Here’s how (in)accurate my predictions were for gaming in 2020
Every year I venture predictions about what tidings the coming year will bring to the world of gaming. Thankfully, my pickings have never been quite as slim as in the year 2020.
What a weird year 2020 was. I suppose it’s not very surprising that most of my predictions about events in the gaming world were blatantly wrong. Even I admit I haven’t earned the (self-bestowed) Phil-stradamus award. So, if you must, drop your suggestions for a «failure» award name in the comments. But first, see for yourself just how poorly I did.
Prediction difficulty level: «I'm too young to die»
PS5 will not be unveiled at E3
Correct: Sony unveiled the Playstation 5 and Playstation 5 Digital Edition at its own event, far from E3.
There will be over 30 launch games for PS5 and Xbox
Incorrect: a miss is as good as a mile. For the PS5, it was 28 games and for the Xbox Series, 34. And there are just two exclusive games for the PS5 («Demon’s Souls» and «Astro’s Playroom») and none at all for the Xbox Series. My bet was clearly too high at ten titles.
Switch Pro
Incorrect: other than some fresh rumours, this prediction remained unfulfilled.
Project xCloud will officially launch at console launch
Correct: I'll count this one as correct. Especially because I also predicted a name change. However, the service was actually made available two months before launch.
Playstation Now will offer new first-party games at launch
Incorrect: another failure. There are still no new first-party games for PS Now.
Prediction difficulty level: «Hurt me plenty»
PS5 and Xbox Series X to come in multiple models for 400 to 500 dollars
Correct: on the whole, I was correct. While there are only two instead of three PS5 versions and, unfortunately, none of them comes with 2TB of storage, I was right about the price. But I did overshoot the price tag for the S series with 400 dollars.
Stadia will switch to the Netflix business model
Half-correct: Stadia now has a growing assortment of free games on offer in its Pro subscription. But with only around 30 of the 100+ available titles in it are available for free, we're not quite in Netflix territory yet.
No «Assassin’s Creed» 2020
Incorrect: yet another failure. Not the game. The game was totally respectable. Unlike my prediction. «Assassin’s Creed Valhalla» was released on 10 November 2020.
Sega Dreamcast Mini
Incorrect: just no. Fans of Sega's last console will have to stay patient for a while longer to see the Dreamcast Mini.
«Elder Scrolls 6»
Incorrect: alas, there was nothing new regarding «Elder Scrolls 6». Zilch. And since the game will only be released after «Starfield», it’s probably not going to be here anytime soon.
New «Wario Land»
Incorrect: I wish. But we'll have to wait a little longer to rejoice in Wario's latest misdeeds.
Prediction difficulty level: «Nightmare!»
«Anthem» will be the next «No Man’s Sky»
Incorrect: I was a bit hasty there. Bioware regularly shares new update plans for «Anthem», but a release of the revised version is not yet known.
PS VR 2 will go wireless
Incorrect: given there isn't even a PS VR 2, this prediction was a total flop.
«Horizon Zero Dawn 2» will be a launch game
Incorrect: I was wrong once again. «Horizon Forbidden West», as the second part is officially called, probably won't be released until late 2021.
Steam streaming service
Incorrect: you can stream games from your own PC to your mobile phone or laptop via the Internet. But of course, that's not what I meant by my prediction. We must continue to wait patiently for the platform with the largest library of PC games.
AMD will deliver the fastest graphics card for gamers
Incorrect: not even the top model, the Radeon RX 6900 XT, managed to steal the crown. But both the Radeon RX 6800 and the RX 6800 XT are on par with the competition from Nvidia and sometimes even a bit faster. But the Green Team continues to be ahead overall in terms of game performance.
«FIFA» will become a live-service game
Incorrect: we finish off my list of predictions with – surprise – another failure. But hey, we all need some wishful thinking every now and again. EA prefers to snap up the full price every year, with some minimal changes, and make a killing with Ultimate Team.
All in all, that’s a total of about 3.5 correct predictions. Out of 17. Not even the Phil-stradamus can save the year 2020. Hopefully, my predictions for this year will be more on point.
Being the game and gadget geek that I am, working at digitec and Galaxus makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop – but it does take its toll on my wallet. I enjoy tinkering with my PC in Tim Taylor fashion and talking about games on my podcast http://www.onemorelevel.ch. To satisfy my need for speed, I get on my full suspension mountain bike and set out to find some nice trails. My thirst for culture is quenched by deep conversations over a couple of cold ones at the mostly frustrating games of FC Winterthur.