Despite all the countless big releases and epic adventures of 2017, there were still plenty of big name game studios that missed the year or have been rather silent for the most part. With 2018 looming large, here’s five teams we hope will drag themselves out from their comfortable spots in the corner and jump back into the spotlight in a big way.
ROCKSTEADY
With the Batman trilogy done and dusted, Rocksteady could potentially come up with anything and everything for their next title, but no one has any idea as to what that might be. Will WB ask them to do one more Batman game, or maybe the long rumored Justice League or Superman instead? Or will Rocksteady pull a Sucker Punch and release a brand new IP with a completely different setting, genre, or even platform? We might not know for a while yet, as the rumored announcement during the Game Awards came and went without a trace.
What we do know, at least according to Rocksteady itself, is that we’re going to lose our collective minds once the game is revealed. Perhaps that’s a hint in and of itself, that a character we’re already familiar with is headed our way, and there’s no reason why it should be just another DC character either. WB owns plenty of other IPs under its vast catalogue… so may as well start dreaming about that Tiny Toons remake we’ve all been asking for. Right?
VALVE
It’s the absolute longest of long shots, the studio that is just as determined not to make a third game of any franchise they own instead of just making them to appease the fan base, putting an end to one of the longest series of memes in the process. But with a growing interest in both virtual and augmented reality, there’s still a slight chance that Valve will actually release a new game next year instead of just creating more DLC for Team Fortress and DOTA 2 (and, you know, working on Steam).
There’s one thing that Valve haven’t talked yet, and that’s the rumors floating around the future of CS:GO. More specifically, how the incredible success of PUBG might alter the game going forward. Yes, there are suggestions within the community that Valve might introduce their own version of a battle royale mode into the long running Counter-Strike. It’s very much a rumor, but when you think about it, it’s entirely understandable. CS:GO has been a success, but it’s been overshadowed as of late, so what better way to get it back into the mainstream than introduce a whole new experience that hopefully won’t feel too familiar compared to its rivals?
Who knows… just don’t ask about Half-Life 3, that ship seems to have sailed long ago.
343 INDUSTRIES
With no Halo in sight, the wait for the next big announcement can’t come soon enough for Microsoft and 343. 2017 hasn’t exactly gone off the way they hoped, what with the cancellation of Scalebound and the Crackdown 3 delay leaving a large, gaping hole in their release schedule to round out the year. Hence why Microsoft went all-out on PUBG, which might have saved a little skin in the process, and its ‘hey, look at all these games that are in 4K now’ Xbox One X launch.
Having a new Halo isn’t exactly a winner either, especially given how rocky the franchise has been of late. Halo 5 didn’t exactly set the world alight and 343 has put a lot of fans out with their many changes to the franchise since taking over. But Halo is still Halo, and one big release with a heavy emphasis on what made the franchise a fan favorite would certainly help to bolster the Xbox One brand going forward, as long as the studio has learnt its lessons from the past.
Halo itself is still a brand that can be explored in other areas too. Master Chief is the key, sure, but if Bungie proved anything with Halo: Reach, it’s that a good story and plenty of action within the same universe can still be effective. Give the Chief one blisteringly powerful finale, then look towards the future with a broader narrative stroke. Either way, 343 has a big year ahead of it.
BIOWARE
It’s been a difficult year for BioWare. With a failed return to the Mass Effect series, there’s a lot of stress and anticipation weighing on the shoulders of the development team as Anthem looms large. It’s no wonder the studio has largely gone quiet for the rest of 2017 since E3’s announcement, no doubt in an attempt to knuckle down and ensure their next big release hits all the right notes compared to BioWare Montreal’s disappointing results with Mass Effect: Andromeda.
Whether or not Anthem will even hit store shelves next year is still not clear, though it’s very possible that it might be delayed to avoid another difficult launch period. Whatever does happen, you would expect both BioWare and EA to turn things around in a big way after a horrid run and plenty of fan backlash. Anthem could be the bandage to heal their many wounds, as long as they head the feedback and tone down the microtransaction problems that plagued Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and Need for Speed Payback.
This is BioWare’s baby. They need to ensure that creative control doesn’t slip through their fingers. 2018 will be an important year, not just for their biggest new IP in years but for the company as a whole.
PLAYGROUND GAMES
Having made a name for themselves with the Forza spin-off Forza Horizon, a recent job listing for the UK studio suggests their next title could be an open-world action game. That’s a big positive, perhaps a turning point at Microsoft and a realization that new IPs and bigger, bolder narratives are the way to go for the future of their consoles. Sony has proven that time and again with Horizon: Zero Dawn, God of War, and Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima, so why not Playground Games? It’s all silent on that front for now, but expect the team to debut or at least confirm what they’re up to at some point this year.
The question is, will the Forza Horizon series continue in the meantime? It’s been a top seller for for a few years now, filling in the gaps between Forza Motorsport releases rather well, so it makes sense that either a part of Playgrounds or another experienced studio takes the reigns. If Playground turns around with not one but two major releases this year, that would be a great 2018 for the studio.
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