More Thoughts From Me #247: What about 2021?

As the year 2020 starts to finish up (thank goodness), we have to wonder: what will happen next year? To keep things more game centric: what will developers/publishers and companies like Nintendo, Xbox, and Sony put out next year? Here are my thoughts!

2021 might be another tough year for video games (and everything else) like this year. I won’t say 2020 was a bad year for video games. We got Animal Crossing New Horizons, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, The Last of Us 2, Ghost of Tsushima, tons of indie games, lots of other third party games, and Playstation and Xbox released their new systems.

But it was a tough year. People were working from home and getting games out anyway. Some games were delayed, not as much as the movie industry, but it was still a harsh year. Halo Infinite did not make the Xbox launch. Cyberpunk keeps getting delayed. Will it even come out this year? We’ll see.

Nintendo will be ending the year on a high note it looks like. The Age of Calamity is almost here.

However Nintendo has been mostly silent about next year. We only know about Super Mario 3D World so far and we know that New Horizons will continue to be a big game in 2021 thanks to the free updates.

What else is coming from them?

I don’t think Breath of the Wild 2 or Metroid Prime 4 will make it next year. Zelda is always delayed and we haven’t gotten a date for that game yet. And Metroid Prime 4, well, its long been in development. You should expect it when you see it.

Nintendo will likely have at least one other port from the Switch or another system. Also it is the 35th anniversary of Zelda next year so maybe it’ll get a collection like Mario did? Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword together in one collection would be amazing! I have no idea what other things we should expect from Nintendo.

As for other developers, I think Final Fantasy 16 will be a 2021 game. We’ll see Bravely Default 2 from them on the Switch, some other retro Square games likely released on all platforms (maybe some Switch exclusive), and one or two major non-FF, non rpg games from them.

The new Ratchet and Clank will make it out next year. So will the other games that Sony has said are coming in 2021.
Other than that, I believe that we’ll see a lot of ports and enhanced editions to the new consoles in 2021. This will especially happen if our current situation continues way into next year…

I’m not sure what big games Nintendo will have. I’m not sure, other than Halo Infinite, what big games Xbox will have. It could be that Sony is the best prepared for 2021.

Then again: Nintendo likes to surprise, now more than ever. Its possible that they have some big games up their sleeve. Who knows! Maybe we will see Breath of the Wild or Metroid Prime 4 next year. Wouldn’t it be crazy if we saw them both?

We can dream big but we also have to try and be prepared for disappointment. The world is harsh right now and for all we know, it could continue to be next year…

What do you think will come out next year from the big developers and companies?

More Thoughts From Me is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed here are mine and mine alone. I would so love to be wrong about Breath of the Wild 2 not coming out in 2021. I want to play that game!