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[Oddspeak]

Expanding my tastes is the reason why I believe this year is dry. It's also about announcements in general, gaming as a whole has been dry so far this year and COVID-19 has a lot to do with that. I used to look forward to game announcements in live streams but now I hold off because I know there isn't anything new that'll be announced, really, especially during EA and Ubisoft conferences.

Were there any highly demanded/anticipated games that were being released this year? I was thinking only a couple, but realistically speaking about 3-4. Overall, though, not a whole lot of AAA type games are releasing this year and strangely enough a lot of the games I'm looking forward to are either AA or Indie, so really it's the state of the AAA industry that is disappointing to me.

I can agree about announcements being lackluster, but that's always how it is when a generation is winding down, and it was just exacerbated further by the virus.

But I don't buy that your tastes have expanded. You were given a very valid list of AA/AAA games that, factually, a LOT of people are/were looking forward to and you brushed it off despite the massive amount of genres represented and how well the released ones sold:

Final Fantasy VII Remake
Resident Evil 3
The Last of Us Part 2
Ghosts of Tsushima
Animal Crossing New Horizons
Paper Mario: The Origami King
Cyberpunk 2077
Doom Eternal
Marvel's Avengers
Halo Infinite
Half-Life Alyx
Nioh 2
Minecraft Dungeons
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Iron Man VR
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Streets of Rage 4
Dreams
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Trials of Mana

I'm not even personally interested in half of this list, but I still acknowledge it's solid lineup for those who are. And it's not even fully exhaustive, either.

 

[manfestival]

OP clearly has garbage taste and since the games aren't his thing then this automatically makes this year bad. Move along folks, nothing to see here

 

[IamOnline4Real]

Do you own a PS4 and Switch? Because, otherwise, I don't see how you came to this conclusion.

I m certain that people that say the ps4 is dry dont own the console. I have so many games that I completed and still play, with at least 30 good games on my ps4 backlog...the ps4 is the best console that I ever own, and i still have my ps2 and ps3 till this day.

 

[IamOnline4Real]

OP clearly has garbage taste and since the games aren't his thing then this automatically makes this year bad. Move along folks, nothing to see here

True.

 

[Hobbygaming]

This is why you should own multiple consoles

 

[Rat Rage]

Funny you ask this, because lots of people are drowning in their backlog these days.

 

[mekes]

I didn’t like the 360/ps3 era all that much. I’m not a big fan of FPS games anymore and there were so many. A lot of games that I was looking forward to disappointed, whilst others were cancelled and the studio behind the game closed. It’s the era when PES lost out to FIFA, Street fighter (4) sucked, Capcom released some shitty RE games, MGS was more of a movie than a game, Devil May Cry was disappointing, most games were grey or beige for some reason, FPS games everywhere. PGR cancelled and Bizarre Creations shut their doors. It’s the only time that I took a break from gaming, which lasted a few years. And that worked out well because when I came back the first game I played through was Catherine which was free on PS Plus and that got me back into it again.

I enjoyed some games that gen, sure. But it was hard to find games that I personally enjoyed last gen. This gen has been much better imo.

 

[HaveButOneLife]

Maybe wait for the 7 remaining months to come.

Kept that in mind, still stand by my opinion.

Funny you ask this, because lots of people are drowning in their backlog these days.

Drowning in their backlog from a great 2019.

I can agree about announcements being lackluster, but that's always how it is when a generation is winding down, and it was just exacerbated further by the virus.

But I don't buy that your tastes have expanded. You were given a very valid list of AA/AAA games that, factually, a LOT of people are/were looking forward to and you brushed it off despite the massive amount of genres represented and how well the released ones sold:



I'm not even personally interested in half of this list, but I still acknowledge it's solid lineup for those who are. And it's not even fully exhaustive, either.

As in games people were clambered for, those games not as much. Could be worse, though, however... judging by the fact that you haven't seen my library of games, you wouldn't know for sure that I don't expand my horizons... I own games of quite literally every genre.

This entire gen has had lackluster announcements, the peak was 2015 and 2016. Since then, it's dwindled significantly, it's been a downward spiral. Xbox hypes up its E3 conferences only for them to announce third party timed exclusives (history repeats itself) and Sony skips out on E3 last year and doesn't really announce anything. It's not because it's late in the generation, it's because they're not great at planning their releases.

 

[Aion002]

Best year in years for video games.... So many good games. Otherwise, is being a really shitty year.... Video games are helping a lot to alleviate this terrible year.

 

[Balducci30]

is this serious? ghosts of Tsushima, a new half life, new last of us, a new halo, cyberpunk 2077 - I honestly can’t remember a year that was more promising than this one?

 

[Bakkus]

Yep. 95% of what I play are Japanese and indie games, so it's looking grim.

 

[lachesis]

I have pretty narrow list when buying a game - I am mostly interested in Nintendo, Capcom, Sega and Falcom games - and some Square Enix ones. I got Animal Crossing, RE3, Sakura Wars so far - and already pre-ordered Xenoblade Chronicle for Switch. Assuming Falcom is going to release Ys 9 this year, and also bought FF7 Remake... so for me, it was pretty exciting first half. Looking forward to the 2nd half - with new consoles on the horizon, but as for now I'm set...

 

[Fbh]

Dude remember the year we had a new pair of consoles and Dragon Age inquisition ended up taking most goty awards for being the least bad game ?.

 

[Rickyiez]

Not this shit again . We already got

Nioh 2 , FF7R , RE3 remake , Gears Tactics , Doom Eternal , Granblue Fantasy versus , Animal Crossing , Half life Alyx

Then the second half

The last of us 2 , Cyberpunk 2077 , Ghost of Sushi

I swear this kind of thread pops up every year

 

[Ten_Fold]

Least favorite Gen by far, but their’s some good games this year, new paper mario looks cool, halo infinite will probably be good, never played xenoblade so I’ll probably pick it up, also FF7R was pretty good and RE3 remake was worth playing at least. I think it’s gonna be a good year.

 

[recma12]

I'm actually pretty optimistic for a few reasons.

1. Architectures are staying pretty dang similar so that should help next gen releases on two fronts. First, no delays with devs having to learn no proprietary system architectures like in some paste generational leaps. Second, games can easily be scaleable and cross gen so when so there's less incentive to hold things back until the next gen systems have big install base.

2. It seems like Sony and MS should be able to have more big exclusives out the first year to 18 months compared to last time. Things like Horizon 2, God of War 2 shoudn't be that far off given when the last games came out, it's been a long time since GT6 and even since GT Sport, Halo Infinite is a launch game, Gears 5 I could see in 2022, all the acquisitions MS has made should have some games out. Should see things like something from Rockstar in that period, the next Batman game, maybe FF7 Remake Part 2 by 2022.

3. I also love Nintendo games and they're in the middle of their generation with the Switch being out for three years, and we should be seeing great late gen Switch games those couple of years with things like BOTW2, Metroid Prime 4 etc. that we know about and some surprises down the road.

Agree with all three of these points in a vacuum. But corona changed everything.
With so much economic uncertainty it’s hard to imagine that gaming projects won’t be affected.
Of course, blockbuster AAA titles like FIFA, Zelda or CoD will be fine as they are guaranteed to make money.
I'm also 100% sure that ongoing projects will be concluded.

At some point, cost cutting measures will hit. Look at the rising unemployment rates in the main markets (EU + UK, US), look at the stock market.
People in 2021 will be more broke on average than they were in February 2020.
In relation to gaming this will lead to people keeping their PS4 longer instead of getting a PS5 at launch....
Little Timmy will only get one new Switch game for Xmas instead of 3....
College student selling his gaming PCs to make rent....
Rather getting AC Odyssey for 20€ on eBay than Valhalla for 60€....

Companies will be affected too. I don't work in gaming but Enterprise IT and we have already put a couple of large projects "on ice" and some of my co workers will be laid off at the end of this year.... and the pandemic is not even other yet.

 

[fran.fernandez]

I’m full of games now and plenty of them are 2020 release.

Idk Nintendo or Microsoft but Sony is on fireeeee

 

[Damigos]

Driest is a weird word. I guess I don't see it written often because I was thinking "wtf is a Dreest?".

My short answer is, "no".

My long answer is, "Hell no, what's wrong with you? 2020 has:

Final Fantasy VII Remake
Resident Evil 3
The Last of Us Part 2
Ghosts of Tsushima
Animal Crossing New Horizons
Paper Mario: The Origami King
Cyberpunk 2077
Doom Eternal
Marvel's Avengers
Halo Infinite
Half-Life Alyx
Nioh 2
Minecraft Dungeons
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Iron Man VR
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Streets of Rage 4
Dreams
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Trials of Mana".

What he said

 

[Spaceman292]

Are you serious? Theres tonnes of stuff, as listed. If you really cant find anything to enjoy in that then you probably just dont like video games.

 

[drganon]

I've been liking this year for games so far. Lot of good stuff. 2014 was way worse. When some of the "best" games out are shitfests like shadow of mordor and dragon age inquisition, you've got major problems.

 

[Klayzer]

I m certain that people that say the ps4 is dry dont own the console. I have so many games that I completed and still play, with at least 30 good games on my ps4 backlog...the ps4 is the best console that I ever own, and i still have my ps2 and ps3 till this day.

I can't imagine anybody owning a PS4 or Switch contemplating that this is a dry year. Seems like its been one hot release after another each month on the PS4. Its relatively surprising how often this type of topic comes up.

 

[Stefan.North]

I would say Pong era was driest one

 

[cireza]

As far as I am concerned, this year is rather calm. Loved Outer Wilds, which is a 2019 game. Sega also dropped PSO2 (pretty fun, but I don't play online much) and Yakuza (which I did not like at all). Will get Ori 2 eventually, and maybe Doom Eternal even though I don't feel attracted as much as with Doom 2016. Less appealing to me, gameplay wise and "color" wise.

Streets of Rage 4 was fun, but I completed the game in Mania (solo of course) in 3 days and quit. Will eventually go back to it every once in a while.

I have been buying a lot of cheap Wii U games to fill the blanks, discovered some nice things like Need for Speed, and other not as good (New Luigi U). Still many games to play, hopefully they will entertain me until some more interesting games get released.

Also came back to Valkyra Azure Revolution a bit, really enjoyed this game overall, despite the average gameplay. Great story.

I do have some games in my radar but they look like 2021 games.

 

[Spukc]

The fuck is wrong with you OP?

​

 

[michaelius]

I guess op is xbox gamer mostly since PS4 and Switch are having great year.

 

[TNT Sheep]

I do not think I have ever experienced a really dry year, but then again I am often half a generation behind anyway. Too many games to play and too little time.

 

[Kharnivore2099]

I wouldn't say that at all. There are a ton of decent games worth playing form the last 6-7 years.

Now imagine having only an N64 between 1996-2001. That's a dry era. Especially when you see what was available elsewhere.

 

[rofif]

The fuck is wrong with you OP?

​

He is completely resonable. We had barely anything new good this year.
Considering big single player games:
Doom Eternal is okish but I don't like it's systems
Resident Evil 3 is meh.
Half-Life Alyx is amazing
Final Fantasy is not for me...
Ehhhh it's not terrible but not too good

 

[Klayzer]

He is completely resonable. We had barely anything new good this year.
Considering big single player games:
Doom Eternal is okish but I don't like it's systems
Resident Evil 3 is meh.
Half-Life Alyx is amazing
Final Fantasy is not for me...
Ehhhh it's not terrible but not too good

Lol. These games and others don't count because.... reasons.

 

[DigitalScars]

There are a good few games this year, still loads to play. I'd maybe agree more in the sense it's been dry for new announcements.

Like someone mentioned before, next year could be worse depending how much covid has affected development. I'd almost welcome a quieter year, I've got so many backlog games still to work through.

 

[Spukc]

He is completely resonable. We had barely anything new good this year.
Considering big single player games:
Doom Eternal is okish but I don't like it's systems
Resident Evil 3 is meh.
Half-Life Alyx is amazing
Final Fantasy is not for me...
Ehhhh it's not terrible but not too good

You had plenty of big IP's this is more a personal taste thing.

 

[maneil99]

2014 fucking sucked. Next gen and shit all for the first 6-9 months

 

[German Hops]

2007 was pretty bare

 

[ZywyPL]

This whole generation was dry for me, I hate open-world/sandbox games, and this gen was all about it. And most of those games are walking sims with boring melee/QTE combat, I'm so fucking thirsty for fast paced, intense shooters it's unimaginable.

 

[Bryank75]

PlayStation has a great year... Dreams, Nioh 2, Persona 5 Royal, SFV Championship edition, Final Fantasy Remake, Predator and then we have TLOU2, Ghost of Tsushima, Ironman VR and other stuff coming later this year...

Plus multiplats like CP2077 as well as PS5 and the games that will be announced for that...Godfall we already know about.

Nintendo had Animal Crossing and they'll probably have some other good things this year too...

 

[sublimit]

I finished FFVIIR not too long ago and i still need to play Sakura Wars and Trials of Mana after i finish some games from my backlog. Ghost of Tsushima also started to interest me a bit more after the last gameplay footage (mostly for its world and story).There's also RE3 to play after its price drops a bit more.
I think this is a solid good year.

 

[Dr. Claus]

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
Granblue Fantasy Versus
Yakuza Collection
Hatsune Miku Project Diva Mega Mix
Rune Factory 4 Special
Megaman Zero/ZX Collection
Pokemon Rescue Team DX
Nioh 2
DOOM Eternal/64
Good Job!
Resident Evil 3 Remake
Animal Crossing New Horizons
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Trials of Mana
Sakura Wars
XCOM: Chimaera Squad

These all released so far that I had personal interest in playing (though I haven't picked up Nioh 2 and Sakura Wars yet, waiting on my stimulus). I think this year is excellent for gaming. Plenty of heavy hitters and indie releases to help provide a good variety of games for people to try out. Also helps if you own every platform.

 

[Dazrael]

Way too many games out at the moment, KY Jelly not needed on gaming this year

 

[Moogle11]

Agree with all three of these points in a vacuum. But corona changed everything.
With so much economic uncertainty it’s hard to imagine that gaming projects won’t be affected.
Of course, blockbuster AAA titles like FIFA, Zelda or CoD will be fine as they are guaranteed to make money.
I'm also 100% sure that ongoing projects will be concluded.

At some point, cost cutting measures will hit. Look at the rising unemployment rates in the main markets (EU + UK, US), look at the stock market.
People in 2021 will be more broke on average than they were in February 2020.
In relation to gaming this will lead to people keeping their PS4 longer instead of getting a PS5 at launch....
Little Timmy will only get one new Switch game for Xmas instead of 3....
College student selling his gaming PCs to make rent....
Rather getting AC Odyssey for 20€ on eBay than Valhalla for 60€....

Companies will be affected too. I don't work in gaming but Enterprise IT and we have already put a couple of large projects "on ice" and some of my co workers will be laid off at the end of this year.... and the pandemic is not even other yet.

Definitely good points. My prediction of 2021 and 2022 being strong is based on assuming things related to the virus don't get much worse. i.e. that any return in the fall doesn't impact unemployment or the economy any worse than this first wave and shut down. Unlike the 2008 recession where nearly every segment of the economy was impacted, this shutdown has mainly hurt the service industry and other lower middle class and below industries. Most white-collar jobs (aside of sales and in-person customer focused things) are things that are being done from home for full salary, skilled trades like electricians, carpenters etc. are essential business and never shut down etc.

That's why we're seeing things like game sales still being very strong (sales higher than March and April in recent years) during this as many people are bored and stuck at home and have more money as they're still working AND they're spending less as they aren't eating and drinking out as often, there are no concerts, sporting events etc. to spend money on, movie theaters are closed and so on. Same with house sales in my area where prices have still been going up at a good pace as most of the people who are laid off aren't the ones with financial means to buy/own a house anyway and supply is lower as people don't want people in their houses during this and are waiting for things to get better to do remodeling and selling. Thus those wanting to buy are getting into bidding wars for the houses on the market and driving prices up.

So I don't see AAA game development or sales suffering much UNLESS a second wave of the virus is way worse and hits the middle class and upper middle class or above. That, along with hardcore gamers and fanboys who'll stupidly buy on credit cards etc. even if they are struggling, is the key early adopter market for new consoles and $60 games. The main challenge will be some companies may struggle with development when people are stuck working from home. Apparently Nintendo is facing that and can't even get an E3 style Direct done remotely--but they're a pretty old fashioned company with a lot more older employees in key positions and we aren't hearing those about those kind of issues as much from Sony or western AAA studios in general.

The main challenge will be with producing and distributing hardware and physical copies of games as the virus has already disrupted that and a resurgence in the fall/winter would definitely impact next gen launch. But I just think that means they'll produce and sell fewer new console the first year than they'd like, but games can be cross gen (given the similar architectures and scaleability of modern game engines) to still sell huge numbers and justify releasing vs. holding back for further into next gen when the base is bigger.

All that said, I am and was mainly talking about AAA blockbusters as the thread seemed focused on the OP thinking this year was dry for those kind of games. And that's mostly what I play so as long as we're getting those games at a decent clip in 2021 and 2022 I'll be good to go. And I'm confident we will unless something way worse happens in terms of the virus and economy. You're likely right that other types of games may be more impacted, and as I noted I think Nintendo will struggle the most of the AAA publishers as they're already having some difficulties with even producing video events. That's something we will see cause some economic changes in various industries--the more old fashioned companies with more older employees are going to struggle to keep up with the younger, more innovative ones that were able to more quickly go to mostly or all remote work without losing much producitivity.

 

[Yoshi]

For me it is on track to be one of the worst years, but nothing will ever beat 2018 where nothing worth a dime for me, personally, released. 2020 already has Ori and Paper Mario and will probably also get Psychonauts 2, maybe even another Nintendo game, with a non-zero chance for new new PoP, new Super Monkey Ball or new Sonic.

 

[Hobbygaming]

It hasn't been a bad year or a bad generation. Here are some of my recommendations this generation in no order

Nier: Automata
The Witcher 3
Uncharted 4
Resident Evil 2 remake
The Order 1886
Days Gone
Detroit
Spider-man
Until Dawn
Ratchet and Clank
Concrete Genie
Resident Evil 7
Ori and The Blind Forest
God of War
Red Dead Redemption 2
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Quantum Break
Dreams
Fist of the Northstar
Sakura Wars
Tales of Bersia
Final Fantasy 7 remake
Tearaway
Bloodborne
Forza Horizon 3

 

[Klayzer]

It hasn't been a bad year or a bad generation. Here are some of my recommendations this generation in no order

Nier: Automata
The Witcher 3
Uncharted 4
Resident Evil 2 remake
The Order 1886
Days Gone
Detroit
Spider-man
Until Dawn
Ratchet and Clank
Concrete Genie
Resident Evil 7
Ori and The Blind Forest
God of War
Red Dead Redemption 2
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Quantum Break
Dreams
Fist of the Northstar
Sakura Wars
Tales of Bersia
Final Fantasy 7 remake
Tearaway
Bloodborne
Forza Horizon 3

I own almost every game on that list. I often wonder though, "do most posters even like games." It seems quite a lot would rather share their political opinions, than gaming opinions.

 

[Hobbygaming]

I own almost every game on that list. I often wonder though, "do most posters even like games." It seems quite a lot would rather share their political opinions, than gaming opinions.

Yeah, I left a lot of good games off my list and it's still great. I don't see how anyone can say it's been a bad generation and counting unreleased games

TLOU 2
Ghost of Tsushima
Cyberpunk 2077
Tales of Arise
Lost Soul Aside
Granblue Fantasy Relink
Trails of Cold Steel 4
Marvels Avengers

The amount of quality is crazy

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

TLOU 2
Ghost of Tsushima
Cyberpunk 2077
Tales of Arise
Marvels Avengers

The amount of quality is crazy

These 5 games are Day One games for me, worth the full price of admission right away. I only recently played through Tales of Vesperia and Tales of Berseria, love them both, so Tales of Arise is now one of my most anticipated titles.

 

[Hobbygaming]

These 5 games are Day One games for me, worth the full price of admission right away. I only recently played through Tales of Vesperia and Tales of Berseria, love them both, so Tales of Arise is now one of my most anticipated titles.

Same here I bought TLOU 2 and Ghost of Tsushima already and I'm just waiting closer to the release dates for the others

Tales of Arise looks sooo good with the new graphics and the combat even looks much better

 

[Klayzer]

These 5 games are Day One games for me, worth the full price of admission right away. I only recently played through Tales of Vesperia and Tales of Berseria, love them both, so Tales of Arise is now one of my most anticipated titles.

Longtime Tales fan. I've been impatiently waiting for any news on Arise. The second half of the year is approaching without an update.

 

[Hobbygaming]

Longtime Tales fan. I've been impatiently waiting for any news on Arise. The second half of the year is approaching without an update.

Yep but at the same time I wouldn't mind if it was 2021. You? I have a backlog already and I have more games to buy soon

 

[Klayzer]

Yep but at the same time I wouldn't mind if it was 2021. You? I have a backlog already and I have more games to buy soon

Yes, my backlog is rather large, but that never has stopped me from buying highly anticipated games from one of my favorite series.

 

[Klayzer]

Are you serious? Theres tonnes of stuff, as listed. If you really cant find anything to enjoy in that then you probably just dont like video games.

Maybe he likes releases only from a specific platform. That's the only logical explanation I can think of.

 

[Mass Shift]

It hasn't been a bad year or a bad generation. Here are some of my recommendations this generation in no order

Nier: Automata
The Witcher 3
Uncharted 4
Resident Evil 2 remake
The Order 1886
Days Gone
Detroit
Spider-man
Until Dawn
Ratchet and Clank
Concrete Genie
Resident Evil 7
Ori and The Blind Forest
God of War
Red Dead Redemption 2
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Quantum Break
Dreams
Fist of the Northstar
Sakura Wars
Tales of Bersia
Final Fantasy 7 remake
Tearaway
Bloodborne
Forza Horizon 3

Maybe 7 off that list for me, and about 8 others you didn't mention that shouldn't go overlooked.

Jedi Fallen Order
Borderlands 3 (gameplay is still good)
A Plague Tale
Doom
Greedfall (devs have fixed all the early issues)
Alien: Isolation
Cuphead
Horizon Zero Dawn


So, no it hasn't been a dry generation. But there were disappointments. EA imo has wasted the Star Wars franchise, they cancelled more than they developed. Too many pretty walking sims with not much to do except watch stuff on the rails.

But I'm not going to over complain, we got alot of great games. And in the era of Fortnite...........that's pretty significant.