New Game Plus (December 9-15)
State of Play
State of Play is coming into its own and by that I mean more and more becoming like Nintendo Direct. It is also seemingly setting a baseline for the caliber of announcements we can expect going forward. Similar to Nintendo Direct, we are seeing many smaller announcements with one of two big games spiced throughout. In terns of smaller, Untitled Goose Game will be making it way to PS4 ( along with Xbox), Dreams got a release trailer for February, and as I expected we got a teaser at the end featuring Ghost of Tsushima. Based on the last state of play having some information from the other remaining PS4 exclusive, The Last of Us 2, it was expected that we would see something from Suckerpunch.
What was also expected based on the leak from last week on the PlayStation Store was to get information regarding the RE3 remake in the same vein as RE2 remake. What wasn’t expected and as it was teased was that the 4v1 Project Resistance would be featuring a campaign alongside its release. People that have played the demo at TGS came away with positive impressions but the main concern was with 4v1 being a tough sell to consumers, how would they attempt to sell this game and at what price? The big surprise was that the campaign portion shipping alongside Project Resistance will be the RE3 remake. I think this is a very smart idea because selling the 4v1 game would have been tough, but bundling it with RE3 that will be completely new to some consumers who probably weren’t even born when this game was first released combined with the people who love the series and can’t wait to play Nemesis again is a great way to sell both games.
Its great see that re3 received the same care and treatment as the RE2 remake and it that it was able to be developed so quickly most likely due to a lot of the assets from RE2 being able to be repurposed as the story in RE3 runs parallel. The game will not be shipping for the January window that I was expecting that Capcom has dominated for the past 3 years with RE7 Biohazard, Monster Hunter World and RE2. However, it’s not that far behind as the scheduled release date will be April 3, 2020 but I am a little concerned as there will be many games that will be taking away from some of the spotlight this game could’ve received in January.
NPD
Another month passes and another batch of sales data descends upon us. As always this sales data is coming from the NPD group, is for the US market only and contains some digital sales. Nintendo for example does not disclose their digital sales numbers. If you want to see the full video and full breakdown then be sure to go to YouTube and check out Mat Piscatellas channel from the NPD group. The Novemeber data goes from November 3 - 30 and overall the gaming market spending was down about 20% versus the same time last year, which has been the trend for most of 2020. Total sales for the month of November were 2.3 billion. I feel like it has been said enough times but with the lack of amazing games this year compared to last as well as this generation winding down this all leads to a softer market. What I am more interested in Is to see how some late October releases did including Luigis Mansion 3 which placed third overall last month with only one day of sales as well as Ring Fit Adventure placed 10th overall which I found somewhat impressive for a exercise gaming peripheral.
Surprising no one, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare continued its reign on the top of the charts for the second month in a row and I fully expect to see it go for at least three months in a row when we get Decembers sales data. Its the perfect gift for a gamer because Call of Duty has name recognition. There have also been a lot of speculation going around that early 2020 they will be adding a Battle Royale mode that will add add some Modern Warfare flair to the genre, including upping the player count to 200. As I mentioned in our review of the game, I felt that with the new engine the audio and visual fidelity as well as the controls on this years entry in the series would really lend itself well to the genre.
Some great news was that Star Wars Jedi:Fallen Order came in at second for the month of November. For some reason, Respawn is a studio that people really love to get behind, possibly due to the fact that they make very good games combined with how the studio was formed being the most likely answer. Fallen Order was the highest monthly sales for Respawn as a studio which is great news but this is only their fourth game, one was free to play, one was console exclusive, and the studio was formed in 2010. The glass half empty view is that Fallen Order is only the 9th best selling game of the year but hopefully it will get a boost from Rise of Skywalker and from the holiday shopping season.
The other behemoth that was released in Novemeber was Pokemon Sword and Shield, which came in at third and fifth on the chart with the duo pack placing . This is very impressive because essentially one game took three places on the chart. It also set the record for best launch sales month for the series. The interesting thing to note is that since these three spots on the chart are one game and Nintendo doesnt disclose digital sales could Pokemon have outsold Modern Warfare.
One of the high profile releases of the month was the long anticipated Death Stranding which placed at 7th which is probably above expectations from Sony, considering how divisive this game was. Another game that I was interested was Luigis Mansion 3, it seems like an underdog and it was very good game that did well last month slide down to tenth overall.
The Game Awards
The Game Awards happened this week and although it felt like there was less quality announcements when compared to last year, there were still a few good ones and one really great surprise that we can talk about right after the winners.
There were definitely some surprises in the winners category this this including Game of the year, which went to Sekiro as I was expecting Control or Resident Evil 2 to take home that award. Sekiro also won the award for best action/adventure game. Another surprise was the award for best fighting game went to super smash brothers. I think it was the best game on the list but it was released last year in 2018 after voting nominees had been selected. I am surprised because i didn’t expect that many people to still harbor strong feelings for that game this long after. Devil May Cry 5 shocked some people when it one the award for best action game beating out strong competition from the likes of modern warfare, apex legends, gears 5 and astral chain. Finally, Apex Legends won for best multiplayer beating out Modern Warfare which has seen massive commercial and critical success, also nominated were Borderlands 3 and Division 2, but i’m guessing the voters bounced off those games as quickly as the masses did.
There were a lot of announcements made before, during and after The Game Awards but there were some caught my attention more than others. Gears Tactics, not a game I have had on my radar at all showed up with some gameplay footage and release date of April 2020. This game looks like the an Xcom clone with a Gears finish to it, which is perfectly fine since it doesn’t seem like we have a new Xcom on the horizon in the near future. The roadie run and defend objective from hordes of enemies grew tiring last game so if this game can have a great narrative then this could be a fresh angle the series needs. It also doesnt hurt that Gears Tactics will be on Gamepass day one, along with all Microsoft first party releases.
Another Xbox first party game that I was looking forward to was Ori and the Will of the Wisps, which was due out in February after it was delayed from late 2019. It has now been delayed again and this time it was only pushed back a month, into a very crowded March. Ori and the Blind Forest would most likely be in my top ten games from the current generation of consoles, but it will be interesting to see if that came capture the magic again or if it will just seem like more of the same in the sequel. I would also really love it if the game was released on Switch because there is a some potential hope after the first game was ported.
After the Ghost of Tsushima tease that happened earlier in the week at State of Play, people were eagerly awaiting gameplay and release date at The Game Awards. I think Suckerpunch delivered for the most part with the full trailer, which at the end showed a release window of Summer 2020, which if Sony was adamant about this game coming to the PS4, the window was closing. The trailer looked great visually, which was fully expected as Suckerpunch has made impressive looking titles, Sly looked great back on the PS2, Infamous looked great on the PS3 and Second Son looked great on the PS4. Now, six years removed from the studios last release I can only imagine how this game is going to look and play. This game is for sure an highly anticipated title for 2020
There was plenty of announcements made at The Game Awards but there were a few things that I thought had a decent chance of showing up. I thought there might be something Metroid related as we dont really know Nintendos plan for the end of 2020 yet and what their tentpole game or games might be.
Xbox
This brings us to the biggest surprise of the show and the biggest announcement. With no hint as to what the trailer we were watching was, it was revealed perfectly. Xbox has announced the name of the next generation and it will be called Xbox Series X and they also showed the form factor of the new system. I am loving the new look, I think its very clean, simple and really stands out from the crowd. As you would expect there are already plenty of internet memes around this but I am personally already interested. Xbox has made all the right moves this generation including GamePass and Studio acquisitions combined with the recent specs we saw last week, and knowing that Halo Infinite is a launch title makes this console launch a real threat to the market
What I don’t love Is the name, at least not yet as they haven’t properly explained it. My big concern is for the causal audience and having to convince them that this is a new generation of Xbox and not just a iteration like the half steps we saw with the S or the X. Changing first impressions are hard, for the Xbox One, there are still people that think you can’t play used games on the system or you need to be always online. Both of these were part of the initial messaging for the Xbox One that became engrained in the system even though Microsoft, backtracked on those when they realized how problematic it was.
We have seen history of how damaging improper naming of a console could be for the Wii U. The Wii was a massive success, selling over 100 million units which is rarified air in video games. It would be safe to assume that any system that follows would sell pretty well based on conversion of current audience alone, ignoring bringing in new customers into the Nintendo ecosystem. Unfortunately, Nintendo decided to call it the Wii U, which since a lot of the Wii audience was casual, it sounded and looked like the Wii U tablet was just an accessory for the Wii. This isn’t a far bridge to cross considering how many peripherals Nintendo put out during the lifetime of the Wii. There were Wiimotes, nunchuck, wheels, and balance boards just to name a few.
As a result of a poor name the Wii U lifetime of sales barely made 13 million and easily made it the worst selling console in Nintendo history by almost half with the next closest being GameCube with almost 22 million with the average hardware units sold for Nintendo consoles being just over 70 million. The worry is that for the casual gamer or the gift buyer they won’t know the difference between the Series X, Xbox One S and Xbox One X, which isn’t even including if they decided to release other series at launch. The hardcore, dedicated Xbox fans will know the difference and won’t have any issues. Microsoft is a very smart company, which is why I will give them the benefit of the doubt to properly market the Series X over the next year and really differentiate it from the other Microsoft products on the market.
Microsoft also unveiled a new exclusive game coming to Series X from the recently acquired Ninja Theory and it was the sequel to Hellbade. All of the footage for Hellblade: Senuas Saga shown in the trailer was captured in engine using the power of the Series X and it looked amazing. I dont think the Hellblade series will be a system seller but it was a very moody trailer that displayed the power of the Series X.
I will be curious to see how they build out the lineup because just last week we were talking about how they plan to have the Lockhart and the Anaconda. Will they take the apple direction and the lower powered Lockhart will be the XS or will the Anaconda be called the X Pro as so many tech companies today feel the need to label something in their portfolio “pro” or will it be as simple as it has been for this generation with the stronger console being the series x and the less powerful one being the series s. I’m sure at the latest we will find out will be E3 2020 but good job for Xbox getting out ahead of PlayStation with the first official marketing for the next generation of consoles. Microsoft didn’t have a lot to lose by possibly scaring off holiday shoppers as their sales have been much less the PlayStations and only benefitted from getting out early. Every media outlet is currently only focused on Series X and will be over the holidays with minimal stories to talk about.