Destiny 2
Destiny 2 is reeling a bit as of right now. However, if there’s hope for the game, it’s going to come in the form of a presumed major fall expansion similar in vein to The Taken King and Rise of Iron. The Taken King in particular was incredibly impactful and is considered by some to have rescued the first game. Both Bungie and hardcore Destiny 2 fans are likely pulling for a similar turnaround this fall.
Red Dead Redemption 2 coming out in October is going to put extra pressure on Bungie to get this right. When the next Destiny 2 expansion drops in May, there’s going to be four months until that major expansion drops, likely in September. Fans are going to be fatigued even more so than they were in the time between Destiny 2’s launch and Curse of Osiris. There’s going to be very little patience for something that doesn’t shake up the game in a major and positive way.
If it ends up being a dud, or even just a work in progress (which is common for the Destiny series), you can certainly expect casual or fleeting fans to bolt for Red Dead Redemption 2 when that comes out, and it might even be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for the loyal fans too.
You can read our full thoughts about Destiny 2’s roadmap for this year here, but long story short, there’s not a whole lot of room for error for Bungie with Destiny 2, especially now that Red Dead Redemption 2 is crashing the holiday party.
Call of Duty
While no Call of Duty game ever “flops” anymore, at least in comparison to any other franchise that isn’t itself, Activision would certainly prefer to not have to go up against a new Rockstar game while trying to compete for the hearts and wallets of holiday gift buyers. Just about any company releasing a video game would share that sentiment.
However, Call of Duty stands out as a franchise that seems to get burned in particular by Rockstar. If you ask Call of Duty fans where the series started to go awry, I would wager the majority would tell you either Call of Duty: Ghosts or Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Those two games, and even Modern Warfare 3, were not as warmly received as others in the franchise, and it took until the recently released Call of Duty: WWII for many to view the series as back on track (although I personally enjoyed Black Ops III a lot).
You know what also didn’t help either of those two games? The release of Grand Theft Auto V for last generation and current generation consoles in 2013 and 2014. Why put up with a Call of Duty game that you’re not thrilled about, when one of the best games of this and last generation is readily available?
Call of Duty: WWII was great, but now the pressure is going to be on the franchise to follow up. Will Treyarch opt for another WWII follow up? Whatever they have been working on has been under development since before Activision got to see how well received WWII was. If they are full-steam already in a direction that fans are tired of, specifically anything futuristic, Red Dead Redemption 2 will likely already be on store shelves waiting to swoop in and adopt any unhappy CoD fans, just like Grand Theft Auto V did years before.
Wild West Online
This one is obvious, right? While Wild West Online likely won’t be releasing fully this year, early access is going to begin Nov. 15. Releasing on Oct. 26, Red Dead Redemption 2 will of course beat Wild West Online’s early access to the punch. We don’t know exactly what Red Dead Redemption 2’s online multiplayer will be like, but considering its predecessor had an online component, and the obscene amounts of money Grand Theft Auto Online has made, it’s a safe bet that Rockstar is taking “Red Dead Online” or whatever they will call it, very seriously.
It’s a shame, because even in a very early and raw state, we had a good time with Wild West Online 2, making our own fun. But, if Red Dead Redemption 2 is as gripping and fun as its predecessor, it might be a hard sell to convince prospective players to drop it in favor of Wild West Online. Sure it’s possible that Red Dead Redemption 2 might actually boost the interest in Wild West Online, but it’s probably more likely to over shadow it. The official Twitter account for Wild West Online in its description even states tongue in cheek that part of who they are is “explaining that we’re not Red Dead Redemption. ” Hopefully both games can coexist with a short period of time, but we’ll put our money on Red Dead Redemption 2 in that David vs. Goliath match up.
Published: Feb 2, 2018 11:37 am