Series X or Series S, but Microsoft will be the only one to release new hardware in the form of the tiny wee X Cloud streaming box that we all saw in the background of Phil's Zoom call. 

 

---

 

Halo 6 is announced at "E3" time and is back to old-school campaign levels. Everyone pretends that Halo Infinite didn't happen.

 

Only three Xbox Game Studios game are released in 2023 - Starfield, Forza Motorsport and Redfall. Starfield is totally broken at launch, but exactly what it looks like -Skyrim in space- and is excellent and buffed up to shape with a few patches.
Forza Motorsport is Forza Motorsport and Redfall is this years "Bleeding Edge" or "Back 4 Blood" where it's almost instantly forgotten and gathers dust forever in the Gamepass vaults. 

 

Gamepass continues to be the place to play all the best indie games of the year. 

 

Microsoft will either attempt to end the gold to GPU trick or put up the price to an absolute up-roar on the internet then immediately back-pedal and reverse the decision. 

 

The Activision deal is blocked by the FTC and signals the end of aggressive take overs in the videogame market for a good while. 

 

"Gears 6" is announced at "E3" time with a CG trailer

 

New CG trailers for all the games you already knew where announced and in-development shown (with no gameplay footage) around "E3" time. 

 

---

 

Bloodborne remaster from Bluepoint announced

 

New IP from Bend studios announced, just a CG trailer shown.

 

Horizon: Look at me I'm Destiny! , is both announced and released in 2023 and is Sony's big first GaaS-type venture. It's decent fun but has a hard time gaining traction with players as they're all already playing either Destiny / Fortnite / COD.

 

Media Molecule announce something completely new and left field but it's not released for another 5+ years. 

 

Naughty Dog announce The Last of Us part 3 with a CG trailer, riding on the back of the successful tv show. Pre-production was started immediately after TLOUp2 was completed and this was the plan all along to get another game out with the IP popular with a tv tie-in.

There's no new IP, no new Uncharted just TLOUp3. TLOUp1 was basically a way to test the production pipeline for the new upcoming game. It's set with a 2024 release date.

Factions’ multiplayer is completely forgotten about and never mentioned again.

 

Pixelopus -makers of Concrete Genie- are given a AAA budget this time to come up with a unique new IP. It is announced and released in 2023 to positive reception. 

 

Ghost of Tsushima 2 is announced and released in 2023. It's like the first only improved in every way.

 

Death Stranding 2 hits late 2023 release window, it’s like the first only improved in every way.

 

Sony don't change a thing about its new PSN+ revamp. 3 new (but old) games are added per month, games disappear from the service with no warning and there's almost no change to the classics catalogue. 

 

---

 

Metroid 4 is still MIA. Retro Studios likely had to scale up to meet the development demands and they're still deep in game development. 

 

Camelot announce that they've been working on a new Golden Sun, released in 2023 and all the YouTuber's fall off their seats. 

 

GBA games will come to Nintendo Online, and a montage trailer will include footage of Mother 3 and all the YouTuber's fall off their seats, but it's only available on the Japanese version of the GBA app, and only in Japanese. 

 

The Nintendo team behind New Super Mario Bros. have made a new 2D Mario game that ties in with the new film. It comes out and is good. 

 

[Stanley]

On 31/12/2022 at 12:31, Kirby said:

Metroid Prime HD Trilogy for Switch still not released announced.

[Chthonic Boom]

Nintendo announce the successor to the Switch, the Newer DS (double switch). It's a hinge mechanism that links 2 Switches together into a giant clamshell configuration. Tears of the Kingdom becomes a DS exclusive and is pushed to 2024.

 

A prototype Xbox Series M (handheld console with the guts of a series S) is spotted on Phil Spencer's shelves, but is cancelled without ever being formally announced. The Activison Blizzard purchase is approved, once cooler heads prevail and everyone remembers that studios purchased by Microsoft don't actually release games, so it won't be anticompetitive after all. The first round of Microsoft owned studio closures begins.

 

Hot on the heels of their success increasing the price of the base PS5, Sony release the PS5 Phat, which is 20% larger than the original PS5. Naughty Dog announce a remaster of The Last of Us Part II.

[Qazimod]

On 31/12/2022 at 08:15, Qazimod said:

My rough 2023 thoughts for the moment:

• Forspoken bombs. By the end of the year it has a yellow metascore at best

 

[Qazimod]

On 31/12/2022 at 08:15, Qazimod said:

No news of an Elden Ring “expansion”

 

LOL. Get fucked, me!