Predictions product of a whole industry are almost at all times flawed and are a waste of time — but they’re very fun if you happen to don’t take them too seriously. That’s what that is. A fun, consequence-free prognostication that, like Babe Ruth pointing on the stands from the batter’s box, might be stuffed with daring and really specific called-shots, most of which won’t come to pass.
2024: Realistic Gaming Predictions
But you never know, especially since I’ll be making gaming predictions that aren’t so fanciful; predictions that don’t feel too far out of the realm of possibility; and predictions that perhaps actually have a sense of inevitability. There’s just something very 2024 about predictions like…
The Nintendo Switch successor makes its debut
The Nintendo Switch will turn seven years old this coming March. It’s already felt like an aging console for at the very least a couple of of those years. Nintendo consoles are never technical powerhouses, but in an era when gaming tech seems like it has one other breakthrough every few months, the Switch seems like it’s woefully behind the times. That each one changes in 2024.
That is the 12 months that Nintendo, as they often do, decides to be the primary of the foremost console manufacturers to announce all-new hardware, a successor to the Nintendo Switch. A successor that puts portability first but with a beefier set of chips and doodads that bring the Switch 2 (or whatever they find yourself calling it) on par with hand-held PCs just like the Steam Deck and the ROG Ally, just two of the hand-held consoles that found success within the recent portable gaming gold rush. The Switch was a novel concept when it got here out. It’ll be fascinating to see how Nintendo reacts to a market that has imitated and iterated on its ideas.
A much quieter 12 months for giant game releases
2023 was an onslaught of massive game releases. Some all of us assumed could be hits on some level (Tears of the Kingdom) and others that took the gaming world by surprise (Baldur’s Gate 3). Looking ahead at 2024’s slate of games, there aren’t as many big-name titles that may needless to say dominate the cultural conversation, at the very least not that I can see from back here in 2023. That’s to not say the schedule is devoid of interesting games.
Every month has something for everybody, and 2024 seems like the 12 months Silksong might finally drop. But, using the 2023 Game Awards nominees as an imperfect indicator of release schedule strength, 2024 doesn’t feel like a 12 months when every game nominated for Game of the 12 months might have been the undisputed GOTY in another 12 months.
2024 could have its big releases. It’ll have surprises that take the gaming world by storm. But, I predict, probably incorrectly, that 2024 might be a whole calendar 12 months that permits you to catch your breath just a little, and perhaps even provide barely enough room to clear that 2023 backlog.
More games which are every game
Roblox created a model that other major developers and publishers will certainly follow. Considered one of the largest already is. Epic Games took note of how Roblox built its wild success off the concept of being a hub for other games…after which just decided to try this. Why release a complete game with all of the marketing fanfare that comes with it when you possibly can release a smaller, simpler, more polished version of an idea as only one small part of a bigger suite of games? You may play Fortnite in Fortnite, but now it’s also possible to play a racing game in Fortnite. And a Rockband-style rhythm game. And a Minecraft-inspired survival game. Fortnite isn’t only one game anymore — it’s every game, identical to how Roblox isn’t one game, it’s a hub for each form of game.
Just because the live service game became a trend that each major publisher desired to get their hands on, the Hub-style game will truly grasp the industry in 2024. Just consider it: in 2024, we could see Activision toss a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater-inspired mode into Call of Duty. We could see Ubisoft use the Assassin’s Creed traversal mechanics to make a parkour racing game or a video game version of those skilled tag clips you see floating across the web. Get able to hear the word “hub” way greater than you ever thought possible.
Netflix will secure the publishing rights to a significant game
Netflix’s foothold within the gaming industry has been steadily growing 12 months by 12 months. Just a few weeks before this text was published, Netflix made it possible to play the remasters of all three PlayStation 2-era Grand Theft Auto games in your phone as a part of your Netflix subscription. This was after a 12 months of snatching up a series of high-profile indie darlings to beef up their gaming offerings, a listing that now includes Immortality, Into the Breach, Death’s Door, Dead Cells, Before Your Eyes, Kentucky Route Zero, Oxenfree, Oxenfree 2, and several other others. Netflix took Microsoft’s threats of becoming the “Netflix of gaming” quite seriously and said, “No, actually, Netflix might be the Netflix of gaming.”
This not only won’t stop in 2024 but I wouldn’t be surprised if a big-name game from a big-name developer is announced as a Netflix exclusive. The fabled Bloodborne remake will only be playable in the identical app you employ to observe Seinfeld. Perhaps you’ll unwind after a frustrating Silksong boss fight with a few Great British Baking Show episodes. Netflix desires to be taken seriously as a gaming outlet, so it’s only a matter of time before it pulls the trigger on an enormous move that establishes its place within the upper echelons of gaming destinations.
The acquisition wars will rage on
I’m not going to say to know a thing about corporate economics. If rates of interest drop in 2024, and inflation subsides consequently (if that’s even how it really works), will game developers/studios be less willing to sell themselves to massive corporations, a la Microsoft’s takeover of Activision/Blizzard?
Uh, perhaps? I don’t know.
All that stuff’s way over my head. But one thing that won’t be subsiding anytime soon is Microsoft and Sony’s jockeying for position in whatever the long run of gaming finally ends up looking like. PlayStation is attempting to sell hardware while Xbox is attempting to sell a service in Game Pass. Each need glitzy exclusive games to sell their wares to prospective buyers. In the event you thought it was nuts that Sony now owns Bungie which was owned by Microsoft, and that Microsoft now owns the Warcraft and Call of Duty people, then start mentally preparing yourself for other major acquisition news in 2024. Each corporations are looking forward to the following console generation, nevertheless that takes shape, and are angling to be the corporate with the very best games that may only be found on a PlayStation console or a platform with Game Pass on it.
More and Greater games from Roblox creators
I’ve already talked just a little about Roblox’s potential influence on the long run of the industry, but there’s one other way the gaming hub will change the industry in 2024 and beyond. Let’s use Lethal Company for instance. The scary co-op game took everyone by surprise when it became a late-2023 hit. People were impressed that this fun and wildly popular little game that got here out of nowhere was made by only one person, an indie developer who calls themselves Zeekerss. Well, if you happen to had been an element of the Roblox scene for the past decade, you wouldn’t have been too surprised by Zeekerss success, as that they had been developing games for Roblox (and itch.io) for nearly a decade before the huge success of Lethal Company.
Roblox, for as much because it exploits the labor of its user base, stays a spot where blossoming game developers get of their fabled 10,000 hours of unseen experience before they’re able to hit it big. It’s a training ground, and the fruits of its tutelage are only just beginning to blossom. I believe 2024 might be the 12 months when the youngsters of Roblox will break out across every genre and platform within the gaming world.
