Breath of the Wild 2 Doesn’t Launch This Year
One of the biggest predictions and thus, expectations of Nintendo in 2021 is that they launch the New Nintendo Switch and Breath of the Wild 2, and I do expect those things to happen. I predict that within the next couple of weeks, Nintendo will show off a direct that lays out a ton of great stuff for the first half of the year, and tease that there’ll be some news about Breath of the Wild 2 later in the year. When they do a similar Direct in the summer, they’ll announce that the New Nintendo Switch and Breath of the Wild 2 are indeed coming – in early 2022. A handful of very select titles will come with 4K Upgrades, and those who pick one up will have access to more Virtual Console titles than those on the regular Switch just like they did with the New 3DS. Aside from that, they’ll try to keep it as close to the standard Switch as possible, while marketing makes sure consumers know what separates the three versions of the console. Also, all Nintendo games released this year will come with cease and desists right in the box.
Alan Wake Remake in Time for Halloween, Sequel Announcement
I know it may be cliche to suggest anything Alan Wake on a predictions list – but to be fair, we did see the character recently. Remedy used Control to kick off an interconnected game universe, featuring Alan Wake himself and the town of Bright Falls in the AWE DLC. Some have pointed out that the DLC could be prefacing a new chapter in the character’s story, something fans of the original game have wanted since the original released in 2010. Though Alan Wake was originally an Xbox exclusive, the fact that he was in the DLC at all likely means Remedy owns the character themselves, and any sequel focused on him wouldn’t be exclusive to Xbox as Control itself wasn’t. But there is a chance that Xbox could be licensing the character back to them and taking advantage of a timed exclusivity contract for Xbox and PC. Showing up in a DLC may not be enough to remind fans or entice newcomers to Wake’s next adventure – but a full remake from the ground up with additional easter eggs that supplement the Control universe just might. Plus, Alan Wake makes it onto basically every list of spooky games to play on Halloween every year, so releasing it around then would be perfect timing. I know Remedy is currently working on the CrossfireX campaign for Xbox, but I could also see them having a smaller team that’s been dedicated to remaking Alan Wake in-house since the release of Control.
Microsoft Will Buy Deep Silver
Deep Silver is an interesting publisher as they have multiple studios of their own but mainly work in bringing games from other developers to European markets. Of their owned studios they have Saints Row developer Volition, Kingdom Come: Deliverance developer Warhorse, Let’s Sing developer Voxler, as well as Dambuster Studios and Fishlabs, who are working on space combat game Chorus set to release later this year. These studios and IPs are perfect candidates for Microsoft acquisition aside from Volition, as they’re just middling enough to fit in with the rest of Microsoft’s recently acquired studios and bring IPs that fill some niches left by the others. Saints Row is regularly compared to GTA for pretty good reason, which is in stark contrast to the action shooters and fantasy RPGs Microsoft Game Studios currently have in the works. It’s also not unlikely that Microsoft could move to purchase some other developers that have worked with Deep Silver like Metro developer 4A games, or Hunt: Showdown developer and Far Cry creator Crytek. Regardless of whether or not this is it, Microsoft made it clear that they’re not done buying studios just yet. I wouldn’t count on another Bethesda-sized purchase, but definitely, something that will make waves.
Sony Will Make a Big Acquisition To One-Up Microsoft
After Microsoft bought Bethesda last year, you couldn’t go anywhere on the internet without seeing someone suggest that Sony should make an equally large purchase as a response. The thing a lot of people failed to realize is that buying Bethesda was Microsoft’s response to a generation of getting destroyed by Sony in the exclusives department and the whole world bringing it up anytime someone dared invoke the name of Xbox. But Sony seems to treat business the way I treat Mario Kart – I’m not really winning unless I’m in first by a country mile. Sony is on track to continue experiencing the success they have throughout the last generation, but the loss of Bethesda could indeed be a long-term blow to their third-party offerings. The way to offset that would be by further expanding their world-class first-party lineup, but who will Sony pick up to do so? My money is on Bandai-Namco. They’re the third-largest game company in Japan, they own a ton of anime game licenses, and some of the most well-performing titles in modern gaming. They’re a perfect fit in Sony’s ecosystem and the two companies have had a great relationship over the past generation. Plus if that happened, then Sony would own Pac-Man, and who knows what they would do with that. Perhaps a God of War-esque father-son epic journey featuring Pac-Man and Pac-Man Junior.
Microsoft Will Release a New Kinect with an Xbox Mixed Reality Headset
The mandatory inclusion of the Kinect is often considered to have largely contributed to the poor reception of the Xbox One. It was released shortly after whistleblower Edward Snowden had revealed that the NSA and multiple big tech companies had been (and continue to) regularly observe and collect massive swaths of data from users, and Microsoft had been named in several documents. Understandably, people were not too keen on the idea of having a camera made by Microsoft sitting in the middle of their living room after that. But since then, smart-home devices have made their way into just about every home, with speakers, home security cameras, and smart displays being particularly massive sellers. The current lineup of Xbox consoles even has Google Assistant compatibility, allowing users to turn on the console, start-up certain games, and more. I think this would be the perfect time for the Kinect to have a reprise and be the Xbox’s doorway into VR compatibility, as Microsoft already produce their own Mixed Reality headset. The mixed reality headset is a hybrid of virtual reality and augmented reality, and Microsoft explains it as “a blend of physical and digital worlds, unlocking the links between human, computer, and environment interaction.” The mixed reality headsets on the market right now are compatible with a bunch of different games on PC, so Xbox may have to produce a separate one that is gaming-centric and designed specifically with the Xbox in mind to market it as such.
So what do you think? Do you think Elden Ring will come out this year? And who do you think might get purchased in the ongoing Great Acquisition? Let us know what your predictions are in the comments!
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