New hardware, more layoffs, AI in game dev: Analyst predictions for 2024

Union membership numbers in the UK have risen significantly, following a tumultuous period in the video game industry (which still continues today).

Obsidian Entertainment’s Avowed was one of five games to receive a lengthy gameplay showcase at the recent Xbox Developer_Direct presentation, with details being revealed on the action RPG’s world, combat, and more. Hot on the heels of that showing, the developer has shown off more of the game and revealed yet new details with an extended gameplay breakdown game director Carrie Patel and gameplay director Gabe Paramo.

Come summer of 2024, Kakao Games will be dropping a new MMORPG on Android, iOS and PC. The title in question is ArcheAge: War, the next chapter in the ArcheAge series. It’s set to pick up where the popular PC game left off.

Back in 2024 Microsoft and Bethesda announced a new Indiana Jones game was coming our way courtesy of producer Todd Howard and Wolfenstein developer MachineGames, but since then, very little else has been revealed. Rumors that the game may be launching this year have been making the rounds, but it’s been radio silence from Microsoft and Bethesda themselves.

Last year was a fantastic year for games, with standout triple-A releases like Baldur's Gate 3, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and great independent games like Jusant, Sea of Stars, and countless others. But in 2023 alone, more than 10,000 developers and people in games-adjacent industries were laid off. Plus, the unchecked rise of A.I. continued, and Unity burned developers with its controversial new game engine policies, not to name a few other not-so-great parts about 2023 – it was a great year for games but one of the worst for those who make them. 

One of the hardest things for gamers to see is a studio that was once on “top of the world” slowly falling apart and becoming a shell of its former self. We’re seeing this happening all over the place nowadays, with companies failing to capitalize on what’s important within the industry, layoffs happening due to “poor sales,” or even “overinvestments,” and so on. But the biggest one that has affected many studios is that they haven’t been able to make quality games like they used to, and Rocksteady Studios is the newest one to do that, which is where our story starts.

The Nintendo Switch has had a lot of success in the nearly six years since its release. The console-handheld hybrid has been on the market since 2017, and a slew of fantastic games from first- and third-party developers have launched over the course of the system’s life cycle. Recently, heavy hitters such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Pokémon Scarletand Violet, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder have boosted the system’s appeal, while a healthy list of upcoming Switch games continues to drum up excitement.

Xbox Game Pass has been busy this week, adding two new games on January 16, revealing new games coming later this month and in February, and also confirming a new day-one Xbox Game Pass title for some time this year: Frostpunk 2. This highly anticipated sequel follows the original apocalyptic survival city-builder game and asks a dangerous question in a frozen wasteland: what's next? The biggest external threats are gone, and only internal ones remain.

A new trailer for Mario vs. Donkey Kong has revealed the game's level count, new worlds, and features that were added to the Nintendo Switch remake. Nintendo surprised a lot of fans when it revealed the original Mario vs. Donkey Kong GBA game was being remade. Much like the GBA original, Donkey Kong has stolen all the Mini-Mario toys, and the player must navigate Mario through a series of platforming puzzles to get them back.

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The developer of The Sims 4 has shared a roadmap spanning the next few months, and in it promises two "highly anticipated" kits, a new pack, and more exciting new content. 

The creator of one of Steam's most iconic games says the company's decision to issue copyright strikes against two fan projects is "hardly surprising."