Coming into the new year, it would be easy enough for us to ‘predict’ what will happen within the video game industry. While we could sit here and tell you that GTA V will continue to sell through an insane number of units, Fortnite will crossover with a bunch of popular IPs and another NBA 2K game will release, the low-hanging fruit is a bit bland and tasteless. Instead, we’ve gone through the cupboards here at WellPlayed towers and dusted off the trusty crystal ball to have a look at the next 12 months to inform you of the unlikely events that will take place in 2023.
With the crystal ball polished, the tea leaves read, and the tarot cards flipped, the WellPlayed team are ready to reveal to you with 100% certainty* what is going down in the gaming world in 2023 (*actual certainty may be less than 100%).
Here are WellPlayed’s gaming predictions for 2023:
Zach
- Broken Sword 6 will be revealed.
- The Day Before will launch as planned, and we’ll have a 65+ Meta score by May.
- The Twisted Metal show will inspire a remaster, new entry or spiritual successor.
- Jim Ryan won’t be Sony CEO by the end of the year.
- Starfield will announce a PS5 release as Xbox goodwill.
- Yosuke Matsuda will resign from Square Enix due to NFTs tanking the company.
Nathan
- Sonic The Hedgehog 3 movie tie-in DLC for Frontiers.
- Persona 6 gets announced at TGS.
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl release slips out of 2023; developer GSC cites war.
- V8 Supercars will return in Forza 2023.
- Zuckerberg shuts down the Metaverse.
- Valve strikes a deal to bring Half-Life Alyx to PSVR2.
- Fire Emblem Awakening remake is announced by Nintendo.
James
- PlayStation will NOT make any major acquisitions and instead focus on exclusivity deals with large publishers and developers.
- FromSoftware will announce its third PlayStation-exclusive title, a reboot of King’s Field.
- Nintendo will announce the next Switch, and it will have Metroid Prime 4 as a launch title.
- Microsoft will overplay its ‘cool guy’ hand and announce a game that uses AI art and catch shit for it.
- Capcom announces a Resident Evil – Code: Veronica Remake.
- Star Wars Eclipse gets cancelled.
Jordan
- Hogwarts Legacy will be average.
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 will be delayed again.
- People are going to hate Armored Core 6 at first because they’ll expect it to play like Elden Ring.
- Starfield will be an okay game that gets extra points for being a Bethesda title.
- Metroid Prime 4 will get an actual trailer this year.
- Square Enix will try to implement some blockchain garbage into Final Fantasy XVI post-review period.
Adam
- Sony announces the PlayStation Vita 2 and gives it a February 2024 release window. The big launch title will be a God of War spin-off featuring Atreus as the protagonist.
- Obsidian will properly unveil Avowed, and the hype will build to a Skyrim-like level. The release date is revealed for 2024.
- Sucker Punch Productions announces Infamous 3 at the Summer Games Fest Kick-Off. The game will be set prior to the original and feature Kessler as the protagonist.
- We see a sharp increase in demos across all platforms. Marketing will shift to accommodate.
- A notable musical artist (potentially Childish Gambino) will announce a conceptual game to accompany their album launch. Plot twist, the game is actually good.
- Star Citizen will finally get a full release. NFTs will be added to the game within two months of launch.
Mark
- Sony and Bungie announce a new IP, simultaneously launching on PS5 and PC in 2024.
- The worst-kept secret in video games finally comes to light. METROID PRIME TRILOGY, releasing in August 2023. Metroid Prime 4 gets a holiday 2024 launch.
- Xbox confirms its ramping down hardware development and goes all-in on cloud streaming for next-gen. Xbox Series DX, digital-only Series X will be the last hardware launch in holiday 2023.
- With the success of the Mario movie, Nintendo reaffirms a Mario movie-verse. To set up the sequel, Wario & Waluigi will appear in a post-credit scene.
- No new mainline Pokémon game in 2023. Pokémon Company and Game Freak will adjust game development after the poor launch of Scarlet/Violet. Story DLC to launch by the year’s end.
- Xbox will cancel plans to purchase Activision-Blizzard; THQ Nordic makes a deal to purchase A-B instead.
Lil Rizky
- Switch 2 will not be released in 2023, but will be revealed in 2023 and will have Super in the name (Super Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Super Switch).
- A major acquisition will NOT occur in 2023. The definition of ‘major’ includes any developer or publisher that sells for over $1 Billion.
- Ubisoft will cancel at least one of its announced titles in 2023.
- A 2D Mario movie tie-in game will be announced or released in 2023.
- Sony will release at least one of its games-as-a-service titles in 2023.
- Xbox will announce a change to Game Pass. Whether that’s a new tier, getting rid of Gold or a price hike, there’ll be some major changes going forward in 2023.
Sorry if we ruined the surprise, but we figured you’d like to know what to look forward to in the coming year. Hey, some of our predictions are wishful thinking, but you never know.
Which of our predictions would you like to see happen? What are some of your predictions for 2023? Let us know in the comments or on our social media.
