Geek News Predictions for 2023

Happy New Year, everyone! 2022 has made its exit and thus we celebrate the earth making a full rotation around the sun. It’s also time to make some predictions. Honestly, 2022 has been such a wild ride that my predictions will probably seem tame. After all, who saw Elon Musk purchasing Twitter in 2022? Or that said purchase would lead him to losing over $200 billion in net worth and send Telsa stock prices plummeting? Let’s not forget about the shitty treatment of Twitter employees. Or who could have seen the deaths of Betty White, Kevin Conroy, Queen Elizabeth II, Shinzo Abe, Barbara Walters, and Pope Benedict XVI coming?

I’ll take a look into my crystal ball and try to guess events that will happen in 2023. On December 31, I’ll take a look back to see how well I did. Feel free to check out my 2022 prediction results.

 

New Switch hardware is finally revealed

A few years after the Switch released rumors began to speculate that a more powerful version would be released. The mid-generation upgrade would also be tied to the sequel of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. None of that came to pass. So I predict that we’ll receive a credible leak and even pictures of the next Nintendo console. No release date will be given. If the company were smart, it would be a Switch 2 since the console and handheld lines have been effectively merged.

 

New PS5 hardware is revealed, but it isn’t quite the Slim we wanted

I predict that Sony will release a PlayStation 5 Slim. I’m basing my reasoning on the company’s tendency to release refreshed hardware roughly three years after an initial console launch. The PS4 was originally released in late 2013 and the PS4 Slim was released in 2016. The timing seems good now that supply constraints have eased and a smaller form factor for the PS5 would allow Sony to save on costs. It is unclear if those costs savings will be passed on to the consumer. I also predict the PS5 Slim will not include a disc-drive and that rumored detachable disc drive will come into play. The solution for those who insist on physical media and a smaller system will be met with an inelegant, but practical solution.

 

Advance Wars 1 +2 Re-Boot Camp finally gets a release date

The Advance Wars reboots were delayed because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is understandable. Nintendo and everyone else figured it would be a short and decisive war. Thankfully, Ukraine has held their own. With that in mind, the war won’t be over any time soon and Nintendo will finally make the decision to unceremoniously release Advance Wars 1 +2 Re-Boot Camp.

 

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth gets a PC launch announcement

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is set to release at the end of the year as a PS5 exclusive. Barring any unforeseen delays, an announcement of the game’s launch on PC will be made. If we’re following the release paths of Final Fantasy VII Remake, the game will make a PC debut six months to a year after its initial PS5 launch. The game may be an exclusive to the Epic Games Store for six months before launching on Steam.

 

Crunchyroll finally finishes absorbing Funimation’s catalog

It came as a surprise when Sony completely absorbed the Funimation brand into Crunchyroll. This is despite the Funimation brand being around for 28 years before it was effectively retired. As an older anime fan, it’s sad to see such a long-lasting brand disappear. That said, it makes sense given Crunchyroll’s strength in the streaming space. I predict that Crunchyroll will finally receive the remainder of Funimation’s streaming catalog and everything will finally be available on a single website.

 

Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 3 won’t be the end

Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 3 is slated to air this year. As of this writing, there is no release date, but it will likely air either during the Spring or Fall seasons. We’ve been in the final season of this anime for two years now, and I predict the final part of the final season will end with a twist. Instead of it being just the end, we’ll have to endure a movie finale that actually wraps everything up. That movie will either air at the end of 2023 or the start of 2024 depending on when the anime makes its debut.

 

Rick and Morty’s 7th season makes up for season 6

Thanks to my contributions to Quarantine Control, you know my feelings on season 6 of Rick and Morty. I maintain that season 6 was more of a transitional season. The premise set up a plot with lots of payoff, except that payoff was not to be found within the same season. Everything is building toward season 7, and I predict we’ll see a lot of satisfying answers this time around. Morty helping with his quest to kill Rick Prime means that he will have lost all of his connections to his biological family. This will affect the teen in negatively in some way.

 

AI art and writing gets people into interesting trouble

Right now AI art generators and the writing program, ChatGPT are all the rage. While they’re called AI, they’re actually tools powered by machine learning. The results of these programs have ranged from amusing to troubling. The troubling aspect especially comes from artists worried about their livelihood as AI art proponents push these art generators as the next big thing, much like NFTs were pushed last year. Instead of commissioning an artist, one can just write a prompt and create a new work. The same can be said about drawing. Why practice when a program can just do it for you? Another issue is that these programs were trained on art and images scrapped from the internet without the consent of many artists. We haven’t seen the same controversy with writers yet, but eventually it will become an issue. I suspect this technology will land a noteworthy company or person in trouble, as they try to pass off AI generated works as something they created without the aid of these tools. The United States Copyright Office recently deemed a comic book created from AI images to be ineligible for copyright protection which will create another interesting point of contention.

 

Truth Social folds

One of the first things Elon Musk did after completing the purchase of Twitter was to reinstate former President Donald Trump’s suspended account. Amazingly, Trump said “No thanks,” as he decided to remain with his own social media network, Truth Social. After all, he does have an exclusivity agreement with the network. It doesn’t prevent him from posting elsewhere– he’d just have to wait about six hours before doing so. At this point, pride is the only thing keeping him off Twitter. However, that may change as Truth Social has been in decline for months as people lose interest in the site. I predict that with his Twitter account restored, Trump will quietly ditch his site and let it fold.

 

Twitter and Meta continue their decline

It’s no secret that Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has been a disaster. The huge cuts in staff, the spur of the moment changes, the disastrous reworking of Twitter Blue, and the fleeing of advertisers (which makes up the bulk of revenue) are just a few things gone wrong. As of this writing, Musk has vowed to step down as CEO after finding a suitable replacement. I predict that Twitter will continue to lose large chunk of its most prolific users as the site experiences two major, but different problems. These will be a long period of extended downtime because of technological failures and/or the remaking of the site into Parler or Gab which in turn pushes more people away.

Meta won’t fair much better as people aren’t hot on Facebook, and Mark Zuckerberg’s push into virtual reality continues to be lackluster. Meetings suck. Why would anyone want to do them virtually with an expensive headset when Zoom exists? Meta’s overall stock value will continue to decline throughout 2023.

 

Henry Kissinger finally exits stage left

Henry Kissinger has outlived a variety of people born much later than him. This includes Queen Elizabeth II and Pope Benedict XVI. He even outlived Betty White! I predict 2023 will come calling for Kissinger and the pact he made with dark forces will finally expire. This could be before or after his 100th birthday on May 27.

 

There you have it. Only 2023 will tell how well, or poorly I do with my predictions. See you in about 12 months!