I’ll extend our 2020 forecasts for 2021. I’ll analyze the way we did it. Welcome!

Blizzards MMOs

Andrew: Overwatch 2 will surprise quite a few of us. Does the surprise of being enlightened by the delay count? Andy: Hazzikostas is going to lead the WoW in two-step steps back and inevitably follows its one-step-by-step path. Shadowlands is very well received, so now is the time for it to defuse large data volumes and see how much of it’s going on. Refine in the realm of the past, and do it, they defer the real thing. Welp. Andy: Blizzard will release a battle royale set in the Shadowlands. Surprisingly not yet. Bree: I don’t expect a lot from WoW Retail at all, but an expansion announcement is coming for the end of the year, but I think I am best at hearing confirmation of Burning Crusade Classic at BlizzConline, with an opening planned for summer. I think much good see the WoW Console announced this year, too. If you make a point, you should check out the Burning Crusade Classic. But retail missed its announcement window for the first time and it’s not enough, it’s no question. Yikes for Blizzard, not for me. Eliot: World of Warcraft Shadowlands begins to think of the hype once it becomes clear that while the expansion is world-strength better than BFA, the endgame is getting really bad once you arrive. Unfortunately, the team still thinks that the solution to this is more raiding and pushing that harder but this time the push back is actually getting traction. There are rumours that a player’s dissatisfaction causes different people to play roles. There’s real optimism soon after the end of the year, even if the expansion itself continues in the unspoken, but fine vein. Blizzard should have gone with Eliots plan. You were probably more concerned about Shadowlands than we were at the beginning. Tyler: We will get an opening window for Overwatch 2 which may or may not be in 2021 itself. There’s no difficult window, and investors are calling it much more difficult than anticipated.

New World

Bree: New World really is going to launch a lot, but I also expect that amazon will need to scramble again to keep players happy. You could say that. Colin: New World will delay another time and then launch to moderate success. As far as I know, he has been in the last two or three times. Sam: New Worlds will release, too. It’s going to be worth it to play a few months. Fair.

I joined a two-fifth conflict.

Andy: ArenaNet will start an intense crawl down to the top of the cliff. In order to get more information about the end of dragons, End of Dragons will suffer delays because of multiple re-orgs within ArenaNet and we’ll not see it until late 2022. It had a delay, but only until February, and, as long as it was able, it hasn’t been very painful. Bree: I think Guild Wars 2 End of Dragons is a triumph, but the year that precedes it is a bit too much in the end. I almost want to say that its going to be delayed to 2022, but honestly they don’t delay the most, I doubt that. Royce sailed shoulda have gone with the gut. Colin: Battle of the Dragons will be a good, stable expansion, and many people will return to Guild Wars II for the fight. It’s not going to blow anyone’s mind, but it’ll be on the same path as Heart of the Holy Heart and Path of the Fire. EoD will add no new classes, no new race, but the new elite specs for each class and a new mastery that won’t be as game-changing as PoF’s mounts; but the new gimmick that’s fun and useful all game. There will be three new raids, a new set of legendary armor for each armor type and a handful of new strikes and several new fractals, all the same in the long run. The final boss of the last raid will tell you that the position of ArenaNet game director was a stealth illusion long before it was announced. Of course, it was delayed, but Colin scored huge on content here. Eliot: Guild Wars 2 ends up ending up ending up as it is now almost finished. Still, players feel the most creative for a moment, especially given the large marquee feature that a player had long dreamed of. How’s it supposed to live in Cmon Anet? Sam: ArenaNet will announce they have a game director haha kidding. While two Guild Wars will be chugging along, they’ll be happy and healthy. When the expansion comes, we’ll see a boost in the playerbase. They finally do. It’s weird, but it’s welcome to see it all again. Tyler: GW2 will release End of Dragons. The second of the year will attract praise from the GW1 nostalgia crowd but lukewarm response otherwise. There is no launch yet, but what we saw is fueling a lot of hype.

Final Fantasy XIV – Final Fantasy XIII.

Final Fantasy XIV Forspoken will finally surpass shadowbringers, but it’s not what the mainstream approbation means. We still thought it’d be called Forspoken. You’re cute. Eliot: Final Fantasy XIV announces its fourth expansion. The players are thrilled. This first step of year is due to the delay already being made. The game, a choice that’s not unlike Shadowbringers, is well-established, and its two new jobs remain highly respected. This is a game which always finds its roots in strength, popularity and enjoyment. There are rumors that it will be a follow-up by the end of the year. Perhaps a screenshot or two of the game is going to come after Final Fantasy XVI. Just lost the rest of the job.

The Elder Scrolls Online Store.

Andy: ESO is going to announce that they will drop support for PlayStation because of those guys who don’t use Xbox. The latest story arc will be fine. I’m still working on the PlayStation! Blackwood looks like it’s not lit the world. Bree: I’m going to be hopeful and predict that [Elder Scrolls Onlines Year of Oblivion] does better than Skyrim, but not as well as Morrowind. Without numbers, we don’t know for sure, but it didn’t get much buzz. Eliot: The Elder Scrolls Online flies to its next year’s expansion. Even after 2020, it didn’t help that, but the reason it did it still happens is that it didn’t really go by. It’s a blip. It’s not a crucial failure, but it’s very clear that when the game attempts to brew old content, the more it gets stuck with diminishing returns. Fair. A lie, not a tense wound. Tyler: ESO will start to see its reputation as tarnishing a bit as it continues to play it safe with content updates with consistent but predictable content updated which fail to move the game in new directions. Many of us are genuinely concerned about this.

Daybreaks MMOs

Andrew: The Daybreak purchase means a lot more – the house won’t be on fire, but it will finally eventually get torn down and sold out by piece. Surprisingly, still, no one has heard. They’re going to milk it. Andy: Daybreak will announce the next installment of the EverQuest franchise, but he won’t launch for years and there will be a lot of people, too late or too little. It seems a bit more complicated in terms of Marvel’s MMO than in regards to that. Bree: I fully expect EG7 to begin announcing games under the banner of Daybreak, starting with something for EverQuest. Yeah, Marvel was just an announcement, so it wasn’t so popular. Eliot: Daybreak lays out promises of a couple of new games, which cannot really disturb anyone outside the person that has dedicated to Daybreak. Both are years away, though. They promised tilty. MJ: The new Daybreak overlords Enad Global 7 will make a bold move. Will a new true member of EverQuest be finally born? Or is it all going to be sandbowed? Whatever you do, it’s going to be bold. How about losing the CEO and replacing him with the Daybreaks CEO, and then revealing a Marvel MMO, DCUO expansion and LOTRO? Daybreak is always Daybreak.

Eastern MMOs

Andy: The hype-machine for the film Crimson Desert will reach Star Citizen levels, ensuring no matter what the game is, it won’t be able to stand to the player expectations. Ignoring, the Crimson Desert hardly did so much but have failed to find time. The hunk was very big. A new unsatisfactory hit. Bree: Crimson Desert is going to start and do very well, though CD won’t be tops BDO for this reason. No, we’ll see soon. Chris: The thriller Killer Dam will be released on the PlayStation 7. Yes, that was a joke. But it isn’t going to launch anywhere! Eliot: Elyon comes for no surprise. Even though nobody expected much for that by now, the game is so good, fun and playable. People call this a real sleeper hit. Awww. Eliot: Crimson Desert continues to have some weird messaging around its multiplayer vs. single-player issues. But when it launches, people praise the multiplayer side for its increased focus on the straight story. It’s still not an opening, but the messaging is definitely confusing. Eliot: Black Desert continue to be well-received and humped rather well. That was a good 2021, but not fair. Eliot: Blue Protocol gets the US Beta and is generally an extremely niche title, but that niche really likes to be in trouble. Where do I see Blue Protocol? Eliot: PSO2: New Genesis proves enough to support current players, but still pretty much more of the same and thus not able to attract as many new faces as Sega would’ve wanted. Totally right. Sam: Crimson desert is the largest project. I think this will be the game when he still talks about 2021 rewards. Pearl Abyss rang instead. Sam: Black Deserts Shadow Arena will be closed. Even though he is technically up, it is not surprising. Who is listening?

Gamigos Mambos with ArcheAge!

Andrew: ArcheAge 2 will reveal some cool things that appealed to the original PvP community before the US/European release. There is still very little on this one. Eliot: I think RIFT is a new content person. This is only decent, but hey, new content! Close up the year, supposedly. MJ: A new logo rebranding or relaunch of ArcheAge happens. Of course you must buy it separately. You need to give this to MJ because Kakaos got over the last week’s game. Sam: ArcheAge will be straight pop by allowing one-thirds of one of the platforms of One, Lost. That or a great deal of an expansion called Arcelone Unchained. This isn’t yet true.

Kickstarter MMOs

Andrew: Crowfall will finally come out, but the long development cycle will make it less of a bang than a bark. Yep. Tom: Camelot Unchained will spend another year in launch limbo, but Jacobs will continue sending out weekly progress emails that everybody appreciates, but nobody really understands. And the whole refund is not just a question. Andy: Crowfall will be bringing modest success. Sigh. By: Star Citizen will begin to sell planets (starting from $600) enabling players to establish their own oligarchies, dictatorships and empires (all available in a future release). Ouch. Bree: Crowfall will leave and will do it a good job. Nope. Bree: Camelot Unchained won’t get fired, but the end-stage Ragnarok will be thrown out. FSR sent early access. Bree: Elite Odyssey will be a buggy mess but still manages to lure players both EVE Online and Star Citizen, so it’s going to hurt both the latter two games, which they are crowdfunding. Certainly a buggy mess. Chris: The Elite Dangerous Odyssey expansion will bring Chris Roberts to sleep from his Alice in Wonderland caterpillar-like smoke fog for three months. I think we all hoped for more from both games this year. Eliot: Star Citizen always wins stars, and never loses sight of anything even pretending to be a launch. Predictably. Eliot: At least one Kickstarted game collapses again. More than one. Sam: Crowfall will release, too! It will be a bit late but it’ll be here. If they can fight the huge battles, they can be a contender. A layoff says otherwise. Sam: Camelot Unchained will abandon the NDA. You’ll be right this time. I don’t know what they’re doing about there honestly. I remain as bewildered as you. Tyler: People are going to continue giving Star Citizens money for some reason. Keep on giving to Star Citizen, but seriously. They are giving dividends to their investors. They aren’t charity. You pay for mansions, and don’t finance the holodeck.

Other games

The name Fortnite still looks like the Super Smash Bros of the battle royale genre, but I’m not sure it will be able to draw older players because it’s so hard to focus on kids and that fight with Apple. Fair. Andrew: Twenty21 is when Animal Crossing finally gives me back gyroids, funky musical clay dolls that freak out some people but make me melt. Get in touch! That happened in November! Andrew: Pokemon Gos COVID changes and Go Beyond Update will give it endless amounts of money. It spent all year and re-inhaling all the reorganizations it made, but not as much money as selling our data. Ahem. Ben: Some Star Wars game will happen somewhere to figure out another Mandalorian tie in. You know. Bree: I’ll be back in LOTRO again as a happy man. That happened. Colin: LOTRO is going to have a better year in 2021. It seems like it’s the case, right? Gundabad will be successful and restore some of the badwill they’ve lost this year. All the long-time players will complain about the new class, but they play it anyway, because they’re new. A new and famous server is going to be launched in the summer. I doubt that it was better than 2020, although Gundabad’s reaction was very mixed. MJ: Grapeshot crumbles as Atlas sinks. This heavy ride of ARK 2 slowly swells onto the track, without showing a development-wise sign that we have much. It is disturbing that they still work on Atlas, but they chugs on. MJ: Conan Exiles launches the Isle of Siptah and is notified of a new map or an expansion of the Exiles of Siptah map. Conan actually got a little love this year. MJ: The Funcoms DUNE game is about to be accessed early. The spice is going to get a little warmer. Funcom missed its schedule here, especially the movie. It’s announced a new title that becomes my hat, and it will be the next I CANT WAIT. But you’ve got to because it will be slated for far, far in the future with plenty of time to overhype, so it can’t possibly meet expectations. Please pay the bill. Sam: The mobile update on Albion, including Google Play, will never pop. This happened! My wife and I have been playing football. Like Cryptic’s core MMOs, it’s going to find a suitable niche as a modestly successful mid-tier title. RIP. Tyler: So much more about the reboot of Anthems. But that doesn’t go away, though some large scale beta tests are a possibility. RIP. Don’t you guys lose his game?

Industry stuff

If a new one goes on, another isn’t free. Yep. However, it didn’t make a noise. Andrew: We might have one or two VR MMO announcements, but the technology can still be used in the future. As far as 2020, the current rules will not get used to it as much as creating a modern world. Does flurrying count? Andrew: Mobile gaming is still making its way into the console and PC markets, especially as we get more multiplatform play, and to attract MMO players also because we like big worlds. In fact, many larger MMOs are adding to mobile this year. Andrew: Well see signs that Epic and Apple’s return together, but not all at once. This is not yet a time when the appeals for post-lawsuit are just beginning. Ben: We’ll continue seeing major gatherings and announcements in an online space, as studios learned that effectiveness isn’t affected by non-physical gatherings. Yep! Ben: Twitch will continue to dominate, but smaller competitors are going to pop up. Maybe next year? Colin: Battle royales are declining in popularity, with bubble bursting and hundreds of RB games closing down, but Fortnite will continue to play a major role. Everything’s fair. Battle Royales became older than a MOBA. MJ, the conventions are resumed by the end of fall, even if there’s only one crazy studio/group who wants to go ahead of the game. There is always someone willing to risk your health over video games. The survival genre has to slow down even further, but it will surprise everyone. Is Blizzard jumping on the marchwagon? At least two limited survival titles will go into maintenance or close entirely. That’s definitely slowing down. MJ: Rogue servers get a huge boost when they are able to acquire legitimacy under certain circumstances. We are still waiting around on NCsoft. Sam: I also think about the possibility that more traditional PvE games are coming out or announced. After so many years it would have been a ton of old school, hardcore PvP style games. 2020 is the year for eigles. Could you consider anything that fits in the bill? How about SMART? Chris: The MOP Golden Yacht will finish its final engineering phase and become a golden airship, which we will name The Indefatigable. Something must be done. The MMORPG genre might work as intended, but it can be so much more. Join author-in-chief, Bree Royce in his work “As Intended” column, where she argues on the evolution of the MMO, a mythic history and a wishful thinking mindset. The chair’s not included.