While 2018 was a pretty good year for gaming, boasting some truly excellent games, and now it's time to look forward to the mad future 2019. But not to the games we know are coming - instead we'll have some PC Game Predictions for 2019.
We have various bits of evidence for all these entries, so we didn't just make them up for a laugh. However, as we stand on the cusp of a new console generation, 2019 will either be a superb year for games - or a boring one as the industry holds its collective breath. Let's hope for the former, as we run down our PC Gaming 2019 Predictions!
Red Dead Redemption 2 will go to Playstation Now before PC
Sony has been doing great things with its Playstation Now streaming service, which for a subscription offers a lot of games - including major PS3 and PS4 exclusives such as Uncharted and Bloodborne - playable on PC, legally, for the first time. Conversely, Rockstar suck at bringing their games to PC in a timely fashion...
The original Red Dead Redemption is still only on PC thanks to PS Now, and while it's likely we'll get it at some point, we could honestly see it coming to Playstation Now first, later this year.
Then again, Red Dead Online might not let that happen. Guaranteed for this year on Playstation Now though - God of War and/or Horizon Zero Dawn. And those alone we can't wait for.
Batman Arkham Origins 2 will be announced and released this year
Batman Arkham Origins developers WB Montreal have been working on new DC Comics games since 2013, with nothing to show except some Batgirl DLC for Batman Arkham Knight. Now at long last, and four years after Arkham Knight, we should be getting a new Batman game - from the creative director behind Far Cry 2 and the last two Splinter Cell games.
Creative director Patrick Redding and the team have been sending out numerous hints that their next game will be announced in 2019, and could be based around the Batman: Court of Owls New 52 storyline. Furthermore, we are predicting that the next Batman Arkham game from WB Montreal will actually release in holiday 2019.
Fallout 76 will get a major overhaul to make it play like a Fallout game
Just a few months after release, it's clear Fallout 76 is in trouble. While in gameplay terms it feels like a Fallout game, everything truly great about the Fallout series has been stripped out - NPC characters, decisions, Vaults, VATS, consequences, fun locations, and even a real sense of discovery. Combined with the poor online implementation which doesn't really work, Fallout 76 is a shell of game.
Bethesda have two choices regarding Fallout 76. 1. Stop supporting it and let it die, which looks extremely bad PR-wise and their customers will never trust them again. 2. Have a major overhaul of the game world and systems so it's just more fun and more Fallout-like. They will choose 2, market it heavily, and try to do a Final Fantasy XIV on the game. NPCs will be the first thing to arrive, and that'll be soon. Hopefully it'll be enough...
System Shock 3 will get a Kickstarter, which will fail
Another huge disappointment of the year was Underworld Ascendant. It should have been a sequel to the games that inspired System Shock, Bioshock, Dishonored, Deus Ex and more, made by many developers behind all those games - instead it was a cheaply-made Dark Messiah of Might and Magic with a ton of bugs and a lot of broken promises. It was one of the most disappointing and worst games of the year.
The same team have confirmed they are working on System Shock 3. While Deus Ex creator Warren Spector is handling it, the trust in the team has been completely eroded by the Underworld Ascendant fiasco. Undoubtedly developer OtherSide are considering a Kickstarter campaign (or a Fig campaign) for System Shock 3. After Underworld, and the general malaise towards crowdfunding right now after one too many broken promises, it's highly likely that a Kickstarter would fail - despite being a most-wanted game for many people. Shame.
The Avengers Project Versus Rocksteady's DC Universe Destiny at E3
Back to comic books, and two other projects we haven't heard enough of in the last few years - and must be coming to a head now. Marvel and Square Enix's The Avengers Project and whatever the heck Batman Arkham creators Rocksteady are up to, which isn't Superman.
Both of these games will go head-to-head at E3, either both at Microsoft's show or one at Xbox and the other at Square Enix (no Sony there remember). The Avengers Project versus Rocksteady's DC game, which will probably be a Destiny-like Justice League title. E3 will be Marvel vs DC in the Games as a Service realm. Joy.
Total War: Warhammer 3 will release in 2019
The latest Total War game Three Kingdoms is out in just three months, leaving plenty of time for another Total War game to get announced - and could even get released in the latter half of 2019. Well, we know one game is eagerly anticipated and definitely in production - Total War: Warhammer 3, the third and final part of Creative Assembly's epic Warhammer trilogy.
We already can deduce a fair bit about Total War Warhammer 3, and an announcement seems absolutely guaranteed following Three Kingdoms. But we're happy to go one further and suggest that it'll actually be out in 2019 too, simply because - why not? Different teams are working on Warhammer and Three Kingdoms, and with the latter complete all teams will be focusing on getting the next game out the door. It could happen!
Digital Storefronts for All
2018 was a watershed moment in the PC market's desire to fragment itself. Publishers were no longer content to send all their games Steam's way, with many developers believing Valve are not earning the massive cuts they take of a game's profits. Previous years saw the introduction of Blizzard, Ubisoft, and EA's digital storefronts and clients, and 2018 saw Bethesda leave Steam, Activision take their biggest games to Battle.net, and biggest of all - the introduction of a true competitor in the Epic Games Store, despite some shady practices.
We're saying that next year, things will get worse for Steam. Square Enix, Warner Bros, and SEGA will all take a "if Bethesda can do it, we can too" approach, and they'll go and make their own digital storefronts - with blackjack, and hookers. While Square Enix and Warner Bros will just go for the imaginative "Square Enix launcher" and "WB Store", SEGA will call theirs "Dreamcast 2" just to inflame fans further. The Bandai Namco Store will debut in 2020.
And that's all the predictions we have for 2019 in the world of PC gaming! What PC Game Predictions do you have? What do you think of ours? Leave a comment below!
