With Uncharted 4 Delayed to 2016, What Else is Out This Year?

AAA game development is going to continue to constrict as these budgets grow. Most of these developers cannot afford to work on more than one $50+ million project at a time.

Persona 5! Sure, it doesn't have a firm release date, and it is coming to PS3 also, but I can't see it getting pushed back another year.

When it comes down to it, there's enough noteworthy games spread throughout the year I don't feel like I'll be lacking for things to play. It's not like I buy every game that comes out. If there's at least one solid release every couple months that's pretty in-line with my normal buying habits. (I can always go back to FFXIV if there is another notable lull.)

I am at the point where I'll take one really good game over a bunch of decent ones.

@subliminalkitteh said:

Well, the article isn't about the Wii U in general.

There are also plenty of games exclusively not coming out on the Wii U though.

I dunno, man, the line up of big games this year is one of the strongest in a while.

Witcher, Tomb Raider, Batman, Bloodborne, Halo, MGS, MK. If those games live up to their potential, 2015 will be one to remember.

@brad said:

I think it's a problem if that's your expectation, but isn't gaming on every platform now just a few traditional $60 games - a few great games, but mostly underwhelming sequels - and a ton of downloadable titles for a third the price or less - some bad and some amazing? That's what you're getting on either console, or on Steam for that matter.

If you're buying a console or building a PC to play high budget, graphics crazy experiences on a regular basis you're bound to be disappointed these days. And nobody has given any indication that's changing. But I've had more than enough reason to fire up my PS4 or Steam and play some great games, which is all I can really ask. If Sony stops finding PSN games to fill in the holes, then they'll have a problem.

I do get the anxiety because that list is pretty slim this year, but an article like this should have happened after we see how E3 turns out. (and you said as much that its a bad time to make this list, so i sort of dont understand the point of the article.)

also not everyone's after making a living room PC setup, i may be in the minority on this, but if the list of big 60 dollar exclusive games is still this slim after E3 and its just a year of majority multiplatform releases, I'm good playing all those games on my ps4,

i don't really care about the graphical bump ill get playing the multiplatform games on PC. not trying to snob PC folks who love that sort of thing, more power to them, but the convenience factor of these consoles (not to mention stuff like remote play and share play) outweighs the graphics bump you'd obviously get on a pc for me personally.

@heckler: You say you're tired of the relentless pessimism, despite Jeff the final paragraph of the article including: "I don't know about you, but all of this pushes my interest in E3 this year up a bit. Between the obvious games that haven't been announced or shown yet and the potential for actual new announcements, it should be an interesting year one way or the other. Potentially pivotal, even!"

Woah man, that relentless pessimism of being more interested in E3, looking forward to the games that aren't even out yet, describing the year as interesting and pivotal. C'mon son, try harder.

Even that couple of sentences aside, one of the biggest games due to come out in 2015 has just been pushed back. The last big console exclusive AAA title (The Order) was met with lukewarm disappointment. Sorry bud, I don't know how you look at those facts, tied with the list in Jeff's post, and coming away feeling positive about AAA games on the current gen platforms. I'm still waiting for an excuse to buy one and feeling like they are making my attempt to save money more straight forward. At some point, is just stating that AAA is in a weird place right now, which could go either way, actually pessimism or a matter of...if not fact then at least something a lot of people agree on.

Sony is famous for its slow starts so I'm not especially surprised by them. Microsoft, on the other hand, nailed the first couple of years for their previous consoles. Sony has a habit of starting off slow and then getting better over time. It wasn't until 2009 that we got Uncharted 2, Killzone 2, Infamous 2, and a couple other major Sony exclusives. God of War 3 hit in 2010 I think. And in the PS2 era it likewise took a couple of years before we saw the big guns like Jak, Ratchet, God of War, and SOCOM start coming out. And you can say the same about the PS1. If Sony can't pick things up by Holiday 2016 then I'll be worried. But I never expect them to start off running, cause that just isn't what they do.

But Microsoft has always had a really strong opening year so it's a bit worrying to see them slacking so heavily during what is normally their best period. Halo, Crackdown, Gears of War and PGR all hit within a year of their respective systems launching. Fable and Forza both came out at the end of the original Xbox era but by and large most of Microsoft's biggest hits have come out within two years of the console's launch, which has never been true in Sony's case.

Plenty of interesting stuff coming in 2015. It's looking to be a strong vintage.

That being said, I'm not anywhere close to being able to justify a PS4 or Xone. I wonder if I'll wait for the remodel like I did with the PS360.

Witcher 3 is all I care about. Please be May already.

To be fair this is a list of games I want to play and won't have time to this year so it looks good to me *shrug*

I recently picked up a 3DS. Between that and my Steam backlog, I don't need any new games until sometime this summer. Still, I gotta admit I thought there would be more this year. This id probsbly because AAA games are really, really expensive to make these days. Sometimes it seems that games are either indie or blockbusters. Publishers need to bring back the mid-tier game to fill in these lulls.

For posterity's sake, here's a list of notable exclusives from the year 2007 (2 years after the launch of the 360, 1 year after the launch of the ps3).

• crackdown (360)
• motorstorm (ps3)
• forza motorsport 2 (360)
• lair (lol)(ps3)
• heavenly sword (ps3)
• halo 3 (360)
• project gotham racing 2 (360)
• ratchet and clank future: tools of destruction (ps3)
• uncharted (ps3)
• mlb 07: the show (ps3)

So yeah, this year looks slim by comparison... And that doesn't even take into account the crazy third party lineup for that year. I don't know man, games take longer to make, more money and people to make them than ever before. This leads to AAA publishers taking less risks, cutting corners, and overworking under payed developers. This is why games made by smaller teams with modest graphics have become such a huge thing for this industry. That's where all the interesting ideas are coming from, and no one cares how many polygons each character is made up of, or what the texture resolution is, or if 4k will make the experience any better.

What I'm saying is, AAA games are either going to adapt and thrive, or neglect their user base and eventually die off in favor of free to play tree foraging zombie simulators.

The future is looking grim..

I don't know the year is looking pretty good for me. I mainly game on my ps4 these days. I don't buy every single game that comes out so I am more than happy with Bloodborne, Witcher 3, Mortal Kombat, Batman, Final Fantasy XIV expansion for the summer, MGS5 and smaller indie titles I haven't checked out yet. If No Mans Sky and Persona 5 drop this year then that would be great also. Really was looking to Uncharted 4 though.

Does Ratchet & Clank not count? I mean the series has been one of Sony's mainstays since the PS2 era. It's supposedly coming out this year but Insomniac won't say a word about it. It is also very strangely not up for pre-order.

At the moment I am like..perfectly content not to buy any of the new systems. I own the current generation handhelds, if those count but at the moment there is absolutely nothing that I can not get on my PC, Vita, or PS3 that I wish too play.

The two major franchises that sold me on a console last generation (Final Fantasy and MGS) are both PC games now. The biggest rpg coming out in the next year or two (for me) is gonna have a PS3 version (Persona 5) The one big Japanese game being released this year (Disgaea) is about the only thing that might interest me, but that franchise hasn't kept my interest over the last two games. It would also not shock me in the slightest to see it, and everything else by that company released to steam given the trend of other such developers in that direction.

So far, it makes way more sense for me to invest in upgrading my current PC then spending money on a console. I'm not making some kind of pc vs console argument here either, I would absolutely own a current generation system if I had any meaningful reason too. At the moment I simply do not.

So this years E3 might be very exciting. Like, there is this big void and you expect it can't just be left like that. Surely they will have plans in place and we can trust them too make the rest of this year in gaming exciting.

Or you could be a wrestling fan like me, and be in a pessimistic state where you can absolutely see this as sign that E3 is going to absolutely suck. Show you nothing you can except to get your hands on any time soon, and provide you with no compelling argument why you should feel good about spending that 400-500$ on a console, as opposed to an upgraded pc.

Oh and for what its worth. I absolutely adore personally written pieces like this. GiantBomb is not a place I come too to keep up on the very latest gaming related news as soon as it breaks. I come to hear the opinions of people who I've come to like as entertaining personalities discuss the big issues, or other things that interest them. A good number of the people involved in that are writers for god sakes, it completely makes sense that them writing straight up "This was on my mind, now I'm gonna talk about it" would also be entertaining/exactly the kind of stuff some of us want.

tl;dr I've no reason to buy a PS4/xbox1, all the games are on the PC or etc now! & Giant Bomb guys writing personal blogs on issues they care about? Hell yes, More please!.

Great article Jeff! Thanks for the read.

I've not yet made the move to buy a current gen console. There are a couple of cases like MGS5, Bloodborne, and Batman Arkham Knight that are enticing me, but there isn't this overwhelming urge to buy a new piece of hardware. There is a long list of indie games that I want to try out, but you don't need to fork out for a PS4 or Xbox One to be able to play those.

Why am I entertaining the idea of buying a Wii U?

I am desperately hoping for a few particular announcements this E3. Fallout 4 is practically a given at this point, considering Bethesda has it's own conference. It seems like the right time to announce the next Deus Ex, but I'm probably being too optimistic. Finally, the next Mass Effect *has* to be shown in some capacity. Dragon Age is out of the way so they can focus on something else and that just seems like the logical one.

Edit: Oh and obviously, none of those would come out this year cause "fuck you"...

Two big games for me: No Man's Sky and Hyper Light Drifter aren't on this list as they aren't retail games, but as long as MGS5, Witcher 3, Bloodborne, Xenoblade X, and Batman deliver, this year should totally out class the last handful. Oh and if Star Fox AND Zelda make it out...

Nintendo will probably take this year again. Zelda, Xenoblade, Splatoon, Mario Maker and a few other games are coming out this year and I'm sure more will be announced at E3. Other than Bloodborne, there is still no real reason to own a One or a PS4 if you have a computer that works.

Thank god I built a PC instead and can also stand playing only a few games for a long time.

The Witness is out this year, just like it was out last year...and the year before...and the year before that. Sigh.

@forkboy: Do you not follow Jeff's content? This is hardly the only time he's been extremely, and in my opinion, unduly pessimistic about consoles in general. This article isn't the complete scope of this "incessantness" I was talking about.

"Sorry bud, I don't know how you look at those facts, tied with the list in Jeff's post, and coming away feeling positive about AAA games on the current gen platforms. I'"

Could have done without the condescension there.

Anyway, aren't January and February notoriously light months for new games? And The Order isn't the only game that released on the platform. Third party games actually COUNT, you know that, right? I've personally played and enjoyed Driveclub, Far Cry 4, Dragon Age, Drying Light, Evolve, The Order 1886, and a bunch of smaller games over the past couple of months. So I'm not sure where you get off being so skeptical about the idea that someone might enjoy playing AAA games on a current gen console. They're selling for a reason, you know.

Oh and, don't say "try harder son". It's how I perceive his demeanor, and that's that. It isn't actually taboo to share that fact. And it's not as if saying Jeff's cynical is some kind of controversial statement.

We all know Jeff only wants his Persona 5, fuck everything else.

I don't know, seems like a decent line up. I don't buy that many games any more (actually buy quite a few games I don't end up playing much for lack of time), and I see a handful I intend to buy.

- Witcher (with a bullet)

- Bloodborne (never played Demon/Dark Souls, but always wanted to)

- Batman (looks pretty good)

- Final Fantasy XIV (haven't bought one of those in a while, but this one seems like it may be pretty cool)

- Mortal Kombat (haven't played one in a while, but again been wanting to)

- Metal Gear (never finished the last one, the only game I ever bought on PS3, but I'll probably buy this one)

- Just Cause (just 'cause)

And a few of these, if delivered as promoted, are some pretty BIG games. Not a lot of chafe this year, but a decent line up.

Maybe Tom Clancy. We'll see. Ubisoft has been screwing the pooch of late. They need to make some major strides to save face. Watch Dogs and A.C. Unity were some big blows. Never even bothered buying them.

Even if you did finish MGS4, that's not going to help you understand the context of MGSV. That would be Peace Walker and Ground Zeroes. Luckily it looks like MGSV is going to be a great game either way.

I don't know why but I figured Persona 5 would be out this year. Am I wrong?

Maybe. Depends on the speed of localisation. I saw a tweet or something from the localisation team saying the english version is going well and might come out sooner than we think.

I'll never understand this argument unless you only play very few games. Consoles will always have considerably more exclusive games. Hell, this month alone has four games I'll buy(Bloodborne, Final Fantasy, Toukiden, Bladestorm) that aren't on PC. I have a decent PC and play plenty of games on it but I could never own only a PC.

Maybe I'm weird since I've always owned every console of every generation.

EDIT: It appears Bladestorm will be on PC after all.

I don't even pay attention to release dates anymore with how many games get delayed these days (and still manage to be broken upon release), but I'm just hoping that MGS V date stays the same, that's it.

There are still a lot of cool third party games coming out so I don't know why anyone with a decent PC would want a console at this point in the generation. A few years ago that would be the last thing I would have said but I really feel like paying $400 for the few mediocre exclusives is not worth it when I have access to the majority of third-party games on PC. I guess I'm "that guy" now. Hopefully Sony does start announcing games soon, although I don't want to just see more of the same IPs that were on PS3.

The list is just packed with games that I'm hyped for this year.

Also, "UNLIMITED ANIME: The video game" is my favorite surprise announcement so far. The games are all just so corny...

Indies always saves the day(year?) !

@fr0br0: Yep, for kicks I go back and listen to the bombcast from years prior and it's the same complaints as now.... oh video games.

Bloodborne is all I need.

I was very disappointed when I looked at "Omega Quintet" and found it had nothing to do with Omega Boost.

Does seem a bit thin but probably depends on what kinda stuff you like.

Bloodborne could be a big hit.

Witcher 3 will be a big hit.

Metal Gear Solid V could be game of the year.

Final Fantasy XIV expansion looks great so far. But I already love the existing game and have been playing it continuously for months.

I'll bet money that Gran Turismo 7 will release alongside Morpheous (Spring 2016?). It is absolutely the type of game and developer who will make some incredible or dumb VR feature in the game. For interior view. I'll be throwing cash monies at this game.

Bethesda will probably be announcing Fallout 4. Hopefully for Holiday 2015 release. Any later than that and its too early to announce now IMO.

Is Bravely Second or whatever its called coming this year?

I haven't played a Mortal Kombat game since the SNES but I might pick up this new one.

And then there are all the weird random, out of no-where indie games that just pop up on the radar close to their release.

I'm not going to disagree with you Jeff on the PS4 and Xbox One exclusives, but there's enough stuff plus random unannounced games. I'm going to say there's enough out there.

Thanks Jeff. I completely agree. There are fewer and fewer HUGE games coming out. There are a bunch of great downloadable games coming out now, but there's really not very much left to get excited about. Also I really enjoy when you write these types of essays. Keep them coming!

I enjoyed reading this a lot, but after some reflection I am a little disappointed it comes from such a "2003" mentality where small games basically don't exist... I too love the Big Games, at least as an idea, and I always hope there are more and that they are awesome, but ultimately the truth of my situation is that I can only play a handful of these games a year anyways. Most of my time - especially where I am really having fun - is with with smaller games.

I mean, shit, METAL GEAR SOLID V comes out in September. Considering how I have played these games since the originals, it will be the game for me for a very, very long time. In my other time I will play 1 or 2 games online with my out-of-town friend.

Anecdotal Thoughts: My friends who have consoles and don't post on forums really don't care about exclusives or tent pole releases. In fact they barely know which games are exclusive at all. They just buy what they like and what their friends have.

Here is my list of games I want to play, this year:

Final Fantasy Type-0
Project CARS
The Witcher III
Batman AK
MGSV

This is where my life and Jeff's diverges and where my life and the whole "State of The Industry" also diverge. With these games alone, this being a "dry" year... would be a bananas idea. I will never, ever have time to play these 5 games by the January 1st.

As far as game releases and the industry's health... I dunno. I bow to Jeff here but new consoles are selling like wild hotcakes - and there were less games out last year and the year before that too. So all in all I guess what I think is that what Jeff is feeling is what a lot of us are feeling who have been kicking around for a while and used to the AAA games being there to wow us from time to time. That age really is coming to an end. Things are slowing down. The bigger games are getting bigger and there are just more and more and more small games. The middle does seem to be coming back inbetween all this extremity, and that I think is a really big positive compared to where we were 5 years ago.

Great write up Jeff, always want to read more of your stuff.

This was a good read. Thanks, Jeff. This lull of exclusives does suck but, if my awful memory serves me right, I don't recall a lot of exclusives being released in the first two years of previous consoles either?

Personally with Bloodborne and MLB 15 The Show releasing in a few weeks I'm pretty good with games until Metal Gear Solid V comes out in September. There will be enough indie titles and Steam sales to get me through some boring weeks of Summer.

Yeah, I was just about to post this. Having listened to all the old bombcasts recently, every single year around this time they would try to list the games announced for that year and always came to the conclusion that it was going to be a weak year.

That empty November is the weirdest fucking thing.

Expect another half dozen assassin's creed titles to be ready this holiday season.

Yep, I know we don't want companies shipping broken games, but that U4 delay really screwed up the PS4's 2015. I'm hoping Persona 5 makes it to North America this year, but that seems iffy too. Overall Sony has been pretty happy to have the PS4 be a third party and indie machine, which has been a little disappointing. Hope Bloodborne delivers this month!

What I hope to play this year- From last year- Finish the Swapper, play FEZ, The Evil Within, Dragon Age and Far Cry 4 and a few other PS+ games I haven't had time to play yet. 2015. Ollie Ollie 2, Oddworld New ‘N’ Tasty, Apotheon, Dying Light (maybe), Game of Thrones, Life is Strange, Resident Evil Rev 2, Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, Bloodborne, Grim Fandango Remastered, Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin, The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, Batman: Arkham Knight, Axiom Verge, Bastion, Broken Age: The Complete Adventure, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, Journey(PS4), Magicka 2, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, No Man’s Sky, Persona 5, Salt & Sanctuary, Shovel Knight, SOMA, The Banner Saga, The Tomorrow Children, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, The Witness......These are just games I am hyped for right now that are suppose to be out on the PS4 this year. add to this list a ton of PS+ games, new games announced at E3 this year and games I get hyped for as they get closer to release dates and I am in gamer heaven. Yes, most of these aren't exclusive, but who cares? This is just a small sample of games being released this year that I will never have enough time to play:) Games are great and we are no longer in the 60$ exclusives are all that really matter and that's a good thing

Apparently the recent Quantum Break delay rumor was completely fake so I think there is a decent chance of that shipping this year. Remedy takes a while to make their games but it feels like that game has been in the spotlight for enough years and they've released enough gameplay footage at this point that my Remedy senses are tingling.

I keep forgetting about Until Dawn, its basically the David Cage game to fill the gap while David Cage makes his game. I'm not feeling too bad about Microsoft's lineup, I like shooters and Action-adventure games but yeah Sony's lineup is just tumbleweeds. Its not that unusual at this point of the year to not really know what is going to happen in the fall but it feels like Uncharted 4 was Sony's big gun regardless of whatever else they have planned. Usually the first fall after a system ships is when you see what its made of and what is going to define the generation. It feels like those generation defining games are constantly on the horizon right now. At least Shadows of Mordor nailed one piece of this generation's puzzle.

Splatoon hype! Man, I have a dread in the back of my head that Nintendo will fuck up Splatoon in some Nintendo-esque fashion.

Because, good and bad, it stands out as something special.

My take away from reading this article is that the big, great, and first-party exclusives for the PlayStation 4 have been few and far between and don't seem to improve too much looking at the year ahead. The Xbox One is ahead in this regard, but not by much. On the premise that console exclusives are why you buy a particular system, the PS4 and XB1 haven't done too much to distinguish themselves. There's good and bad to this, but I find it somewhat comforting that you aren't missing out on many games if you decide to have only one of the two systems.

I miss reading things on Giant Bomb.

Please write more, Jeff!