Video Gamers Podcast - Bold Gaming Predictions and Hot Takes - Gaming Podcast [REPLAY]

Episode Date: June 20, 2025

It's flashback Friday and we're going back to the beginning of the year to review our bold predictions and hot takes we made in January! 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! Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/videogamerspod Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/  Follow us on X: https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod  Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VideoGamersPod?sub_confirmation=1 Visit us on the web: https://videogamerspod.com/  Follow us on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/videogamerspodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hurry in, employee pricing is on for a limited time. Visit your local GMC dealer for details. Hey everybody, it's Josh, and for this Flashback Friday episode, we are going to make ourselves look like idiots because we are re-airing our Bold Predictions and Hot Takes episode that we recorded the first week of January of 2025. We make some bold predictions, we have some hot takes, a lot of these did not pan out. Hey, the year's only halfway over. Maybe we'll get something right. But if nothing else, this is a great episode.

We hope you enjoy. ["Skyfall 2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2 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 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 gonna 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, roll, roll, roll, roll. Yeah, that's a man. I'm just going to play Lemp Bizkit and just roll, roll, roll all day long. If roll, roll. Yeah, that's it. Hey man. I'm just gonna 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 important hot takes, man. Hot takes for the year, Ryan. Hot takes. Yes, dude, 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, OK. 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. No, it's true.

Ryan. Nostra Ryan is here. I'm going to give you everything you need to know. Nostra Ryan? Okay. I, 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. It hit the brain cause 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 like kept it in.

So that's how I know have like kept it in. That's how I know it was just straight in prompt to at that point. So Ryan, we're going to get into these bold predictions, but man, you know, I promised that we were going to catch up on a few of these reviews that people have been leaving for us and we're going to read a couple and we got one that we decided. Juicing up Ryan. We got to act it out. It's not fully a script, but it's enough that we said, you know, we gotta give this a little bit more. So we are gonna read this one.

This one comes in from Sonic Banshee. And Ryan, you gonna get us started on this one? I will. 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 and 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 in 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. What a review. That was a good review. That's a good review. You know. Homage to the Paul. It had it all, man. Yeah, it had everything. It had night skies, bone chilling winds. Yeah.

Tears. You know, Paul. Paul? Like what's not to love, man? Everything you could ask for in a 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 going to read this review, which is also a great review. Not to take away from this review. It's fantastic. 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 ten out of ten. Ten out of ten. I feel like 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. That's

true. And there's nowhere to go. That's true. 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, dude. We are firing on all cylinders like 9.2 out of 10. And we're cruising, and we can just go up, up, up, and away. Yeah. Occasional backfire here and there, but hey, we're old guys.

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. You know? All right. I'm sure you're putting that. I'm sure I know that drops coming. I may have a drop or two I'm going to put in. You know? 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 get 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 going to be the game, the savior that they were hoping for. I think it'll be, I think it'll be fine. Yeah. You know, it's going to get a seven out of 10, whatever, you know, like every other game, right? But it's like, it's going to get a seven out of 10. It's not going to be this like company saving release that,

that people were hoping it's going to 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. Right? Has 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 write the 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 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 I may be on your side, man. It's 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 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 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, OK? We talked about Assassin's Creed, probably the most well-known, Far Cry, you know, 1A1B 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, Tom Clancy's games are under the Ubisoft, uh, banner Ray man, star Wars outlaws, uh, for honor, which is kind of dead, but was a big game for awhile 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 20, 25 is the death of Ubisoft.

Dang that's 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 Ryan? 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 going to 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 push back against that. I do think that we need to know if something was made with AI. Some of these videos now are getting crazy. And I do think that there needs to be a little

watermark that says made with AI or something like that in it. But let's put it this way. If a game releases later this year, and it says, hey, this game was made by 100% by AI. And that game is just dumb, stupid fun. Right. Like let's think lethal company. OK. OK. 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. Yeah. The premise is simple, but it 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. Oh man. 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, 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, you know, 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

this 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 the thing that's making that. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, Unreal Engine 5 games are readily recognizable

because they have similarities. And so I figure, like, it's almost like we're kind of there already. So yeah, 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, I 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, uh, uh, 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, I can cut 20% of my, you know, uh, costs on this by using AI to develop these games.

You know, I'm going to do it, you know, or you can't develop my game. I'll pick somebody else. And, you know, like I said, money talks. So we'll see, man, it's, it's going to be crazy. That's for sure. Yeah, it is coming. I am curious to see what happens with it. You know, 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, you know, 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. 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. 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. OK, I didn't know that. That's wild, dude. 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 start with this one. All right. The Nintendo Switch 2 releases this year with Super Mario Odyssey 2 as the premier release title and sets a record for the fastest selling console. You know, that's, um, that is that is hot takey. That is a hot take to Nintendo.

You know, like, okay, it's one of those where like, that's if that happens, I fully expect that to happen type thing, you know, like, okay. It's one of those where like that's if that happens, I fully expect that to happen type thing, you know, like if it releases and if it releases with Mario Odyssey to like that's going to happen, it's kind of like one and two, you know, the just continuation, it's going to happen. So, man, yeah, that's I sure I just sure hope that it can play some better games than Mario. Oh, dude. So it's funny because with our with our most anticipated games draft, Metroid Prime 4. Yes. Got got drafted. That's a big one. 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. And so I think that they are going to pair the release of the switch to with Super Mario Odyssey two, 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, I. It's hard, 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 just feels like it's still new. We're like, you know, your old PlayStation or your PS2. It feels ancient, doesn't it? Those felt 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 is Nintendo knows what they're doing.

They do not do anything without a reason. So all this 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 let me put you on the spot. What year did the switch come out, Ryan?

Just best guess. Oh, 19, 20, What year did the switch come out, Ryan? Just best guess. 19, 20, 20, 19. I think that that's that's what it feels like. Right. Like it's probably five years old. It's approaching came out in 2017. Early March, March 3rd of 2017. Dude, are you in 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 it's, 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 two 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. Uh, 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 gonna be? What was it gonna do?

I think 2025 Marvel rivals will kill overwatch It's done now Ryan count it out one two three four five six That's recent sin bias overwatch has been around since like 2016 yeah, there's no way that some new game coming out with the Marvel brand name is going to displace Overwatch of all things. Wow. It's wild, man. There there's it's I'm I'm being facetious. I know 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 Well, he's playing path of exile. So to have Josh come in and he's hardcore on Rivals, I want to play tonight. Yeah, I know we're gonna play tonight We are to play tonight. Yeah, I know. 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 just accoutrement

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 going to, I think it's killer, man.

I, I, there was not a time when I could have like seen the Overwatch killer, like legitimately because Overwatch has just been around forever. It was the height of the hero shooter for many, many years. For sure. I mean, there's the whole issue with, oh, Overwatch 2 is going to be the greatest thing. So we're getting rid of Overwatch 1 and blah, blah, blah. And then we all saw how that happened.

And 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. Yes. I think I'm not. Now, to say kill, they're not taking the servers offline. Let's be real here. 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. That thing's just on autopilot. They make a couple skins, and I'm sure they have 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, like 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 are not getting one new character, Ryan,

which is what Overwatch does every three or four months. We're getting four new characters, like two months after the game fully released. I mean, like, this is how you do it. Yes. Yes. Constant, constant updates, constant drip of, of, of everything you need in, in want and, um, man, it's just, it's been an experience. It's been an awesome time to have. I we've all been getting, 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, we are extremely active. I don't know of another, you know, 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's invited. Yeah. Everybody's invited. Hop in. We made custom matches. It was just, it was so cool to get on and just not only play with the people, but play

on this game. So, um, yeah, man, I just, I just think it's, it's taken over. So goodbye, uh, 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 world and the Overwatch league and all 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, man, you know, not to be a, not to be a Debbie downer. I that's my term for this episode, apparently. But here's another one. Borderlands 4 will flop and be the demise of the franchise. Aw. 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 and, uh, 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 gonna not rely on the potty humor quite so much in Borderlands. so much in Borderlands. I feel like they need to really renaissance this thing 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. 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,

do 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, I, yeah, I feel you, man. It's hard to say that, like thinking about Borderlands because it's such a big title and, and, and has so much longevity. So many good times in that franchise. Absolutely. And you know, I've played it and I'm not an expert on Borderlands, but, um, man, to think that. That they just can't write the ship, you know, it's just almost disheartening,

but yeah, it's one of those like, these seem like impossible and, 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. Like 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, um, may hit you a little bit and, and, uh, may hit you in the way those their partner. But I think not the beans.

I think that the, uh, the next Eldon ring is going to be a flop and that's dramatic pause there. So I don't, I don't hear 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 will be a fair game. I think it will be 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 like your point of view on this. Okay. 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 sicker row with the pairing system and it's the samurai and you know, stuff like that. And it's like, you know, but from soft 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 actually 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. Like it's a rogue like kind of, you know, like gain. And my brain's having a hard time wrapping around that. And so it's like, is this going to be good? Like, is it going to be like, I mean, I was super hyped for shadow of the urn 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, 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 the 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 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 player base that like the original is all alienated now. They're pissed. They're like, what the heck is this? I've been playing this for 10 years. Like, what is this crap? You know? Yeah. That's one I could see legit going either direction, but calling it a flop, that is bold. But I'm telling you, man, this is how it takes,

bro. This is what we're here for. I can see it. That world exists, man. It's either going to be wildly successful or, uh, I think flop man. I don't think there's a middle ground. No, in between mid. If it's mid, that's a flop for a game with the name of elder. Yeah, exactly. It comes out mid.

That is a flop. Like at that point. Yeah. I don't, I don't like that. I knew you wouldn't like that one, buddy. We'll give a couple of little quick ones here. 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 and Come Deliverance II

and Evoud 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 the year hasn't even been announced yet. Oh, 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 too, 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 is great. And guess what? At one game of the year, rightfully so even, 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 game of the year. OK, so oh, man. So do you think that's going to be like a system exclusive,

like maybe Nintendo comes out with with something something hot or like Super Mario Odyssey two. Yeah. Maybe with like a switch to or something like that. You know, it's tough, man. It's tough. Now, now this is also predicated on the assumption that GTA six is probably not releasing this year. Um, but yeah, that's, that's my take, man.

I, 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 that Astro bot was coming out. He has had no idea. Well speaking of just like, um, like games and games that don't release. She talked about GTA and stuff. What I want to say is if, if GTA six and then potentially, you know, potentially if half life or anything crazy like that hat doesn't happen, I think indie games are going to dominate 20, 25.

I that's bold buddy. There's a lot of AAA. There is a lot. There is ghosts of Yotay. There's 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 um I really think that a lot of them are doing an awesome job and I think that they're gonna do even better this year so I'm hoping man. I always always want indie developers to see success dude like legitimately we absolutely love when we find these super fun games that are small indie games shout out to Boppel Battle once again if you have not checked out Boppel Battle B-O-P-L that's how you spell it Boppel Battle is one of the you have not checked out Boppel Battle, B-O-P-L,

that's how you spell it. Boppel Battle is one of the funnest games that we have come across in indie 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. Like if you have not checked it out, check it out. But that to us will always be like part of like the heart

and epitome of gaming is these games that are just fun. You can tell that to us will always be like part of like 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 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, you know, 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 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 tease this the other day when we did our, uh, our side quest episode and we kind of got all excited and hype. So I'm going to make it official. My bold prediction is that GTA six will get delayed to 2026 and half life three 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 mean just give me a minute Ryan. I need to breathe. 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 going to make it that much brighter, man. We're going to, we're just going to see the sun and we can just kind of cut. We have something to work towards, you know, every day we get up. Well, half-life three is coming, you know, with GTA six in the same year. Oh my goodness, man. That would be the showdown of the, like the century. Like it,

it'll go back to the red dead two versus God of war fordown of the century. Oh. 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 say, this is the game of the year? Yeah. And the gaming world is going to lose its mind. Now, there's very little chance that Half-Life 3 actually ever is.

Yeah, no. It's a myth. But I had to get the boldest of the bold out there and just say, there's a year where we get both, man. That would be, in one year to get those would be, would be unreal. I got two quick ones that I wanna do too. First one, Moon Knight, best Marvel 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 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 it's 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 will be off the charts. Everything would be crazy. It would be just amazing. I love it. This is a question, right? Is Hollow Knight slash Silk Song, 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 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 you have autonomy? They took 800 years to make it.

Yeah, they've been developing this for 20 years now. Like 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? Right around. That would be great, dude. Right around Halloween silk song. 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, I really, really think that we're going to get silk song in 2025. Gosh, I hope so, man.

It's a long, it's going to be a long year if not. Yeah. And then all the memes at the end of the year, we'll just keep going. Yeah. 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 will be like, all right, man, this is the year. TTA six silk song. We're going to get them. Yeah, no. And then 2027 will be like, all right, man, this is the year. TTA six silk song. We're going to 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. Um, 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 $5 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!