Why 2020 Could Be The Greatest Year Gaming Has Ever Seen

Time really does fly by. We’re halfway through 2019 and 2020 is on the horizon. This may seem premature but with the recent slew of announcements confirming 2020 release dates for major games we cannot help but feel immense excitement for what next year will bring. Let us name drop just a few games releasing next year to emphasise the magnitude of the megatons dropping in 2020:

• Cyberpunk 2077
• Final Fantasy VII Remake
• Halo Infinite
• The Last of Us Part 2
• Ghosts of Tshumia
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Whilst it is still fresh in our minds (credit: Keanu Reeves) Cyberpunk 2077 made a huge splash at E3 this year. I remember coming home from college back in 2013 when the Cyberpunk 2077 teaser trailer had been released. Yes, that was before the current generation had even begun. Now, towards its end, we are finally getting to see Cyberpunk 2077 and in 2020, we will eventually get our hands on it. That may seem like a long time but it is in fact 57 years ahead of schedule so kudos to the team at CD Projekt Red.

All you have to do is watch the crowd reaction when Final Fantasy VII Remake was revealed to see how much this one means to gamers. The game is a remake of the classic 1997 PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII. There were dreams, rumours, mumblings and an abundance of fan requests to make this one happen over the years and in 2020 those dreams will finally come true.

Next, Halo is one of those games that has come to define a whole era of gaming. Its importance cannot be understated and so it seems only fitting that Microsoft will launch their next gen hardware in 2020 alongside a new Halo game. Halo Infinite sees the return of the iconic Master Chief and continues the Halo 5: Guardians storyline and takes the franchise in ambitious and unexpected directions, powered by the all-new Slipspace Engine.

The Last of Us recently celebrated its sixth anniversary on June 14. Originally released in 2013 at the end of the PS3 lifecycle, The Last of Us became an instant hit. A brand new IP developed by the trustworthy Naughty Dog, you played as Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie, across a post-apocalyptic United States. The game received the highest possible praises from critics and gamers alike and 2020 will see the release of the sequel. The game looks just as intense as the first one and will be a must-buy for any PlayStation owner.

Another brand new IP from Sony, Ghosts of Tsushima, is also set for release in 2020. Developed by Sucker Punch, the studio best known for the InFamous series, the game is described by creative director Nate Fox as followed: “In InFamous you explore powers. In this game, we let you explore what it is to be a samurai inside of this enormous landscape of medieval Japan”. The gameplay shows off a visually impressive game with a far more impressive world. We cannot wait to delve into Medieval Japan when Ghosts of Tshumia releases next year.

Finally, we simply could not leave Nintendo out. After all, there is a ton of excitement for the next entry into the Animal Crossing franchise with Animal Crossing: New Horizons scheduled for release in 2020. The game will release on the hugely popular Nintendo Switch and will ship you off to a deserted island, where you can establish your village from scratch. Those who have played an Animal Crossing game before know how big a deal New Horizons is and we cannot wait to sink hours upon hours into building our village come 2020.

Naturally, not all games releasing next year can be megatons but there is plenty of quality-looking AAA titles confirmed for 2020 release. For instance, the next instalment in the Watch Dogs franchise looks like its most ambitious entry yet. Featuring a unique ability to play as any NPC in the game world, Watch Dogs: Legion is confirmed to launch in 2020. Whilst it may not be the Tom Clancy game everybody was hoping for (*cough* Splinter Cell *cough*), 2020 does bring with it a new title in the Tom Clancy universe in the form of Rainbow Six: Quarantine. Perhaps one of the most popular and successful games of all time, Minecraft, gets a sequel (of sorts) in 2020 with the announcement of Minecraft: Dungeons confirmed for 2020.

It is no secret that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has enjoyed massive success in the world of cinema. That success translated to the video game industry when Marvel teamed up with Sony and Insomniac Games to release Spiderman in 2018. Building on that, Marvel has teamed up with Square Enix to make an Avengers game, confirmed to be releasing in 2020.

Just these titles alone are an abundance of games that can conjure more excitement than perhaps any year in the gaming industry in recent history. Alas, the software alone is enough to give significant pedigree to 2020; this is furthered by the launching of new hardware from Sony and Microsoft. That’s right, 2020 also sees the release of the PlayStation 5 and the currently unknown next Xbox codenamed “Project Scarlett” from Microsoft. The new systems promise to be the most powerful console hardware on the market. 4K resolution will be standard across all games. What else could they offer though?

Both consoles are committed to tackling something that has been a bane of gamers for as long as many of us have gamed; loading times. At an investors meeting, Sony demonstrated the capabilities of their next gen hardware by showing the PlayStation 5 loading up Spiderman in less than a second.

Similar to Sony, Microsoft is also tackling loading times with its next gen hardware. At E3 2019 we learned that Project Scarlett will utilise DDR6 memory and an SSD (solid state drive). In particular, Microsoft stated, “We’ve created a new generation of SSDs… We’re using the SSD as virtual RAM” to the effect of virtually eliminating loading times, just like the PlayStation 5.

Overall, every aspect of the hardware will be improved upon. The CPU, GPU, RAM, memory, storage, features are all set to be the most powerful we have seen yet in a console. This provides the tools for developers to build bigger, more ambitious worlds; more realistic environments and characters; eliminate grievances like loading screens that take away from the immersion games deliver.

All in all, between the games and new hardware coming in 2020 it’s shaping up to be a fantastic year and arguably the greatest that gaming has ever seen. What are you most excited about? Let us know by leaving a comment below.