A Look Back at My Geek-Related Predictions From 2019
The year 2019 was yet another painful and pitiful one, no surprise to anyone as fittingly cynical about the time in which we live. You might need a good laugh as the year comes to a close, so I recommend continuing reading to see how well or, more likely, not well I did with the predictions I made for this past year. I am not ready for this.
- Sony has a small number of big PlayStation 4 games left before they’ll fully shift support to their next PlayStation system. Of them, The Last of Us Part II, Ghost of Tsushima, and Dreamswill all release this year.
Guess what? Not a single one of them released this year, nor is there any evidence that they were planned for release. They’re all scheduled for next year. Dreams will arrive on February 14th, while The Last of Us Part II will come on May 29th (delayed from its earlier February 20th date), and Ghost of Tsushima is planned for a summer release. Not a good start!
- Speaking of PS4-exclusive software: Kojima Productions’ Death Strandingwill be shown in further detail, and will receive a release timeframe. But it won’t release this year.
Of course it released this year, specifically on November 8th worldwide. Sure, it was indeed shown in detail and received a release timeframe in the form of a final date, but both of those were easy to predict. This isn’t looking good.
- Nintendo will reveal the next Legend of Zeldagame for Switch, which will be a successor to Breath of the Wild. Specifically, it will be to BOTW as Majora’s Mask was to Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64. The game won’t be given a firm release date or timeframe, though.
It’s tough to tell whether the Breath of the Wild follow-up will be similar to how Majora’s Mask was a follow-up to Ocarina of Time, but it sure looks that way. This one was bang-on. Now I’m starting to feel a little better.
- (Let’s try this one again.) Final Fantasy VII Remakewill surface for the first time in over three years, in a trailer that will show how the game has changed little from the trailer shown at the end of 2015, though with better performance. It will still be episodic, and the first episode will be given a vague 2020 release timeframe.
Outside the game being given a release timeframe — it actually got a date of March 3rd, 2020 — this one was also bang-on. Turns out, reusing predictions works.
- Thanks to all the governments investigating them, loot boxes will barely be a thing by the end of the year. We’ll receive insider hints at how gaming companies are preparing a microtransaction-like replacement for them that will debut in next-generation console software, in addition to the usual microtransactions and DLC.
Loot boxes actually have diminished in popularity thanks to regulations from worldwide governments (not the US, of course), but there were no details about a new microtransaction scheme from behind the scenes. Publishers might wait until the next console generation arrives for that. Still, this one was mostly right.
- After finishing the extra content for Shovel Knight, Yacht Club Games will announce a brand-new game that won’t be a Shovel Knight sequel. It will be announced for a 2020 release.
This actually happened, though it’s not being developed by Yacht Club Games, something I’m glad I didn’t specify. Shovel Knight Dig is developed by Nitrome and uses sprites closer to an SNES style rather than the original’s 8-bit ones. The focus here, as the name implies, will be on digging, though it will still retain trademark Shovel Knight gameplay. Hey, maybe I didn’t do as bad as I thought here.
- Atlus is teasing multiple projects with the announcement of Persona 5 R.One of these will be an updated version of the original game, similar to how Persona 3 and Persona 4 received FES and Golden versions. But one will be a fighting game from Arc System Works, which they’ll find the time to work on despite having a lot on their plate.
Right about the updated version of the original with Persona 5 Royal. But no fighting game announcement happened. Instead, action RPG Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers is coming from Koei Tecmo and Omega Force, which resembles the Warriors games and, in a way, the Dragon Quest Heroes titles. This one was half right.
- Capcom will strongly hint at ending significant support for Street Fighter V(as in, outside balance patches), but won’t confirm it outright. This will come in the form of the final batch of characters mostly being alternate versions of the existing cast, with producer Yoshinori Ono strongly hinting at its end through an interview.
There was a light hint that support could be ending soon, but it certainly wasn’t a strong one. The final batch of characters weren’t alternate versions of the existing cast, and Ono hinted at nothing. There was a hint that a new Street Fighter game could be coming, but this prediction was completely wrong overall.
- Star Wars Episode IXwill be nowhere near as ambitious or controversial as The Last Jedi, as Disney will want the movie to play it as safe as possible to upset the lowest amount of people. Rian Johnson’s trilogy will be fine, though.
The Rise of Skywalker wasn’t as ambitious as The Last Jedi, and walked back at least a few of its more controversial decisions. But this upset those who enjoyed The Last Jedi. Rian Johnson’s trilogy is MIA, and future of Star Wars movies is hazy at the moment after plans for The Game of Thrones showrunners’ films were cancelled. Only 1/3 of this prediction was right.
- The new manga arc for Dragon Ball Superwon’t be manga-only for long: The TV series will return later in the year too. But it will start with a recap of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which will have minor storyline changes.
100% wrong. A new movie might be in the works, however.
- Waluigi will not be confirmed for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.Sorry!
100% right. Though this wasn’t too hard to predict given that Nintendo enjoys playing games with Waluigi fans.
The overall tally is 5.75, which isn’t as bad as I expected. That’s also not great, but I’ll take it. I’m looking forward to doing a little worse next year, but I might be surprised with myself come the end of 2020.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
