Video Gamers Podcast - Bold Gaming Predictions and Hot Takes - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh and Ryan are coming in HOT with some seriously bold gaming predictions for 2025. They’re loud, they’re crazy, but they JUST might come true (ok probably not). We’ll either look like gaming geniuses or video game failures, but it’s sure to be entertaining no matter how you look at it. It’s another awesome video game filled episode from the Video Gamers Podcast you don’t want to miss! Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Ol’ Jake, Disratory and Gaius Thanks to Legendary Supporter: FitNerdJohn Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/videogamerspod Join our Gaming Discord: https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod  Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU12YOMnAQwqFZEdfXv9c3Q   Visit us on the web: https://videogamerspod.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is an ad from BetterHelp Online Therapy. We always hear about the red flags to avoid in relationships, but it's just as important to focus on the green flags. If you're not quite sure what they look like, therapy can help you identify those qualities so you can embody the green flag energy and find it in others. BetterHelp offers therapy 100% online, and sign-up only takes a few minutes.

Visit BetterHelp.com today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com. Hello, fellow gamers, and welcome to the Video Gamers Podcast. It's a new year with a world of games in front of us. We've already talked about our most anticipated releases, what we hope for in 2025 and more. But now it's time to get a little crazy and talk about our video game bold predictions for 2025. Buckle up, because we're about to peer into our crystal ball and talk about some of the strangest things that might happen this year. Will they come true? Probably

not. But if any of them do, we're going to look like geniuses. We'll get into the hot takes in just a minute. But first, some introductions are in order. I am your host, Josh, and joining me, my bold prediction is he'll be forced to try Elden Ring this year, and it will end up being one of his favorite games ever. It's Ryan. Roll, roll, roll, roll. Roll it, roll it, roll it. Yeah, that's right. I'm just going to play Limp Bizkit and just roll, roll, roll all day long. If you're spamming dodge roll, you're doing it wrong, Ryan. That's what it looks like.

Every video I've ever watched, that's what it looks like. We don't know if these predictions are coming true. In fact, they're probably not. But, you know, that's my little prediction for the year, Ryan. Hot takes. Yes. These episodes are so much fun. All right, listen.

We're going to get into the episode here in just a second. We actually have a couple of reviews to read before we get into it. But I got to preface this by saying, yes, we are crazy. People that have been listening for a while know this. But these takes are meant to be spicy. They're meant to sound a little out there because they're bold takes. You know, we don't want to make claims that it's like, yeah, dude. Okay.

I like everybody in the world thinks that, you know, that's not fun. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I'm making the take that you're going to love Elden Ring, Ryan. That's probably not going to happen, but that's the kind of angle we're going for on these. So yes, we are crazy. Yes. These takes are going to sound a little bit crazy, but that's the point.

We don't expect any of these to hit. But man, if we come back to this show at the end of 2025, Ryan, and we got even one of these, right? Nostra Ryan is here. I'm going to give you everything you need to know. Nostra Ryan. Okay. I'm not sure if I have my brain leg set or not, but I have to give you credit to know. Nostra Ryan. Okay. I'm not sure if my brain likes that or not,

but I have to give you credit. And I will say that was not premeditated. I thought about that right now. Yeah, I could tell. Hit the brain because it's probably pretty bad, but I'm also going to roll with it. Nostra Ryan is here. I feel like if you thought about that one, you would have kept it in.

So that's how I know it was just straight and prompt to at that that point so ryan we're gonna get into these bold predictions but man you know i i promised that we were gonna catch up on a few of these reviews that people have been leaving for us and uh we're gonna read a couple and we got one that we decided needs a little juicing up ryan we gotta act it out it it's not fully a script but it's it's enough that we said you know we got to give this a little bit a little bit more so we are going to read this one this one comes in from sonic banshee and uh ryan you're going to get us started on this one i will um okay so the review reads a cold cloudy night the night sky obscured by a low layer of clouds. The wind bone chilling as it nears the mid-teens in temperature. The open road lit by the occasional street lamp.

I start to get sleepy. As I feel like I'm going to doze off, my ears are greeted by the invigorating and revitalizing voices of Josh and Ryan. The only sad part to my night now is when the episode is over and I must sit in a seat soaked in tears of sadness until the next episode. Their quips and jokes and differing tastes and video games makes for a satisfying drive. While we still mourn the fallen soldier, Paul, we embrace our unrestrained shenanigans.

Rest easy at work, Paul. Not gone, but also not forgotten. Man, I needed a second after that one. What a review. That was a good review. Homage to the Paul. It had it all, man. Yeah, it had everything.

It had night skies skies bone chilling winds yeah tears uh you know paul like what's not to love everything you could ask for in the review was in this review so i love it also in hindsight i probably should have read this other review first so that we ended on a like you know with a more dramatic note but now we're gonna read this review which is also a great review not to take away from this review it's fantastic it is we love all reviews absolutely we love all reviews as is evidenced by us reading it right now this one comes in from dante silver 08 and it's titled the best video game podcast and it says i was looking for a new podcast

with a good backlog to do homework to. There was a large lack of good video game podcasts. I was very lucky that Spotify recommended me this. It's amazing. It's very engaging and helps me focus. Anyway, great podcast. 10 out of 10, I would recommend. Nice.

If there's one thing I strive to be is 10 out of 10. 10 out of 10, I would recommend. Nice. If there's one thing I strive to be, it's 10 out of 10. 10 out of 10. I feel like it's the only problem. It's like then there's no wiggle room to get better, man. It's like your rating system on our leaderboard, Ryan. You're like, I can't give these games perfect 10s because then there's nowhere to go. But I will

say, I feel like we're at our peak right now, Ryan. I feel like we are firing on all cylinders 10 out of 10. We are, feel like we are firing on all cylinders 10 out of 10 dude we are firing on all cylinders like 9.2 out of 10 like and we're cruising and we can just go up up up in a way yeah occasional backfire here and there but you know hey we're all good so ryan i am ready to get into some crazy bold predictions. Let's do this, man. Yeah.

Are you ready for some hot takes? Hot takes. That's hot. Ready or not. That's hot. Yes. That's hot. I'm sure you're putting that. I know that drop's coming in.

I may have a drop or two I'm going to put in. All right. I'll tell you what. I'll start things off'm going to put in. All right. I'll tell you what. I'll start things off on this one, Ryan. All right. There's a little bit of spiciness to this one and a little bit, maybe not quite so spicy. But my first bold prediction for 2025 is a little bit of a two-parter.

Number one, Assassin's Creed Shadows will release to mid-reviews. And Ubisoft will cease to exist in 2025. We getting some more layoffs? Is that what you're saying? No, I'm saying that Assassin's Creed Shadows is not going to be the game, the savior that they were hoping for. I think it'll be fine. It's going to get a 7 out of 10 whatever you know like every other game right but it's like it's gonna get a 7 out of 10 it's not gonna be this like company saving release that

that people were hoping it's gonna be and with its relative failure as far as sales and things like that for ubisoft go ubisoft is going to get bought out by another company and they're going to cease to exist this year. That is my bold prediction. I think they've been on their last leg for a while. Now, everybody that's listening and has been listening for a while is like, listen,

we all know how you guys feel about Ubisoft. You guys have been slamming Ubisoft for like a year now. Well, there's a reason for that. And that reason is pretty apparent in their stock prices and a lot of the things that Ubisoft has been saying lately because there's been a lot of rumors about a possible hostile takeover. I think that they are putting their faith in Assassin's Creed Shadows to kind of right the ship, so to speak. And I don't think ship, so to speak. And I don't think it's going to happen. And I think when that happens, they're going to basically look to sell the company and just say, hey, we can't fix this. This ship is sinking.

We're bailing. Let somebody else worry about it. And I think that's what's going to happen, man. You know, if it was like almost just a title, I would think that was a super hot take. But after you kind of explained it, I'm maybe on your side, man. It's weird to me because there's, again, you know, people are like, listen, we know you guys don't like Ubisoft. This doesn't seem like that hot of a take. Yeah. Ubisoft is one of the largest developers, dude. Like, legitimately, think about the franchises that they have, the size that Ubisoft kind of swelled to in the heyday of Assassin's Creed.

And, you know, like, just the games that they were making, Far Cry and some of these other just major, major franchises. To see a company like Ubisoft actually fold and either go under or get bought out it's much more likely that they just get bought out than just completely close up shop because there's a lot of money involved there but to have that actually happen to such a major studio is not very common and is going to be pretty like earth shattering in the gaming industry. No, that's, yeah, that's going to be, that's going to be big for sure. I mean, and, and I mean, man, with the way you described it, I mean, I've been playing Ubisoft game for

20 something years, you know? So like, it's, it's one of those things where it's like, uh, dang, man, that's, that's how many steps do they have to take and keep making these mistakes to finally admit you know like okay maybe we can't do this anymore so i don't know that's yeah that's that'd be that'd be a big one if it happens that's for sure let me just to give context to this right here here's a few of the franchises that is under the ubisoft banner okay we talked about assassin's cre few of the franchises that is under the Ubisoft banner. Okay. We talked about Assassin's Creed, probably the most well-known Far Cry, you know, 1A, 1B type thing. We've also got Rainbow Six Siege, Watch Dogs, The Division,

you know, Tom Clancy's games are under the Ubisoft banner, Rayman, Star Wars Outlaws, For Honor, which is kind of dead, but was a big game for a while there. I mean, this is no slouch of a company that's been making video games for decades now, but I'm calling it right now, man. I think 2025 is the death of Ubisoft. Dang. And it's not that we wish failure on them. We don't ever want to see that happen. But that is my take. I do not think that Assassin's Creed Shadows is going to be the savior that the company is hoping for. All right. All right.

What do you got? Okay. So for mine, I am going to go with, I guess maybe this one's another kind of loss of jobs. But I'm going to go with that. By end of year, I think AI will be used in a huge, huge portion of the development of all video games in state today. I know as of October of last year, in 2024, 62% of all developers are using ai in some sort or some capacity within their games i think that's going to skyrocket and i think the amount of ai within their games are going to go through the roof it's just there's no reason not to from a financial point i think and and um ease for for the developers so we'll see if it plays out but i

think that ai is gonna really really take over the development kind of area of of games i it's crazy to me because that doesn't sound like that bold of a take in the world of like AI and chat GPT and grok and things like that. But to give up that, to give up your kind of like art expression to AI, you know, that's the thing is here's the thing for me with AI, right? Like I know that there's a lot of backlash over AI art and things like that. AI is coming. I'm not sure that there's much that we can do as people to, to push back against that. I back against that. I do think that we need hey, this game was made by 100% by AI. And that game is just dumb, stupid fun, right? Like let's think Lethal Company, okay? Okay. Like Lethal Company, right? Like simple game, super, super fun to play with friends,

was probably fairly easy to develop. And I don't mean that as a negative to the developers. I just mean like it's not a super advanced game. The premise is simple, but it caught on like wildfire. If AI makes a game like that and it comes out and people go, dude, this game is just fun. That is going to open the floodgates. Do you know what I mean? Like to, to, to, for developers to say, cool, we tried it. People like it. This can work in theory. I think all it takes is that one example for gamers to say, dude, we are gamers. We just want to play games and have fun. We will always support indie devs and things like that. But there is very much a world where this is coming. Think about this, dude. We talk about Unreal Engine 5. And again, if I sound ignorant right here, number one,

people are used to that. But number two, I'm not a developer, but in a sense, isn't an engine like Unreal Engine 5 that is making these phenomenal graphics, right? And these textures and these landscapes. And I've watched some of the demos. Isn't that in essence, kind of, sort of like AI? Because this program is generating the scenery for you. And yes, you have to place it and you have to say, hey, I want this cliff here and this mountain here and this shrubbery over here. But like it's it's the thing that's making that. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like Unreal Engine five games are readily recognizable because they have similarities.

And so I figure like it's almost like we're kind of there already. So I don't disagree with you, man. I just, the only thing I hesitate on is will it be this year? Because it is coming. Yeah. It's just, it's one of those things. It's like, do they hit some major hiccup that kind of stalls it a little bit? Or I mean, you you know money talks and so when the the people who make these games get

the game industry is not what it used to be this is not like kind of a niche product this is a very big industry now and the money is dictates where people go what people do and how they develop everything so the backers are like hey hey, I can cut 20% of my costs on this by using AI to develop these games. I'm going to do it. Or you can't develop my game. I'll pick somebody else. And like I said, money talks. So we'll see, man. It's going to be crazy. That's for sure. Yeah, it is coming. I am curious to see what happens with it. It's weird because, again, I know there's some controversy and, oh, this is going to put developers out of business and stuff like that. The gaming industry as a whole is very volatile in the first place. And I feel like people that are in it kind of know that. And while we don't want to see AI take jobs from people at the same time, I'm not sure that this is going away either. And so it's like, I'm curious to see what they can do with it, how they implement it, what the end product is, because if it sucks, that's going to really, really hurt that industry.

Yeah. And that kind of, but if a game comes out that it's like, dude, this game was made with AI. And again, people go, well, this game's a lot of fun, man. I think we won't know. I don't think we'll know until the verdict's in if it's good or not and then it'll be like oh that was ai ai developed that you know yeah i think you're right i think they will kind of do a little teaser to see before they come out and just say it too and ryan you talked about money i don't know that we've ever said this on the show but just to give people perspective the gaming industry is larger than the movie industry and the music industry combined.

Dude. Okay. I didn't know that. That's wild. Think about that. The gaming industry is larger than the two of those combined. And that counts all of gaming. So mobile console, PC, all that stuff.

But it is absolutely, that's how much money is involved in the gaming industry. And so if you think that AI is not getting involved in this, I think that that's, you know, I think that's people kind of closing their eyes a little bit on that one. So for sure. All right, let's take a quick break and then I'll come back with another hot take. All right, Ryan, we're back. You know, i have another negative hot take on my list but i don't want to seem like a debbie downer you know and go to back-to-back failure so i'm gonna i'm gonna start with this one all right the nintendo switch 2 releases this year with super mario odyssey 2 with Super Mario Odyssey 2 as the premier release title and sets a record for the fastest-selling console.

You know, that's... That's hot takey. That is a hot take. PlayStation 2, Nintendo, you know, like... Okay, it's one of those where, like, if that happens, I fully expect that to happen type thing. If it releases, and if it releases with Mario Odyssey 2, that's going to happen.

It's just kind of like 1 and 2. It's just continuation. It's going to happen. So, man, yeah, I just sure hope that it can play some better games than Mario. Oh, dude. So it's funny because with our most anticipated games draft, Metroid Prime 4 got drafted. That's a big one. And there's a lot of people that are saying, oh, that's going to be a Switch 2 game.

But I think Nintendo is smart. And I think that they are going to need that mega title. And that's not to slander Metroid Prime by any means. But I mean, I think that Mario is infinitely larger than Metroid in many gamers' minds and just the population as a whole. Yeah. And so I think that they are going to pair the release of the Switch 2 with Super Mario Odyssey 2, which we have heard nothing about, by the way.

Yeah. But I think those two things are going to go hand in hand. It's probably going to happen late 2025, maybe around October, November, somewhere around there so that people can get them for Christmas and all that. But I think those two things are going to happen by the end of this year.

You know, it's so weird because I feel like I still, I mean, during COVID and all that craziness i feel like i still just got my switch and like i'm just getting used to it and i'm just like playing it and and uh getting comfortable with it and we played a lot and i set up my projector and we played outside when we you know do outdoor stuff and um but it just it feels like it's still new we're like you know your old playstation or your ps2 and it feels ancient it's still new. We're like, you know, your old PlayStation or your PS2. It feels ancient, doesn't it?

It feels still old when you had them. It felt like a while. I feel like this Switch was still new. But, man, if they do it, there's one thing. Nintendo knows what they're doing. They do not do anything without a reason. So all the stuff is planned. All the stuff is strategic.

And they will release this with goals in mind. So I think you may be spot on. If they do this, it's going to be that way. Let me put you on the spot. What year did the Switch come out, Ryan? Just best guess. 19? 20? 2019? That's what it feels like right like it's probably five years

old it's approaching came out in 2017 early march 3rd march 3rd of 2017 dude are you for real eight years now that we're in 2025 it has been eight years oh my god since the release of the Nintendo Switch, which puts it in the antique, ancient dinosaur category of a console. Put it in a museum. At this point. You know? Yeah. And so we're due, man.

And I think there's a lot of people that think that the Switch is coming out this year. The Switch 2 is coming out this year. Yeah. I don't think that that part is necessarily that bold of a take, but paired with the Super Mario Odyssey 2 and it being the fastest selling console

are kind of my put it into the hot takes, bold predictions category for me. So, all right, Ryan, what's up next for you, buddy? Oh man, so what? Man, we got so many options for hot takes. What I'm gonna follow that up with, I'm gonna go with one that's a more recent thing that we've been experiencing together i know we have mentioned it in our deep dive i know

people have mentioned it overall and this was the big question of this game coming out what was it I think 2025 Marvel rivals will kill Overwatch. It's done. Now, Ryan. Count it out. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. That's recency bias, Ryan. That's done. And Overwatch has been around since 2016, man.

There's no way that some new game coming out with the Marvel brand name is going to dis overwatch of all things wow it's wild man there there's it's i'm being facetious i know i know you are i am so excited i am so excited because i haven't been on the game in a long time there were josh's like hey what are we playing he's hitting me up he's like oh come on because normally josh is on like eight different games so so for him to get on a game and stay on a game i'm like oh he's in me and ace have been alone for like the last you know two months while he's playing path of exile so to have josh come in and he's hardcore on uh rivals i want to play tonight yeah i know we're gonna we're gonna play tonight we can play tonight we are gonna play tonight so so i think that that just the setup i think the initial setup with it being marvel and the uh just

accoutrement of of characters and abilities and skins and everything you can do that is that has recognized ability if you will like that that people know everybody's got their favorite marvel character everybody's got their favorite superhero most often it's it's a marvel character so the anticipation of waiting for that character waiting for a new skin you know if you like to buy skins or any of those things i think it's just overall and then the gameplay it's it's awesome man so i think it's gonna i think it's a killer man i i there was not a time when i could have like seen the overwatch killer yeah like legitimately because overwatch has just been around forever it was the height of the hero shooter for many many years oh for sure i mean

there's the whole issue with oh over, Overwatch two is going to be the greatest thing. So we're getting rid of Overwatch one and blah, blah, blah. And then we all saw how that happened. And I, I, I am with you on this one is that I think that I think it will, I think it's going to kill Overwatch, dude. I think now to say kill, they're not taking the servers offline. Like let's, let's, you know, be real. Like, Overwatch is not going to shut down their servers and stuff like that, because we've already seen they're really not putting much development effort into Overwatch anymore. No, they don't care. Like, that thing's kind of just on autopilot. They make a couple skins, and I'm sure they have, like, two people dedicated to Overwatch at this point. But I think that Marvel Rivals will supplant it as the premier free-to-play hero shooter.

And I think Overwatch is going to just fall off into obscurity at some point due to that. Dude, not to gush over Marvel Rivals again, but the day after this episode releases, season one starts for Marvel Rivals. We are getting the Fantastic Four. Yes. We're not getting one new character ryan which is what overwatch does every three or four months we're getting four new characters four like two months after the game fully released you know what i mean like

this is how you do it people yes yes constant constant updates constant drip of everything you need and want. And, man, it's been an experience. It's been an awesome time to have. We've all been getting in. We've been having these community nights, which if you're not part of it, dude, hop in our Discord. It's been fantastic. We are extremely active. I don't know of another podcast or anything else that is this active

in their discord we talk to people every single day literally every single day we we play games you know we try to have these community nights we had like everybody the other night yeah everybody's invited hop in we made custom matches it was just it was so cool to to get on and and just not only play with the people but play on this game so um yeah, yeah, man, I just think it's taking over. So goodbye. Rest in peace, Overwatch. It's weird because in the frenzy that is Marvel Rivals, there's probably a lot of people that are saying, well, that's not that bold of a take. But people have to understand the scale and scope that Overwatch had in the world and the Overwatch League and all of this stuff. And to say that this game is going to be the death knell for Overwatch is

really bold, but at the same time seems very feasible too. So yeah. Yeah. All right, Ryan. Well, man,

you know, not to be a, not to be a Debbie Downer. That's my term for this episode, apparently, but here, here's another one. Borderlands four will flop and be the

demise of the franchise oh now now this one hurts me a little bit but this is a bold take because i drafted borderlands 4 in my most anticipated games for 2025 now kind of hilariously didn't really want to win that game you and paul conspired against me yep and uh collusion made me wind up taking it but i the more i think about it and paul kind of brought this up and he said i don't have very much faith in that franchise and it got me thinking about it and it's like this is another one where if they don't figure it out, if they, because let's be honest, like Borderlands three was meh. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands was meh. Like they're the humor is there. Like I get it, but it's almost kind of just contrived at this point. Like they even said, Hey, we're going to

not rely on the pot of humor quite so much in Borderlands. I feel like they need to really renaissance this thing. If they are are if they want to reinvigorate the franchise if we're going to use some corporate game pr speak there and i'm not sure they know how to do that like legitimately i'm not sure they know how to do it and based off of the trailer that we saw there was a lot of pushback from fans already about like dude these characters don't really do it for me what looks new The art style hasn't really evolved. Like there are some warning signs with the little bit that we saw.

And so I would like to see more, number one, to say, okay, cool. This really is the next evolution of this. But if it just comes out and it's more of the same, I'm not sure that Borderlands is going to recover. You know, yeah, I i feel you man uh it's hard to say that like thinking about borderlands because it's such a big title and and has so much longevity so many good times in that game for sure franchise absolutely and you know i played it i'm

not an expert on borderlands but um man to think that that they just can't right the ship is just almost disheartening. But yeah, it's one of those like these seem like impossible and they are hot takes, but you don't want them to come true. So it's like, no, this can't be real. These are not things that we're hoping for. Let's be clear here. We are not hoping for these things but they are just predictions you know they're alternate universes where these things might come to be and if they do well we'll say we told you so doesn't mean we're happy about them exactly so all right ryan what do you got buddy all right so i got one that that may hit you a little bit and may hit you in the huevos there, partner.

But I think... Not the beans. I think that the next Elden Ring is going to be a flop. And that's dramatic pause there. I don't like you. I know you don't like me. I know. And here's why.

Let me explain i think that it's one of those things where you build up such a great amazing franchise you do so much to it and and be it i i'm not a big elden ring fan i don't like souls games i do not like the role simulator that i call it but i recognize the greatness and i recognize how many people love this genre and this series and this game type but i think what what are they going to do to continue can have a continuation on on this type of game like they have to step it up like you can only make so many expansions or new games that just do the same thing so what are they going to do i don't think that they will do it i think it'll be a fair game i think it will be um just like the rest but it will be a flop in terms of expectations and what people want out of that franchise

i this one's weird to me because i legitimately have the exact opposite take for Elden Ring. They're going to make it amazing. And I knew we were going to run out of time, so I actually wasn't going to mention this one. But I can actually see your point of view on this. And it's interesting because Elden Ring and the Dark Souls games have always stayed in their lane. Yeah. You know, maybe they've branched out a little bit like Sekiro with the parrying system and it's the samurai and, you know, stuff like that. And it's like, you know, but FromSoft games have always had this certain style of gameplay to them and difficulty level and things like that.

And with Elden Ring Night Rain, it's weird because I'm not super excited about Night Rain, oddly enough. Like, oh, don't get me wrong. I will absolutely be picking this game up and playing it. But it's weird because in my brain, my brain kind of defaults to this is a simplified, dumped down version of Elden Ring. Because they even kind of said like,

hey, we want you to play this with friends. It's not as hard. It's a little bit faster paced. It's a roguelike kind of you know like game and my brain's having a hard time wrapping around that yeah and so it's like is this gonna be good like is it gonna be like i mean i was super hyped for shadow of the urge tree and that released and it was everything i wanted it to be if not more like i could not have been happier with that coming out and what they did

with that and so now it's like are they trying to bring it to the masses you know not that elden ring hasn't been a phenomenally successful game but i just mean like there's a lot of people that say and we see it every day in our discord server where it's like i don't like the dark souls difficulty i don't like dark souls games so i've never tried elden ring but then you have people that pick it up and they go whoa this is one of the best video games I've ever seen. And it's like, yeah. I've been trying to tell you. Yes. But so is simplifying it and dumbing it down going to be detrimental to it or not? Now, my take, and I won't make this an official one for me, but just to give people an idea because I could see this swinging both ways, is Elden Ring, Night Rain is an approachable version of Elden Ring that introduces beginners to the Dark Souls combat, which will then catapult Elden Ring to very high popularity and sales in 2025 like if you make it approachable and you you simplify it a little bit will that

actually open it up to the masses and now elden ring becomes even more successful because now more people can play it and they're not banging their heads against a wall you know that's one of the bosses okay but you then 80 of your uh player base that like the original is all alienated now yeah they're pissed they're like what the heck is this i've i've been playing this for 10 years like what is this crap you know i don't yeah i that's one i could see legit going either direction but it calling it a flop that is bold but i'm telling you man this is hot takes bro this is what we're here for i can see it that world exists man it's either gonna be wildly successful or uh i think flop man i don't think there's a middle ground no in between mid honestly

if it's mid that's a flop for for a game with the name of elder exactly if it comes out mid that is a flop like at that point yeah oh i don't i don't, I don't like that. I knew you wouldn't like that one buddy. Um, we'll give a couple of little quick ones here. Uh, we don't have to dive too deep into this one, but here's another one for me. As much as we are excited about King come deliverance to and avowed and

maybe the release of Judas and all these other games that we covered in our most anticipated episode. My bold prediction is that 2025 game of of the year hasn't even been announced yet no just like we saw in 2024 with astrobot yeah we went into 2024 with the highest hype levels imaginable with the release of hell divers 2 and all of these other games that we were super excited for. And then lo and behold, at the start of summer, a little trailer gets released for a game called Astro Bot and we went, what? What is this? And then we played it and we went, oh my goodness, this game's great.

And guess what? It won game of the year. Rightfully so. I mean, rightfully so. And so my take is that we do not even know what the game is that's going to win 2025's game of the year. Okay. So, oh, man. So do you think that's going to be like a system exclusive? Like maybe Nintendo comes out with something hot or. Like Super Mario Odyssey 2. Yeah, maybe Super Mario Odyssey 2 with like a Switch 2 or something like that, you know? It's tough, man.

It's tough. Now, this is also predicated on the assumption that GTA 6 is probably not releasing this year. But yeah, that's my take, man. And it's one of the things that I love is we do these beginning of the year episodes and then we sound like idiots later on in the year because all this stuff happens. And then we're like, you guys didn't know. I know. You didn't know that Astro Bot was coming out. You guys had no idea.

Well, speaking of just like games and games that don't release, you talked about GTA and stuff what i want to say is if if gta6 and then potentially you know potentially if half-life or anything crazy like that doesn't happen i think indie games are going to dominate 2025 i that's bold buddy there's a lot of triple a there is a lot there is ghost of yote there is all kinds of amazing games that are supposed to come out this year but how many times do we get just these indie pop-ups that that just blow up and just make an amazing footprint like it's not as hard like the kind of level of entry into development now as it used to be. A lot of these guys come out of college or come out of, you know, wherever. Super smart, can put down, put up a startup and they can make a game.

And I really think that a lot of them are doing an awesome job. And I think that they're going to do even better this year. So I'm hoping, man. Dude, I always, always want indie developers to see success, dude. Legitimately, we absolutely love when we find these super fun games that are small indie games. Shout out to Bopple Battle once again. If you have not checked out Bopple Battle, B-O-P-L, that's how you spell it. Bopple Battle is one of the funnest games that we have come across in any developer.

We had many a good conversation with the actual developer of that game. And what an awesome guy. But that game is stupid fun, dude. If you have not checked it out, check it out. But that to us will always be part of the heart and epitome of gaming. Yes.

Is these games that are just fun. You can tell that they were made to be fun they were made with passion and they resonate with us like crazy it's funny because i'm looking over our our draft for the most anticipated games oh yeah and it's like there's only a couple like indie titles on this whole thing yeah but this could be the year of indie because if a lot of these AAA titles are only mid or don't pan out or get delayed, I can see a world where that absolutely happens. They pop up, they pop up,

and then it's like, oh, okay, here we go. Yeah. All right, I'll do one more quick one. We don't have to dive into this one, but I want to get this one out here because I kind of teased this the other day when we did our side quest episode and we kind of got all excited and hyped. So I'm going to make it official. My bold prediction is that GTA 6 will get delayed to 2026 and Half-Life 3 is going to

get announced for release in 2026. And 2026 will be the greatest year of gaming that we have seen since 2018 when we got red dead redemption 2 and god of war in the same year dude if you're if this happens i'll i mean just give me a minute right i need to i need to breathe i need a little bit i need to breathe real quick hold on you're talking oh man it's getting hot in here buddy it's just like as much as i i want i want i mean i want grand theft auto now i want half-life now i want all these games now but man i tell you what like if we can just have this on the horizon it's just gonna make it that much brighter man we're gonna we're just gonna see the sun and we can just kind of we have something to work towards you know every day we get up well half-life 3 is coming you know yeah with gta6 with gta in the same year and oh my goodness man

that that would be the showdown of the like the century oh like it'll go back to the red dead 2 versus god of war for game of the year and how do you choose which one you're actually going to to say this is the game of the year yeah you know and it the gaming world is going to lose its mind now there's very little chance that half-life 3 actually ever yeah no it's a gets you know it's a myth but i had to get like the boldest of the bold out there and just say there's a year where we get both man that would be in in one year to get those would be would be unreal um i got i got two quick ones that i want to do too um first one moon knight best marvel rival rivals character i gotta put

that in there that's a hot take that's a hot take i know people don't like them or people don't use them because i usually he's wide open i can just select them but the moon haunts you that's all i gotta say and then and then the second one i think we will get a surprise release of silk song right around halloween oh right that would help my list so much right i know i know and detriment to my own list i think how cool would it be to get that silk song silk song drop just before halloween and and uh i think that would just embolden everybody any devs would be off the charts everything would be crazy it would It would be just amazing. I love it. This is a question, right?

Is Hollow Knight slash Silksong at this point in its popularity still considered an indie game? That's actually a good question. I think it is because I think it's a small group. I would think it still is, but it's like the, the hype level and the dedication of their fans is to the next level. It's at AAA levels, right? So it's kind of like Silksong would be one of the biggest releases of 2025

if it comes out in 2025. So you can say like, well, if it's that big of a release, doesn't that mean it's not really an indie game at that point? But then is it like, is it the size of the developer? Is it the amount of money you spend developing a game? Is it the fact that they took 800 years to make it? Yeah. You know, they've been developing this for 20 years now. Like what's, what's the qualifications

for this? I hope you're right, Ryan. I hope so too, man. How cool would that be? Like an October release? Oh, right around. That would be great. Dude, right around Halloween, Silksong. I love it.

I really, out of all of these bold predictions, I legitimately think that one has the highest chance of actually being true. You think so? Of coming to fruition. I really, really think that we're going to get Silksong in 2025. Gosh, I hope so, man. It's going to be a long year if not. Yeah.

And then all the memes at the end of the year will just keep going. And then I don't know what's going to happen. And then we talked about it, so it's another three years. Yeah, no. And then 2027, we'll be like, all right, man, this is the year. GTA6, Silksong, we we're gonna get them all right well listen that was our bold predictions for 2025 if you want to call us crazy come to our discord server and call us crazy if you have bold predictions of your own we would love to hear them because this is the

type of stuff that gamers love we want to chat games with people we want to have these silly debates and these silly you know bold predictions and hot takes the link to our discord server is in the episode description. All you got to do is click it. Come join us. We are not lying about how awesome this community is. You can join for free. There's no monetary incentive for us to try to sell you this discord community. We just want gamers to have this really incredible place to come hang out. There's no toxicity. It's family friendly. Come join us. You can lurk if you want to, but just come be a part of that community

because it is fantastic, man. If you're not already following us on social media at Video Gamers Pod on all socials is where you can find us there. And hey, if you enjoyed this episode, make sure that you follow the podcast. Open up your podcast app right now. We're getting near the end of the episode.

Tap that follow button. Tap that plus button. That way you get our episodes the day that they release. And if you really, if you really want to go the extra mile and be the hero, like all these Marvel rival heroes that are out there, the Fantastic Four is coming. Don't you want to be like them? You know what the Fantastic Four does? They support this podcast and they do it over at MultiplayerSquad.com.

They all signed up. We saw it. They support the show and you should too. So head over to MultiplayerSquad.com. You can sign up and support us for as little as five bucks a month. So it goes a long way. We'll give you a shout out on the show. You get early access and ad free episodes as well. Ryan, my bold prediction is we're about to shut this episode down and go play some Marvel Rivals. So thank you to everybody for tuning in and until next time, happy gaming. See ya!