Video Gamers Podcast - Crystal Ball Chaos: Our Boldest Video Game Predictions for 2026 – Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: January 19, 2026

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan and Ace are throwing caution to the wind and unleashing their boldest predictions for what 2026 will bring. Which franchises soar, which ones stumble, and which surprises could redefine the video games of 2026 as we know them? From risky sequels to unexpected comebacks, we’re calling our shots and daring the future to prove us wrong. We dig into industry trends, wild rumors, and the moves that could reshape the future of gaming, breaking down what feels inevitable and what sounds absolutely insane… until it happens. Whether you’re here for the hot takes or the “I told you so” moments, this episode will deliver. Plus, we zoom out and look at how these predictions fit into the broader video games landscape and what it all means for players who live for pure gaming chaos. Strap in — this is one fearless episode of the Video Gamers Podcast you won’t want to miss!     Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’ Jake, Gaius, Jigglepuf, Phelps and NorwegianGreaser, and Dettmarp   Thanks to our Legendary Supporters: HypnoticPyro, PeopleWonder, Bobby S.   Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/videogamerspod⁠ Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/SKQvqrbT 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/⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started. Oh, fellow gamers and welcome to the video gamers podcast. Ryan will be on time for 80% of episode recordings. And Ace will, without pressure, dive headfirst into multiple AAA titles this year. All right. So neither of those is likely to happen. But that's what this episode is all about. Bold predictions for 2026.

Will they come true? Probably not. But if you look at last year, I mean, Hey man, we didn't do too bad. On this episode, we're giving our hot takes and bold predictions for gaming in 2026. But before we get to those, some introductions are in order. I am your host, Josh. And joining me, his boldest take is that GTA6 is actually going to release this year.

It's Ryan. If this game doesn't release this year, dude. It's not. It's not. Just buy it next year. You're not. I'm gonna- I guarantee you.

We're gonna have to figure out what happens in a tiebreaker because I will bid every last dollar next year on GTA 6 if it comes to that. Yeah. That'd be so ridiculous. That would be such lying luck. I will. I've already, I've already committed, dude. I don't care.

I'll throw my whole draft in the trash to just get GTA 6 in the year. And then have you go two years in a row without it. so I mean I'm not vindictive or anything yeah whatever who else is with us today you know yeah I got through one intro and we're off the rails are yeah yeah yeah go go come on and joining us it's his first time making bold predictions on the show will he truly be bold or is he gonna play it safe it's ace you know that's a good question but I think some of these are more of a last wishes for some of these studios, quite frankly. Last rights and wishes. We have a, so we do a pre-show or we kind of record for a little bit before we actually, you know, have the main show. It's a perk for people that support the podcast. A lot of really dumb chat, but it's like if you want more of this, then that's a great way to do it.

And man, is it stupid? What's your favorite insect? Yeah, like we talk about insects, pizza, generals, war. I mean, you name it. It's just, it's come up in the show. I bought a clay figure from Josh's daughter. Yeah, Ryan, literally before this episode,

bought a clay figurine from my daughter live in the pre-show. Like, it's, it's just bananas. So it's worth it. If you're not catching what we're putting down, it's worth it. So support the show,

people. You get a lot of cool perks. But in the pre-show, we talked about that, you know, when we make a bold prediction, we want to be bold, right? It's one of those things where it's like,

you don't want to just say things. that most gamers think is going to happen at some point because it's not bold it's not out there right so we want some out there takes but you don't want to be so out there that it just sounds stupid at the same time because anybody can do that so trying to find that balance of like there is a world where this might happen but probably not you know is is where we want to be i'm very curious where ace winds up on this one um but it's not easy you know and so if we play it too safe well that's boring and If we go to out there, then that doesn't make any sense either. But look, we've all got our lists. We've all got some bold predictions about gaming in 2026 that we're going to make. So we're going to get to that. But guys, we got to just talk about our bold predictions from last year, right? Because what good is it if you don't go back and look and say, how do we do on these bold predictions from 2025?

Well, how'd I do? Ace, you didn't miss a single one. Wow. You didn't miss a single one, Ace. It's amazing. I don't know how this happens. What a pro. But yeah, we'll see, Ace.

We'll see how you do. But here, guys, let's do this. Let's go back in our time machine and let's look at our bold predictions from 2025 to see how these paned out. Ryan, I'm going to start with yours. Okay. So Ryan, this time last year, you predicted. that AI will be used in a huge, huge portion of development of all video games in progress at this time.

I mean, you're not wrong? I'm not wrong. On that one? I think I'm right. I think that is. I mean, he didn't say people would like it. You didn't say what level of AI.

So, you know, it's not like AI is making these games. You just said the AI will be used in the development. And I know, look, we know how a lot of people feel about the use of AI in gaming. We're not here to debate that. but I am. I think you're kind of right, dude. Whether it's generative AI or placeholders or something like that,

I do think that a lot of studios are using AI in the development of their game. We're not necessarily saying this is the replacing people full game development 100% through AI. But I think you, I think that one's not that far out there. I'm going to call that a win for you. Yes. You said, I think 2025 Marvel rivals will kill Overwatch. I'm kind of back on the Overwatch 2 train and I think

Overwatch 2 is actually doing pretty good so I'm going to say that one didn't come true I don't know hold on what we got here also Marvel Rivals is killing its own self at this point so I don't know if you can say that it killed Overwatch either so

the current meta is miserable you only have 33,000 people in Overwatch 2 and your your SteamDB score is 26% Well, a lot of people play through Blizzard and not through Steam. So you can't really track that because they play through the battle dent launcher. Mm-hmm.

So sounds like something somebody would say. This one, I don't know if you're right on this one or not. You said the next Eldon Ring is going to be a flop. Now, you can't say it about Night Rain. Night Rain is not a flop. Is it? Is it not? I don't think it's considered a flop.

We would have included it in our flops of the year. We were like, oh, Night Ring was terrible. I don't think Night Rain was a flop by any means. I do wonder if it was as successful as they were hoping for. So I'm going to say that this one was a dud as well, Ryan, because I don't think Night Rainy. What do you mean as well? The last one wasn't a dud.

So this is the first dud. Well, rivals didn't kill Overwatch. That one's a, that's the rivals. Absolutely. There's 30,000 people is that's it. On Steam. Yeah. But again, most people play through battlements.

Says who. All right. All right, we're not going to argue. We're not going to argue this one. Because you nailed this one. You nailed this one, dude. This one you got. You said, I think indie games are going to dominate 2025.

I agree with that. Why did they ever, man? Oh, boy. And look, hindsight is super easy, everybody. But at the start of 2025, we had hype for Expedition 33. It hadn't released yet. We had no idea that Silk Song was actually going to release in, 2025 and kingdom come deliverance too had not really i think that released in february if i remember

right so when we made these predictions we didn't know any of this stuff so ryan crushing it saying that indies were going to dominate 2025 seemed like a hot take and in hindsight everybody's going like well duh but it was a hot take at the time man so that's one i got to give you buddy i'm not an indy guy either so you were not an indigo i'll take it well you're becoming an indie guy now And then this one, you were close enough on this one that I'm going to give this one to you. But you said, I think we will get a surprise release of Silk Song right around Halloween. Yeah. Well, you were a month off of that.

It released September 4th, but it was a surprise release. So close. And so I'm going to give it to you, Ryan, because you were close enough. It's in the fall. You called the right. After that many years, like, I'll take it, like being a month off. Like that's that for me I'll take it

Whether I felt this this way or that way About the game itself But I called the kind of the release close enough Yeah All right I'm gonna run through mine real quick All right here here were my hot takes for 2025 Assassin's Creed Shadows will release to mid reviews And Ubisoft will cease to exist in 2025

Now I got half of that half truth Half truth you were close though Half of it Now let's be honest Ubisoft did sell out a little percentage to Tencent, right? Or Is it Tencent? Tenison.

No, but I'm saying is that the who bought a portion of Ubisoft? I thought it was. Or is it? I think so. All right. So I got that one half right. Assassin's Creed Shadows didn't release to great reviews. I know Ace, you know, the biggest Assassin's Creed fan in the world was not super happy with that either.

I got this one straight wrong. This is what I get for putting faith in Nintendo. I said the Nintendo Switch 2 releases this year with Super Mario Odyssey 2 as its premier release title and sets a record for the fastest selling console. Well, no. No. No.

It didn't release with Super Mario Odyssey 2. And I don't think it's the, maybe it was the fastest selling for like a month or two, but the Switch 2 not crushing it like Nintendo wants. I actually saw an article completely off base that said that Nintendo Switch 2 sales were down 35% over Christmas versus what the Switch 2. over Christmas. Isn't the Switch 2 performing worse than the Wii U? Like sales-wise? It might be.

It wouldn't surprise me, but I also don't want to say that I know that for a fact either. Okay. I saw something like that. Next one, Borderlands 4 will flop and be the demise of the franchise. I kind of want to say yes. It's not the demise of Borderlands, but I do feel, and they came out and said Borderlands 4 did not sell like they had thought

it was going to. It's a premium game, Josh. We just weren't ready for it. We aren't premium gamers. We're not premium gamers, Ace. You know, sometimes people just have to accept that. I'm going to, I'm going to say I think this one is, I was right about this because it is a flop. I don't know if it'll be the demise of the franchise or not, but I have a hard time believing

that they're just going to make Borderlands 5 all willy-nilly without looking at Borderlands 4 and going, what do we need to do? All right. My next one was 2025's game of the year hasn't even been announced yet. Got that one. well well no they were announced expedition 33 had been announced i and i know and and that's kind of the kicker is it had been announced nobody knew it was going to be as good as it was and b game of the year but i did i'm not

going to i'm not going to i did i said indie games going to take it he did he technically gives that one i nailed well this one i'm this one's not over yet because i said gta six will get delayed to 2026 and half life three is going to get announced for for release in 2026. Well, GTA 6 did get released. Half-Life 3 did not get announced. So that one was another havesies for me. So there you go.

There's, I mean, guys, that's not bad. That's not bad. Neither, you two were pretty close all and all. Also, the Switch 2 sales are significantly better than the Wii U. Okay. Having surpassed in its lifetime sales within the first few months. Okay. So.

Okay. That's good at least. You know, you're doing better than the Bucsysmars. You know, you're doing better than the Bucsies. Bottom line. Yeah. You beat the slow. Yeah.

Yeah. The bar is very low. So it's easy to be successful. The bar at the bottom. You've surpassed already. We're good to go. All right. So here's what we're going to do, guys.

We're going to take turns doing our bold predictions on this one. Again, you know, some of these will be outlandish. Some of them might be grounded a little bit more in reality. But, you know, these are things that we think have a chance of happening in 2026. And Ace, since it's your very first time given bold predictions, why don't you start us off? What is a bold prediction you have for 2026, Ace? My bold prediction for 20206 is that AAA titles are still going to struggle to keep up with the innovation, freedom, and cost of indie games this year. I don't think we're going to see anything that's able to keep up.

2025 was the year of the indies, man. And I mean, nobody can argue that. I'll say this. You know, we just did our anticipated games draft. There are a lot of AAA titles that are on this list, you know, that we know of, dude. I mean, you know, Judas Wolverine, GTA6, Fable, Gears of War, E-Day. We've got Phantom Blade Zero, Toxic Commandos. I mean, you know, 007 First Light, Saros, you know, Control, Resonant.

Yeah. Resident Evil Requiem. These were all AAA titles that we drafted. Yeah, we did. There's also a lot of indies that we drafted. And there's also a lot of indies that aren't announced yet. That could be just shadow dropped and take the whole year just like Hades 2 and Silkson did. Exikiller.

Exi killer. We just talked about that on our twig. That game's looking fantastic, dude. It would not surprise me in the least to find out that Exa Killer is an awesome game that ranks right up there with the AAA titles, man. if not better. Yeah, you know. Exactly.

I don't disagree with you on this. I think that in 2026, we are going to see a little bit of a shakeup from the AAA Debs where they are going to take, unfortunately, I think they're going to take less risks because there's so much money involved. And I think that's actually going to hurt them. I think when they get too safe, it's going to backfire.

And I think you're right. I think we might have another year where 2026 is also the year of the Indies. And I'm here for it, man. I'm not I'm not opposed to it. As exciting as I am for some of these AAA titles, like these indie titles come out of nowhere and they knock people's socks off, man. And especially, you know, with what we saw in 2025.

Now, there's development lag, right? So if everybody in the world looked at 2025 and went, oh, goodness, we got to make indie games, guys. There's still going to be a three, four year lag there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where we see some of that come to fruition. But I don't disagree with you on that one. So, all right.

Ryan, let's move over to you, buddy. What's your first bowl? prediction of 2026. So I guess we'll go in line with, you know, with a saying that Indies will be what Indies will do and AAA will struggle to keep up. I'm going to say that there will be a AAA title released at $80 to $90 based price, and the sales will still be very profitable and through the roof. I say it'll sell well at $80 or $90 base price.

This isn't a prediction I like, Ryan. I don't like it either. I don't like it either. But I'm just saying what I think. I think that they are going to market it. There's a game that we can probably all point a finger at and what we think it's going to be when the price is announced. But I have a feeling that regardless of what that price is,

$80-90 figure, it'll still sell gangbusters. and that'll be somewhat the new AAA norm, unfortunately. Now, if I pick up what you're putting down, you're referring to GTA6. Maybe. Maybe. Here's the problem with that, right? As gamers, we go, and we've said this before,

like, I would pay $100 for GTA6 under the assumption that it's probably one of the best games that I'll have ever experienced in my life. The problem there is that other AAA developers are going to go, all they're going to see is, ooh, $90. But it's like, bro, but you ain't given me GTA 6. You're giving me Ubisoft half-baked games. And that is not the same.

You don't get to do what Rockstar is going to do when you're giving me a crap one quarter of the game that GTA 6 is going to be. So I do worry that that's going to set a trend. We'll see. I don't like it. I don't like it either. Let's be honest, GTA6 isn't releasing this year anyway. It's getting late. No, don't do that to me.

Don't do that to me. That's not even, look, I was actually going to make that a bold prediction. And then I was like, this isn't even a bold prediction, dude. I'm not going to say that GTA 6 is getting delayed to 2027. Because it's probably going to happen. I can't take another year of this. All right. I'm going to make mine quick, guys.

And then we got to take a break. Ever, ever the glutton for punishment. We will get a Half Life 3 announcement this year. Oh, you are. It's going to happen. Oh, it's going to happen. It's going to happen. It's going to happen.

Ace, you shut your mouth. It's going to happen. Did you guys not see the sticker on the steam machine where it had the Half Life sticker on it? Come on, man. Why would they do that to us? And then the three and then the thing and the place and then the things covered up. They're releasing a console this year.

And it's going to happen. What was it you guys were saying about me being the optimist? Bro, it's going to happen. You didn't grow up in this timeline. Ace. It's gonna happen. This is something that we want. Josh, if Half-Ly-3

gets announced this year, I'll give you a kiss, dude, for sure. Oh my God. Like, I'll kiss you. All right. Deal. I don't know why I'm being punished. But fine. Ryan said it, so I'm holding them to it, you know?

I want it so bad. I want Half-Light 3 more than you could ever imagine. Strangest way to bait out of a game I've ever heard. Look, we have said this time and time again. And I think most gamers have confirmed this. If GTA 6 was going up against Half-Life 3, Half-Life 3 would overshadow G-T-A-6, guys. Like, that's how big, for people that don't understand,

that's how big the Hopium is for Half-Life 3. There are very few games that exist in our history that could outshine a GTA-6 or a Red Dead 3 release or something like that. Half-Life 3 is it. I don't know that there would be a bigger game announcement ever than Half-Life 3. I mean, it's been 21 years, no, 22 years. It was an 04 when, when, when, uh, what if I just keep making this one of my predictions every single year until it finally happens.

I'll be like, I told you guys, I'm a profit. I can see the future. It's like 15 years in the future, you know, and they're like, well, he's been saying. Finally. Yeah. Yeah. Or I'm just super, I'm like 90 and I'm dying and I'm like, we're going to get Half Life 3, right? And it's just like, and it never happened.

All right, listen, we got to take a quick break. And then I'm going to predict that we're going to come back with some more bold predictions. All right. Honestly, I'm not real happy with that segue because that was kind of cheesy. That was really cheesy. Over the break, I kind of thought about it. It was a really clever. It was a good tie-in.

It was a good tie-in. It's nice that you guys both like just let it happen. But like, that one didn't feel good. All right, Ace, we're back to you. What's your next prediction, buddy? I'm actually going to jump around on my list here and say, Ubisoft will take its last breath in 2026 when they muck up the release for Black Flag remake. Good riddons.

I think if they... Good riddins. The way they did skull and bones and how poorly that game has been received, if they try to do that with a remake of Black Flag... Oh, no. Dude... I don't mean to sound harsh, but I say good riddins because Ubisoft is the prime example of a company, that does not know how to make a video game

anymore. They've lost the magic man. Plain and simple, dude. What's wrong with sounding harsh, dude? What's wrong with sounding harsh? Call it out. Call them out from what they are, dude. I'm talking about Ubisoft's leadership.

And again, we love our developers. We love our artists. And I understand that that comes with ramifications, right? It comes with ramifications for good-hearted people, hard-working people. And I don't want to sound callous to that. But you work for a crap company

that doesn't know how to make video games anymore. And we hate Ubisoft for the simple fact that they lost it, dude. They had the magic and they'd lost it because they just went, how do we bloat this even more? Guys, it's so bad. It is so bad that they can't make a new game. They are trying to remaster the last successful game that they had, which is Black Flag.

Like, that tells you everything you need to know about where Ubisoft is at, dude. They can't make a game. that is like a fun game because they're so lost that the only thing they can think of is, well, let's take the last successful game that we made and let's remaster it and hope that we can make some money off of the goodwill that that game had for people.

And I guess we know they have good developers. That's where Sandfall came from. Yes. Yes. Like they are Ubisoft developers. Get out of your own way, man. I don't know what kind of shake up you need, but get out of your way, Ubisoft. You know, good, I,

Like, rip my favorite franchise, man. But I think it needs to happen. Like, honestly, I think, I think a company, like the size of Ubisoft needs to just straight up fail. Right. And we're going to, maybe I have one about another company that might be failing here pretty soon. And I think that you need the shakeup for them to go, we need to reassess how we think about things. You know? Yeah.

All right. Ryan, hit us. What you got? So I'm going to go with one that I feel like. I feel like the technology has been there. We haven't seen an advancement. We haven't seen a leap in quite a while. I think maybe the VR world is going to take a big jump this year.

I think that we are going to get something that will advance, be it a crazy game or crazy technology. Something within the VR world is going to make that big step this year in 2026 that takes it to the next level, something that it's a household name, people all over use it, it's more mainstream than the regular kind of VR world that we live now.

But I think VR is going to take a huge step this year because it's been stagnant for far too long with what it could offer. And I think there's a lot there. So yeah, I think this year is going to make a big step. I'm going to piggyback this one, Ryan, because I have, this is literally one that I have. I have the Steam Frame, which is the new VR headset that is going to be fantastic.

It's got every advancement in technology you could want for making VR mainstream, as long as it's affordable. I have that the Steam Frame will launch with an announcement of a VR game that will rival Half-Life Alex that will show off the hardware and showcase and bring VR gaming into the mainstream at that point. So I'm with you. It's been stagnant. It's been sputtering. I think it's going to take a really good piece of hardware and a killer, killer game to make it happen because you can't just give me the hardware and then I'm playing all the same cartoony, dumbed down, simplified games that VR gives us. You got to have, they go hand in hand.

You know, it's like the Switch 2. You got to have a title to play on the Switch 2 to entice people to buy a Switch 2. What are you talking about? They had Donkey Kong. Oh gosh. Don't start that. Bro, why do you have Donkey Kong? Game of the year, man.

What do you mean? Game of the year. Yeah, not again. No, I agree. We're going to get a hate for that, but whatever. It's dumb. It's fine. But no, I think there's just there's so much of an open world for VR and what they could produce and develop.

I really think that open opportunity for a lot of them. So I think this year we'll see a big step forward. And hopefully it's something amazing that kind of puts VR. in every home. Yeah, I'd love to see it. I'd love to see a big advancement in VR, honestly. I've already been prepping my wife that when the steam frame comes out, like I actually might want to pick one up,

which, you know, again, price is going to matter on this. But at the same time, like, I really enjoy VR. There's just not the kind of caliber of games that get me super interested in VR at this point. It doesn't mean there's not some good ones, but they're few and far between, and I think that's where it's lacking. So all right.

Well, this one, I feel like this one's fairly bold. We'll see. My bold take is that Nintendo will not release a new 3D Mario or Zelda game for the Switch 2 this year. It will only release remasters or Switch 2 ports of previous games. I don't like that. I don't like that you are the opposite of what I'm thinking. Well, I mean, but then again, I'm being an optimist of old Nintendo. my old friend Nintendo

You know I We said this You know That it needed this game And even though we're still saying that the switch two needs an absolute must play game I don't think one's coming this year You know and listen to be clear

I'm not talking about that weird off shoot Zelda game That's like a preschool looking game or something like I'm talking an actual like The the the true 3D platformer Mario type game like like Mario Odyssey, Mario Sunshine, you know, those kind of, or the actual Zelda like Breath of the Wild Tears of the Kingdom, like a full-fledged game, not these dumb little offshoots that they try to capitalize on the name brand with on some of these. So yeah, I don't think, I don't think they're going to do it.

I don't think they're going to have that like absolute must play Mario or Zelda game this year. It feels insane to say knowing we got Metroid Prime 4 on the Switch 2. That is not that nobody, nobody is really about Metro. Nobody says anything about it. How do you butcher that? Metroid was one, it's like one of your top, like, franchises, dude. Yep.

And you released Metroid Prime 4 and people are just like, people were anticipating that game for years. Years. Like, I mean, several console generations. Josh, you're too excited. Josh, you're way too excited, dude. I know. I know.

I got it could be in excitable. All right. So that was mine. Nintendo not going to not going to knock it out of the park this year All right back to you guys what you got I think from software is going to drop a massive game that nobody's going to see

coming and it's going to take over the internet just like how Eldon Ring did Eldon Ring 2 Eldon Ring 2 Give another expansion Dude I'll be happy with the shadow of the Oh they give me another like DLC 40 hours worth more Eldon Ring man

I'm in you give me another DLC Yeah I'm in too I am in Like 100% I have a level 2 268 character I'd love to get back to. Or just even a different IP, man. Like, give me, give me something. Well, we do.

Everything has to be Eldon Ring, but give me a Sekiro. Give me a new game, like, like, something like that where it's like, this is, here we go. This is what we've been cooking up. And you guys are going to freaking love it. Well, like you talked about when we draft, you know, most anticipated games. A lot of people brought up duskbloods or, you know, the new from software game that's going to be Switch to Exclusive. It's switch to only. It's switch exclusive. Yeah.

Weird. Like, what are you doing? Why are we putting a Frub software game on, you know, The Switch 2. Exclusive to the Switch 2. What a weird choice. But I think like there's another one coming that's just going to boom. I hope you're right.

I really hope I'm right too. You know they're working on stuff. So it's just what are they working on? Hi, Ryan. What's your next one? Mine is going to be that PC requirements on video games this year is going to create a disaster. I don't think devs are going to take into account with their optimized. the lack of RAM and GPU performance with the prices.

And I think that a lot of people are going to have a hard time running a lot of the games and the new releases, maybe mid to later on in the year. It's going to be really, really tough for a lot of computers to run these things. All the console gamers are laughing at us right now. I know, right? Yeah. I mean, honestly, we keep talking about the Steam machine. might be coming at the right time, you know, but then again, is that going to affect the pricing

and price it out of the affordability factor for most people at the same time, right? This one's weird, Ryan, because we are absolutely going to run into issues with RAM and GPU prices, and that will absolutely trickle down to developers to where it's like, we need to optimize this game so that people can play it because people can't just run out and buy 32 gigabytes of RAM for 100 bucks anymore. No, you know. And, you know, it's like, you know, we're seeing astronomical prices for GPUs. Now that's the GPU's shortage slash pricing's been going on for a little while now.

It kind of caught up a little bit and then, but now it's kind of getting out of hand again. And this will absolutely affect like, dude, I'm terrified. I'm going to need to build a PC at some point because like RAM is so ridiculously expensive. And it's like, I looked and I'm like, okay, whew, I got 32 gigabytes of DDR5. But like what happens if one of my kids' computers die and I got to build them something? and it's like, I'm looking at $350 worth of RAM now. You know, like... It's crazy. Dude, I looked just the other day. I was like, I wonder.

And so I went and I looked on my Amazon and I had bought 16 gigs at DDR4 a few years ago for my laptop. I had an old laptop that I was just getting some extra RAM for. And it was 50 bucks. You know what it is now? It's like $120. $130. It's almost three times the price. You know, it's like it's gone up such a significant amount that I think it's going to price so many people out of getting enough processing power to run these games at an acceptable level.

And the developers, we've already seen that they don't care about optimizing these things. Like, they'll fix it in patches and they'll whatever and they hope people have strong enough computers. Like, I don't know, man. I'm interested to see like later in the year what it's going to love. look like. Better start focusing on some optimization. Yeah. I think it's going to be a requirement for people. So I don't like that one either, Ryan, but I think you might be right. And that's one we'll definitely know before the other year. I'm getting all. I'm getting all doom with glue, man. I know. What happened to you, Ryan? Sad wallet. 2025 happened to me. Here's a doom and gloom one.

And this might be my boldest take on this one, but I'm putting, I'm, I'm doubling down on this one. Arc Raiders. We'll see a massive. player drop off before the end of the year and fail to be in Steam's top 50 concurrent player games. I do not know about this one just because... I'll bet you $50 right now

that doesn't happen. No, we're going to have a $20 bet on something right? Yeah, $50. Oh, $70 in the whole year? Come on, 50 bucks right now. How strong do you believe in your convictions? If I felt strongly about this, it wouldn't be a bold prediction, Ryan. It would be like

my take. That's the whole point. It's supposed to be out there, dude. All right. You know, but I can see a world where the hype dies down. The game becomes repetitive. There's not, they're not having the hype of a whole bunch of new people and telling their friends and stuff about it. And then people get tired.

And hey, maybe beautiful light releases this year. Maybe Marathon doesn't suck. And they actually wind up with some other games in the genre that are very fun games that pull people away to the next thing. If there's one thing about gamers we know, it's that we absolutely love a game and then we move on to the next game. You know, and I feel like with Arc Raiders, that maybe it is me, I know, but I feel like with Arc Raiders that, you know, and this is not slandering Arc Raiders. We freaking love Arc Raiders,

but I do see the world. There's more than 320 people playing on SteamDB right now. How many people are playing Hell divers? I'm just saying, I'm just saying, I looked, I actually looked at the top 50 games and Hell divers, I think is like right around like 40, like mid-40s, so it's almost off of that. And that's, that's another reason why I think this might happen. So I feel like watch Hell Divers, too. and you'll see the ticking time. 31, the time tick down there. Yeah. Yeah. So,

so, Ark Raiders will wind up outside Steam's top 50 concurrent player games by the end of the year. Another 20? All right, fine, $20. All right, 20 bucks. You heard it here, folks. We're going to win one and lose one, and then we're just going to be like, okay, it's a wash.

All right, you keep it. That's fine. As long as we're gambling, baby. I love it. I'm like, I just want to gamble, man. I just want to gamble. Okay. All right. Ace, we're back to you. got time for maybe one more each so give me one more buddy oh man I got a pick I'll tell you what if we can do a couple quickfires so give me the one

you want to talk about a little bit and then we'll do a couple quick fires all right I think we will finally in object shouldn't you we will finally see a new 3D Mario game around the time the Mario Galaxy movie launches I hope you're right that would be smart like oh Mario Galaxy 3 my wife wants a switch 2 but she doesn't want to switch to right now because

there's no games for it. But I know she wants a Switch 2 and I want to get her a Switch 2. But at the same time, she kind of goes, there's nothing to play right now. And then I kind of go, yeah, you're right. So she goes, I'll just wait. So I hope we get that must play game. Like I've said as much as I don't like Nintendo, you know, like I'm going to

buy a Switch 2 when it makes sense to buy a Switch 2. Yep. Yep. Because I love my wife and that's what she plays. But at the same time, it's like, I hope you're right, Ace. I don't know the I really hope I'm right on that. It would be the perfect timing to just like get everyone on board with it.

I mean, I don't think it's going to happen. It's a bold prediction for a reason. You and I went opposites of each other. So honestly, like, on the one hand as a gamer, I hope you're right. But on the other hand as a competitor, I hope you're wrong. Bet on it. Bet on it. Yeah, bet on it.

Yeah, bet you a thousand dollars, eh. Thousand dollars. All right, Ryan, back to you. What's one for you? So this is my last one here. I believe that Game Pass is going to do a another price increase this year. And I think that every $50 a month now?

I'm telling you, what's going to happen is that they're going to do another price increase. Everybody's going to complain and nobody's going to cancel. And it'll just keep on chugging on. Yeah, but maybe they'll add Netflix to it. So they're like, now it makes it better, right?

Netflix with ads. They'll add other stuff. Yeah, other things, whatever it may be. But like I think they're going to do another price increase. You'll probably get less content, less things you want.

but everybody's going to whine and complain and nobody's going to cancel. Yeah, I mean, that's what happened last time. Yep. It's all the day, and then nobody ever votes with their wallet, and these companies just keep jacking the prices up. That's why we are where we are at with Ubisoft.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that one's tough, man, because it's like there is a ton of value with GamePass, but then now with them, so the thing is, they've gated the day one releases to the ultimate tier only. So these big titles like X-Pathes, Expedition 33 and Doom the Dark Ages.

Remember when we were getting all these day one on Xbox Game Pass? We'll get that anymore unless you're at the $50 a month. I think it's actually $35. It's like $35. But if Ryan's right and they bump it up to, you know, $43 a month tier. $55. $4,2.99. I'd rather just buy the game.

Like, think about it. At that point. Games range from $40 to $60, right? I would rather buy the game and own it forever than to rent it off of game pass and then decide that I want to cancel one day and not have access. You don't own it. Just it's digital. Like you don't,

you don't own the game. You're just rushing the use of the game. You know. Even Steam says that, which is sad. It is sad. All right. One last one for me.

Hmm. Hmm. This one, I don't know how bold this one is, but I'm going to say it anyway. So, Marathon will fail, and Bungy will be shut down.

They will close the doors to Bungy, and Bungy will cease to exist. Oh, no. I don't know that that's super bold. Another blow to PlayStation. On the one hand, a lot of people think marathon's not going to work out. But the bold take is that I think that this will be the end of Bunchy at that point.

Bungy. You know. Hey, we better go. Which really does make me sad because, I mean, these are the people that gave us Halo. You know, these are the people that gave us destiny, you know. And these are the people that can't seem to make a game anymore. It's like Ubisoft, dude, where it's like, get out of your way. quit chasing profits and chase a fun video game and the rest will work itself out.

We say it over and over again, but man. Yeah. All right. Is that y'all's list? Do you all have any quick fires? I got a couple quick fires if you guys will have a week. I got a quick fire. GTA sucks to be delayed one more time to December.

To December? Yeah. That's still this year. That's, yeah, but too late for game of the year. Too late for game of the year. Doesn't matter, but it's still within this year, though. It'll be good for my list. I do have, I have this one, another indie game will win game of the year.

You know, kind of following the indie trend that we all think. You know, I don't know if that's a bold take, so I didn't name it, but for a quick fire, why not? And then my last one is, and I actually think this one might happen with the acquisition of EA by the Saudi Arabia company, BioWare, they're going to look at BioWare and they're going to say, you guys have not made a good game in a long time and they're just going to straight up shut BioWare. Oh yeah, they're going to dismantle BioWare. That's what I think. I mean, I don't know how old that is. So again, it's just a quick fire,

but I can absolutely see this happening, especially after the colossal flop of Dragon Age Vale Guard. I think they're going to look at that. I think they're going to go, you guys don't know what you're doing anymore and you're out. We're going to trim the fat and you are unfortunately part of the fat. Guys, Bioware was one of the best. They were one of the best developers.

What happened, dude? All this Ubisoft, BioWare. Like, come on my, man. Blizzard. Do you remember? Do you remember seeing... At least Blizzard still makes a really good video game, though. Blizzard games are awesome, dude.

They make a really good trailer. I'll tell you that much. They make a good trailer. But like, do you remember when you would see, like, the Blizzard, like, logo pop up and you're like... You knew the greatest game ever was coming. Yeah. You knew. You were going to have a game that you were going to be playing for five years.

Not anymore. Like, legit. I don't know. See, Blizzard's a little weird to me because I still think that they make incredible games. So, you know, spoiler, blizzards work. Oh, no, actually, that one got canceled. Dang it. The Blizzard survival game.

That's so weird. But then they came out and canceled it. So I don't know. Maybe not. You might be right, Ryan. Yeah. Anyway, say it again. Take a lesson.

There's a theme here. And it's these indie developers know what they're doing. They're making these amazing games. They're making these games that resonate with gamers. It doesn't cost you $200 million. Take a lesson. Figure it out, AAA people. you know, because it's right in front of you.

There's literally a lesson being learned. Right in front of you, you just got to get out of your way and stop being all corporate meetings and mindsets and suits and all that stuff and just make fun video games. And the rest will work itself out. So, all right, well, there you go. There's your bold predictions for 2026. I can't wait to come back next year and go like, man, wow, we were really good at this.

They were like, okay, we might have done well in 2025, but we were idiots in 2026. me. Hey, one of us is going to be right on one of them, Josh. That's very true. That's very, yeah, one of us is going to get one of them right. So, all right. Listen, we want to know what your bold predictions are. Throw us a comment. It's okay. Be bold. Just make a statement. You know why? Because one of y'all is going to be right later on in this year and you're going to be able to come back because your comment's going to be on this episode. You can be like, I told you all. So leave a comment on this episode. Let us know what your bold prediction for 2026 is. If you got more than one, share it. We look at all the comments. We try to respond to them when we can.

but we do see them all and we want to know what y'all think out there for crazy things that might happen this year remember to like and or like and subscribe me follow the show right i mean you can like and subscribe we are on youtube so that's a shout out to our youtube crowd there but remember to follow the podcast hit that plus button that follow button uh on spotify or apple podcast or whatever podcast app you're listening to so you get all our episodes the day that they release come join our discord server we say it all the time if you're not there, you're missing out. And listen, if you enjoy this podcast and you love this show and we brighten your day,

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