Bold Predictions 2014

Section: 

With the new consoles launched and settling in for the long haul, our predictions this year must cast a wider net. I won't say it was a slam dunk for me in last year's post, but I can walk with my head held high compared to previous efforts. I feel like the Oculus Rift is the real interesting question mark for 2014, with Valve's Steambox initiative nipping at its heels. I already predicted on the podcast that the Steambox wouldn't be a factor this year, and the very next day the CES announcements started rolling in. I'm still wary of what impact they'll have in the long run, but for now I must say I'm off to a bad start.

Think you can do better? Read on for the predictions from GWJ staff and be sure to leave your own in the comments! I'll be locking the thread up end of January to prevent any future editing shenanigans.

Alex "Spaz" Martinez wrote:

Whooooweeeee, my favorite part of the new year!

Let’s get the Big Three out of the way:

Microsoft

  • Will spend the majority of the year trying to get their Xbox boondoggle in respectable condition and rebuild some of that lost consumer confidence. Look for some healthy firmware updates to help with current problems (lack of controller battery-level indicator, hitches with Snap, party chat).
  • Refocuses efforts to promote the Xbox One as a media-center machine, rolling out more diverse cable/satellite offerings, to make up for early graphical disparity.
  • Attach rates for SmartGlass and Kinect cause most developers to shy away from implementing alternate control methods. An indie puts SmartGlass to good use through an asymmetrical RTS feature.
  • We're probably going to see some kind of meltdown involving THE CLOUD in the next few months.

Sony

  • Breathes new life into the Vita by promoting its ability to streamplay. Though it still can’t compete with the 3DS the Vita becomes a nice companion for the Sony ecosystem.
  • Gaikai replaces Playstation Plus game freebies. The big feature every month is the set of new(ish) additions to the service.
  • With the success of the GameRoom and Twitch streaming, Sony gives PS4 owners more content creation resources.

Nintendo

  • WiiU continues to languish between anticipated first-party releases.
  • As the Nintendo e-Store becomes more uniform between Big N's consoles, a Games with Gold/PS+ style system is added to Club Nintendo.

Valve

  • STEAMBoxen contain a Twitch-style streaming service, run by Valve!

And in General
[list]
[*] Game-streaming becomes a very, very big thing for consoles.

[*] Game-sharing/screen-sharing/Dial-A-Friend style collaboration becomes as necessary for this gen as party-chat was for the 360.

[*] Virtualization starts becoming A Thing To Look For.

[*] Look for interesting experiments to tie in with 3D printing technology — i.e., Earn A badge, print it out with a Makerbot.

[*] Expect some legal troubles arising as companies see streaming as a detriment to their brands.

Erik "wordsmythe" Hanson wrote:

I don't even know.

  • Games? Probably games.
  • Uh … "the consumerization of IT," "the internet of things," "dark networks" and "platform as a service." Yeah, that should just about cover it.
  • Oh, these are supposed to be bold? Then maybe some class warfare. Who doesn't like that?
  • Bigger than price point, the Xbox One is going to freak out people more than ever before due to privacy concerns. Microsoft will continue to push its pro-privacy marketing stance, and might turn that position into a legitimate deciding factor.
  • We will start to realize that groups on the internet aren't as cohesive as we tend to assume. For example, when "gamers" complain about one thing and then about its opposite, that's because "gamers" is a large collection of vastly different people with wildly different opinions. Such large collections are going to almost necessarily act in a way that would seem schizophrenic in an individual.
  • We'll start to see more ads and even publishing focused on consumer budgets. I suppose Valve (Steam), Nintendo and tablet/phone companies to have the advantage here.
  • More strange procedural generation and bots mashing up existing code. I anxiously await some indie game that references both William Carlos Williams and Slavoj Žižek.
Chris "ccesarano" Cesarano wrote:

The only prediction I can possibly give is that I will, undoubtedly, be wrong. Last year the only predictions of mine to hit the mark were the announcement of a new Mario Kart, which was like shooting Cheep-Cheeps in a go-kart with cinder blocks in place of the wheels, as well as the announcement of Retro Studios' new project (which turned out to be Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze). The runner-up was the release of a Mega Man game on the eShop, likely a disappointing format, to celebrate the Blue Bomber's anniversary. We got ports of the first six games, and that was about it.

So this year I'm going to keep it simple.

Half-Life 3 will not be released in 2014

Yup, that should cover it.

Shawn "Certis" Andrich wrote:

[list]
[*] The Oculus Rift commercial device launches this Fall for $250 US. It will run at 1080P and (with calibration) motion sickness will be greatly reduced from the dev kit.

[*] Steambox will not have a retail launch this year. There will be a soft, beta launch where "dev kits" can be purchased direct from Valve.

[*] Sony will continue to hold a sales advantage over Microsoft in 2014 thanks to a lower price point.

[*] Game streaming (Gaikai or otherwise) won't be a major factor this year.

[*] Bungie's Destiny game will be a hopped up version of Boarderlands mixed with Too Human.

Charlie "TheWanderer" Hall wrote:
  • Something awful happens in a game stream: Awful things have happened already, but this awful thing will be picked up by the mainstream media and be a big part of the news cycle internationally for more than just a few days. What will be different is the tone of the discussion. It won't be about "how horrid are these games," but instead about "how connected are our living rooms." The public will become broadly aware of streaming culture, and it will not like what it finds there.
  • Major shake-ups at Valve: Something breaks culturally, deep inside Valve, but no one on the outside hears about it until it's too late. Before you know it, bits and pieces of Half Life 3 leak, the team behind it is shown to have left months ago, and everyone's left holding the bag. And by "bag," I mean Steamboxes.
  • PAX: A PAX scheduled for 2015 gets canceled in 2014. There is much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth. Potshards may be used to scratch at boils. The rivers will run red with dick jokes for a few days, and then ... dry up. Gamers will move on.
Julian "rabbit" Murdoch wrote:
  • Half Life 3 is announced as a SteamBox exclusive, but won't be released in 2014.
  • Microsoft catches up to the PS4 install base by year end thanks to a $50 mid-year price cut.
  • Xbox Live competes head to head with PS+ with a broad selection of free games
  • Titanfall is a critical miss and a commercial success, selling close to 10m units. We all scratch our heads
Allen "PyromanFO" Cook wrote:
  • Steambox will have a third-party timed exclusive announced in 2014.
  • Valve will debut a consumer-focused performance rating system based on their hardware survey that helps determine how powerful your Steambox is, making it very simple to decide between Steamboxes for your average gamer.
  • The consumer version of the Oculus Rift will be a hot item for Christmas 2014 and will be in short supply.
  • There will be Oculus Rift-format pornography simultaneous with the consumer release (I know, duh).
  • Destiny will sell more units than Titanfall.
  • Steamboxes will get Oculus Rift support well before the other consoles and the combo will do very well in the high-end tech market.
Andrew "Minarchist" High wrote:

Hey, I did pretty well last year. Nailed a couple (like the kickstarter prediction), completely whiffed on a few others.

  • The Xbox One and the PS4 both have the same first year that the Wii U did: anemic. The high price, depressed economy, continuing concerns about the high level of interconnectivity of the devices, and that lingering thought that "my old consoles can still do everything just fine" combine for rather depressing sales out of the gate.
  • The Wii U, on the other hand, maintains much of the steam it picked up in December. It doesn't quite pull a 3DS-style phoenix rebirth, but shows that it has more legs than just Mario games. Despite being basically ignored by the gaming press and most vocal supporters, it quietly sells very strong numbers to the types of gamer that many often forget exist.
  • The 3DS becomes an even bigger sensation, to the point where it actually starts to eat away at console sales (of all manufacturers). Seeing someone playing a 3DS in public becomes more common in "adult" locations like coffee shops.
  • Meanwhile, the Vita finally sees a 1st-party exclusive or two that isn't a "fancy" port. That, combined with its technological prowess and its ability to tie in to the Sony consoles, sees it sell tolerably well and have its best year to date. It won't even begin to contend for the handheld throne, but it at least gets to the point where Sony is no longer ashamed to talk about it during quarterly earnings reports.
  • The mid-tier developer makes a resurgence. While AAA games will still grab the lion's share of gamers' dollars, companies like Runic, thatgamecompany, and Telltale — not to mention the strong showing of high-polish indie contenders like Brothers and Gone Home — bring back a viable method of game development that does not cost $100,000,000 and does not consist of a single person coding in their garage after work.
  • Kentucky Route Zero will not see its 5th episode release in 2014. Possibly not even its 4th. Minarchist will be very saddened by this development.
Felix Threepaper wrote:

D'oh! Just back from hols to find the stuff I've missed. Imma just sneak in, in case time lag keeps the door ajar.

My predictions are/were:
[list]
[*] Nintendo will buy CD Projekt RED. The Witcher 3 will become a trading card game ... but not *that* trading card game

[*] Metal Gear Solid V's narrative will have only 1 character that looks like Snake and will actually make sense. It will be critically panned for being dumbed down for Xbox fans. It will still use the terms "PMC/Private Military Company" 14,674 times.

[*] People will use Kickstarters to fund their ARGs. After 10 months of coded messages, people turning up at odd locales looking puzzled and analysing website addresses, it will be revealed that Kickstarter itself was an ARG, run by Jack Thompson (remember him?), who did it all to bring down games from within, muwahaha.

[*] Watch Dogs will feature Assassin's Creed's Desmond as a playable character as a big reveal of the Ubiverse — a persistent online world incorporating all of Ubisoft's IPs. Still no one will purchase Uplay points.

[*] Wasteland 2 will come out and be awesome. There will be a monster thread on No Mutants Allowed that will argue that it is more canon than Fallout 3.

[*] Bethesda will hire a YA fiction writer to produce a series of books about a bunch of Argonian teens living in Black Marsh, learning the Argonian ways, dealing with adversity and having some arguments. It will sell enough to get a movie, but the movie will bomb. At E3 2015, someone from Bethesda will say "Ehh, we shoulda used Elves. Or Khajiit. People love cats, right?"

Maybe I've been in the sun too long.

Comments

2014 sounds exciting

I have to say, I love Charlie's predictions here. I think they are both the most entertaining to read and the most likely to actually come true.

Let the Half Life 3 predictions commence!

I hope you're wrong about KR0, Minarchist.

Minarchist wrote:

I have to say, I love Charlie's predictions here. I think they are both the most entertaining to read and the most likely to actually come true. :)

I mean, he is our resident industry insider.

NSMike wrote:

I hope you're wrong about KR0, Minarchist.

So say we all.

I document my bold predictions (plus non-gaming ones) on my blog with more details but I'll just put the bolder selection of gaming predictions without the explanations in here. Here's my checking up on my 2013 predictions (I scored decently, similar to 2012) and here's the full predictions for 2014. The bolder gaming highlights are as follows:

-The Oculus Rift won’t ship in its final consumer form this year.
-Star Citizen won’t come out this year and will begin to have some serious development concerns.
-The gaming press will continue to stoke the fires of controversy and fuel egos.
-We will see more restrictions placed on capture and streaming functions of the new consoles.
-Free-to-play on PC will have a reckoning and will continue to test people’s limits on mobile.
-More indies will launch first on PC rather than mobile since they can charge money up front, creativity in the mobile space will suffer as a result.
-Pricing variability will be tested further on consoles but won’t happen to the degree it does on PC.
-At least one Android console maker will fold.
-SteamOS will release this year and not take off initially.
-The first Steam boxes will land with a thud but no one will give up on the idea.
-The next generation of cross-media gaming will still not resonate.
-Valve will announce and ship Left 4 Dead 3 this year, we'll still hear nothing about Half-Life 3.
-At least one smaller PC digital distribution service will shut down this year.
-Rumours of a Kinect-free Xbox One SKU will persist but it won’t happen this year.
-eSports will start to get some mainstream coverage from a “traditional” sports outlet.
-More indie games will fail due to saturation and discoverability issues but the successes will be even bigger.
-Call of Duty will continue to decline and Bobby Kotick’s Activision will start to be revealed as one-trick pony that it is.
-Apple’s iOS controller support will go nowhere significant, as will Android’s.

I am still super stoked to see what comes out this year with the new technologies available. I think 2014's going to be an awesome gaming year!

-Telltale's biggest and best year to date. The second season of The Walking Dead exceeds expectations, and the Game of Thrones game is their runaway "next level" hit. All three of their licensed content games garner raves.

-Gaming trends more inclusive. Indies in particular continue to diversify, and we start to see even AAA games not veering 100% towards games designed around straight white men.

-On the kickstarter front, Star Citizen fumbles (but recovers in 2015), and both Wasteland 2 and Pillars of Eternity release much later than anticipated, but have stellar reviews. We see an increased number of 1 milltion dollar crowd sourced games but a nothing tops Mighty Number 9 or Torment's haul.

-Robots are the next zombies/ninjas/pirates/vampires/dragons.

-The spiritual successor to Dark Souls will be called Drunkatar Souls, and feature Sean's Drunkatar as the final boss. It is a Steambox / Ouya exclusive.

-Somehow, Certis is ends up being right about Steamboxes despite already being wrong. Time travel and paradoxes are involved, resulting in popular Gamers With Jobs cohost Bryan Fordman accidentally killing his own parents and ceasing to exist.

-All of Bryan's predictions are 100% accurate.

What, no Demiurge predictions? Boo. Hiss.

TheWanderer wrote:

What, no Demiurge predictions? Boo. Hiss.

He has plenty on the podcast. Don't worry.

Certis wrote:
TheWanderer wrote:

What, no Demiurge predictions? Boo. Hiss.

He has plenty on the podcast. Don't worry. ;)

Yeah, in audio format, where it can't be searched by Google.

Let the fun begin

Steambox will be DOA. There will be no compelling reason to spend top-end PC prices for the full system and $500 for the low end stream box is about $300 too high. The initial response will cool manufacturers from pursuing new models.

SteamOS will remain a dual-boot for hardcore PC gaming enthusiasts or niche crowd amusement. It will not see widespread adoption.

Xbox One will continue to lag the PS4 all year, with Sony increasing their North American lead by 7 million units before the end of 2014.

PS4 Gaikai streaming will be a separate monthly fee, not rolled into PS+. The internet will scream (bold prediction, right?). I think pricing is going to be at least $20/month.

Titanfall's 6v6 limit will be a turn-off to a lot of people, and the multiplayer community won't be as thriving as hoped for. Sales will be high, but the game won't have legs.

BF4 problems will continue to plague EA through Q2. Expect more lawsuits from Premium purchasers, especially if DLC content doesn't get back on track before the end of Q1.

Telltale is completely unable to manage multiple game releases concurrently. With Borderlands and Game of Thrones getting pushed back substantially in order to complete Walking Dead Seasons 2 and Wolf Among Us (I hope, still waiting on episode 2).

I'm not surprised to see predictions about the SteamBox doing somewhat poorly or, at best, not making much of an impact.

What's funny is that I'm essentially Valve's target market. I'm interested in the kinds of games that show up on PCs that don't show up on consoles: Gone Home, Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings, Amnesia, and so forth. But I'm not interested in what I call the hobbyist side of PC gaming: building boxes; swapping parts; playing with settings; that kind of thing. I also prefer to game on my couch with a controller instead of at a desk with a mouse and keyboard.

So a PC-compatible console that takes the hobbyist part out of PC gaming should be right up my alley, especially if, as Allen (I think rightly) predicted, they can figure out some kind of rating system to help me choose which box to buy. But what I've seen so far leaves me unimpressed.

I'll be really interested in seeing how this develops over the course of the next year, because I'm exactly the kind of person they could sell one of those things to, but they haven't managed it yet.

Damnit, it's already been said, but I have to do it.

Half Life 3 will not be released in 2014.

cube wrote:

Damnit, it's already been said, but I have to do it.

Half Life 3 will not be released in 2014.

These predictions are supposed to be BOLD.

I want to go on record as saying Half Life 3 was actually released in 1995, buried in a time capsule by Newell, and will be unearthed in 2014.

Hemidal wrote:

Titanfall's 6v6 limit will be a turn-off to a lot of people, and the multiplayer community won't be as thriving as hoped for. Sales will be high, but the game won't have legs.

What? Please tell me this is for console only ...

If it's true for PCs also then I've lost a lot of interest.

I'm pretty sure EA and Respawn have said that Titalfall is PC and Microsoft console exclusive. Sequels could come elsewhere but there's apparently zero chance of it ever coming to PS4.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

I'm pretty sure EA and Respawn have said that Titalfall is PC and Microsoft console exclusive. Sequels could come elsewhere but there's apparently zero chance of it ever coming to PS4.

"Exclusive" doesn't always mean what the dictionary says it does in the gaming world. Often it means timed exclusive... so who knows!

Here's mine:

While still profitable due the initial hype, Watch Dogs is not a critical success and actually under-performs financial expectations. Folks begin to question if there will even be a sequel.

The Occulus Rift will not be successful with the mainstream and will wind up a niche product.

Nintendo announces HD remixes of popular Wii titles including Metroid Prime and Super Mario Galaxy.

Sony sells more PS Vitas in the US than Nintendo 3DSs in 2014 due mainly to a price drop and how well Gakai performs on it for older titles.

Microsoft's "X-Box Slim" is announced which is a set-top box a la Roku or Apple TV. Featuring no hard drive, no optical drive, streams only "select" digital titles, and requires a Live sub for the media apps coupled with a too-high price point, it is deemed DOA before it even ships.

Elder Scrolls Online fails but does NOT go free-to-play. It is completely shut down and taken offline. Rumors abound that Bethesda will mine the assets for Elder Scrolls 6 which will be rumored to take place across ALL of Tamriel.

That bold [i]enough?!

While still profitable due the initial hype, Watch Dogs is not a critical success and actually under-performs financial expectations. Folks begin to question if there will even be a sequel.

wordsmythe wrote:
While still profitable due the initial hype, Watch Dogs is not a critical success and actually under-performs financial expectations. Folks begin to question if there will even be a sequel.

:(

I'm not actually hoping most of these happen. Forgive my dire outlook... I'm already having a "great" year.

Yay!!! Predictions!!!!!

- SteamOS; big download numbers, most people will build their own boxes. Two, maybe three hardware makers will take the market, but numbers will still be low. Valve will release their own version of motionjoy to assure all games currently supporting XBox controllers will play nicely with their controller. Steam Controller wil be $100 a pop.

- rumors of a Chromecast-like dongle by Valve will surface towards the end of the year.

- Steam releases custom store-curation, has 3-way revenue share with store owners. Initial "celebrities" will be "YouTube celebrities", (ie Day9) and reknown gamer celebrities (ie Ken Lavine).

- Sony; Gaikai (Now PS Now) will have different business models;
- Monthly subscription will replicate current list of PSN games currently available for free. (probably $60 a year)
- There will be separate PS1, PS2 and PS3 free games added every month.
- All demos for PS4 will be played on PS Now for a limited time.
- Sony will have "free weekend" for games through PS Now model.
- PS Now will take forever to launch world wide, we'll see a trickle list of countries

- Microsoft; I keep hearing about these guys, I should really give them a try.
- Kinnect-free version is announced before Q2 (is this announced already?).

Android!
- LG, Samsung or some other refrigerator/tablet/phone/vacuum clearn/washing-machine maker will release their own Ouya-like Android console.

- Android 4.6 or 4.7 is released.
- Android 5.0 is announced, huge emphasis on gaming for lower-spec devices.

- CM's OEM will be HUGE in Asia.

- Apple; doesn't do anything new, but releases another rumor like the iWatch to see the industry jump through hoops. Probably TV sets or alliances with car makers.

-----revisinting my predictions for 2013, I wasn't totally wrong on some-----

I'm going to recycle this one for 2014:

- Steam further promotes indie game development by aggregating Portal 2 point-and-click map editor, Dota2's player feedback, TF2 item creating store, Green Light for social backing, Steam Movie Maker and that Workshop thing Steam has that I really don't understand. A Source engine spin off that behaves more like a Game Maker for Dummies than a full Game Engine. Full Game engine is still available with what we see today; Console Editing + Hammer Tools. Not quite Source 2; but a very heavily reworked version that allows for easy, fast indie game development.

My predictions from last year were bad but contained some (very, very) small seeds of what became reality, I suppose it is time for another round.

Direct consumer financing models (early access/kickstarter etc) will grow. There will be one or two big disappointments but nothing that undermines the overall trajectory. by the end of 2014 we will be talking about these funding methods as the standard for independent studios.

The sales of this years Steam Box models will be slow due to high prices and soft demand for the product. The controller will enjoy enough sales to justify its existence but probably won't light the world on fire. If Steam OS is going to amount to anything it probably won't be clear by the close of 2014.

PS4 will maintain it's edge in global install base but as the software libraries mature, XBO and PS4 will end the year in near parity in NA.

A cheaper version of XBO is on the way for next Christmas, either no Kinect or model with a microphone for voice input but no cameras.

Watch Dogs will review poorly. TitanFall will have some sort of gross business model crap added before launch. Destiny will do well and begin it's transition to the main shooter product in Activision's portfolio. The thief reboot will be bad. A Fallout game will be released this year, a Half Life game will not even be announced.

PaladinTom wrote:

Elder Scrolls Online fails but does NOT go free-to-play. It is completely shut down and taken offline. Rumors abound that Bethesda will mine the assets for Elder Scrolls 6 which will be rumored to take place across ALL of Tamriel.

That sure seems like the best outcome to me, here's hoping you are correct.

Duoae wrote:

Nintendo
- Nintendo will founder around for the whole year. There will be increasing calls from western investors and analysts for Iwata's removal but he will stay in place - the company standing behind him.
- There will also be repeated musings of Nintendo becoming software only - they won't.
- There will be repeated calls for Nintendo to release their games on other platforms (specifically mobile) - they won't.
- Nintendo's first party title line-up will be bolstered by several high profile releases (all critically acclaimed) but the console itself will not heat up sales-wise.

Those aren't bold predictions. That's what happens every day/week/month/year/generation with Nintendo.

That game that everyone was predicting will be good will not be good.

That game that everyone was predicting will be not good will not good.

There will be an indie game that will be a surprise hit.

There will be an indie gam that nobody knew about, but it will do ok, especially after the Steam sale and the humble bundle.

A game will launch on the console that PC gamers will want, but it will not be available.

A sequel will be made.

A sequel will be promised for that series. You know the one. People will complain the series has too many sequels, but might play multiplayer.

A game will be made that will require a day one patch. The patch will fix some of the problems, but will require additional patches to fix additional problems.

Some DLC will be made available for that game you want, but you will wait for the Steam sale. It will be ok but not really add anything too much.

Bioware will release a game that has a boring male romantic love interest, a crazy barbarian like character, a sexy nonhuman female, a tough female rebel with a heart of gold, a quirky comic relief, and a brooding warrior.

After a concerted effort and rigorously scheduled playtime, you will finish (a bunch of games) in your pile. Unfortunately, thanks to goodjer gifts and Steam sales, you will receive (a bunch of games +1).

Sorry for going out on a limb there.

Budo wrote:

A sequel will be made.

Now that's just crazy talk, right there.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

Those aren't bold predictions.

I'm seeing very few bold predictions in this whole thread, OP included.

To help correct that, here are a few predictions of my own.

2014
- A JRPG will be on Elysium's 2014 GOTY top 10 list. BOLD!
- Broken Age wins the GWJ community vote for 2014 GOTY.

Long term
- The WiiU will be the last non-handheld console that Nintendo makes. This does not include the releasing of a scaled-down/slimified version of the WiiU, which may or may not happen.

I LOVE THESE WITH A PASSION!!!!! *freakin´air guitar*
First, how it went with my predictions for 2013:

1. Bioware will gather further feedback from fans and by the end of the year, will make some sort of announcement of what we can expect from Mass Effect 4: at least, NO Shepard, and it's not an MMO. ME3 MP gets female Turian as playable class. RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT.
2. Blizzard's SCII:HOTS releases to mediocre reviews. SP campaign continues dwindling down in quality, but the MP e-scene eats it up. RIGHT.
3. By the end of the year, modders will have a functional "classic" X-COM mod, possibly with Time Units back. WRONG, but at least we did get Enemy Within.
4. Last Guardian still doesn't release. No information is given. RIGHT, sadly.
5. No Half-Life titles released, but maybe announced. RIGHT, sadly.
6. In an attempt to counter what this generation showed, Sony will actually announce the PS4 before MS announces the nextbox. Everyone is surprised! MS's new console will be cheaper though. 50/50
7. THQ or whomever bought them, announces there will be no more Darksiders games. Phooey. NO IDEA
8. By the end of the year, Portal 2 Map Editor will release an update with more diversity to play with. No Portal 3, claiming there's no more story to tell. I agree. WRONG, no update released.
9. FF Versus continues in-hiatus. FF13-3 announced and released by the Holidays. FF15 teased with more androgynous 12yr olds fighting in the sky. FF6 continues to be the only numbered title to not get the overhaul treatment. Basically, Squenix does everything it possibly can to piss me off. WRONG, a bastard child has been transformed from 13vs into 15, and 13-3 not released yet.
10. Surprisingly, they do a good job, and the Tomb Raider Reboot gets all around positive reviews. RIGHT
11. Batman: Arkham 3 announced!! RIGHT, and released! Origins!
12. No new Mario, Zelda, Metroid, or Castlevania. 50/50, not bad.
13. Wii U doesn't perform well. RIGHT

Predictions for 2014:

EA and Bioware announce ME4, but doesn´t release in 2014. Ending controversy still rears it´s ugly head, and although trailers and info look awesome, everyone remains cautious.
Blizzard announces SC2: Legacy of the Void, and the Protoss-themed trailer blows us all away. The game won´t have a launch date, but still, will be delayed.
FF6 continues to be the only title to not receive a proper remake.
FF15 revealed to not release in 2014.
FFX-3 announced.
FF12 won´t get the HD treatment.
Firaxis will announce a follow up to XCOM, be it a 2nd title, or another meaty expansion, planned for 2015.
The Last Guardian reveals new information, good or bad, but we´ll learn more.
Watchdogs releases to mediocre reviews.
PS4 continues to top XB1 in sales throughout the entire year.
XB1 won´t see a price-cut. Instead, maybe, a kinnect-less bundle might launch.
Valve teases new IP, that may later turn out to be an already existing IP. The world flips.
TLOU DLC is not good.
No new Batman game news.
Brazil doesn´t win the World Cup.

My only prediction is I will spend more time on the forums here after barely spending time this year since work blocked them.

Lothar wrote:

My only prediction is I will spend more time on the forums here after barely spending time this year since work blocked them.

How exactly did they do this? Filter all URLs with 'game' in them? I doubt this site would produce noticeable traffic at any particular workplace.

- A JRPG will be on Elysium's 2014 GOTY top 10 list. BOLD!

Boldest prediction on the site ever.