User blog:Astrogamer/Road to E3 2018 - Final Predictions

With E3 underway and the Direct starting later today, let's finish with some last minute predictions. Let's first get out of the way what we've learned in the last couple days.

Nintendo games at E3
With the E3 press conferences underway, a few notableswitch games have been announced. While most of the games have ignored the Switch, some announcements have been big.

For starters, EA Play didn't really have any Switch content. However, FIFA 19 is coming to the Switch the same day as the other platforms and is improve from 18. Most notable it will include online friendlies. Additionally, Microsoft had one new Switch game from Bandai Namco in the form of Tales of Vesperia marking the series return to Nintendo platforms since the 3DS game Tales of Abyss.

Bethesda came next with two confirmed titles and a few speculative entries. The two confirmed titles are mobile ports with Elder Scrolls Legends and Fallout Shelter which while not spectacular, are signs that Bethesda is supporting the platform. The 3 speculative titles are Doom Eternal, Wolfenstein Youngblood and The Elder Scrolls Blades. Blades has the most likely of chance being a mobile game that was said to come to all platforms but, Wolfenstein Youngblood looks to be a straight expansion on Wolfenstein II meaning it would not take much effort to port it to the Switch. Doom Eternal is the sequel to modern Doom which given the game's success on Switch, it should be considered but, it also might be technically difficult as it aims for higher end hardware.

Ubisoft had the largest support with 4 titles featured. Trials Rising and Just Dance 2019 were to be expected given that they are fairly low budget titles. Just Dance is even coming to the Wii and Wii U. They also had a trailer for the Donkey Kong Adventure DLC in Mario + Rabbids which even had a live performance featuring Grant Kirkhope but, the true star of the show was Starlink. With this game, they announced Fox would be in the game with his Arwing and the Starter Park on the Switch would include him. Miyamoto even was invited on stage and give a prototype of the toy.

Direct expectations
The Direct has been determined to be about 30 minutes from scheduling. Like previous E3 presentations, we should expect around 10 or so announcements in the presentation itself. To narrow it down, let's start with Third Parties.

The big rumor for third parties is the launch of Fortnite for Nintendo Switch. Apparently the rumors say it will launch (for free) later today. There has been evidence for this game datamined on the eShop so it is safe to say it's coming to the Switch. It isn't certain that the game will include the crossplay on other platforms at launch but, given games like Paladins are going to have crossplay, it looks it would be there soon. Some other rumors include the games Dragon Ball FighterZ and Overcooked 2 and a game called Killer Queen Black (likely a console version of the arcade game Killer Queen). Some of these might appear in a reel or ad portion rather than a full trailer.

My expectations for 3rd party also include a Konami game and a Square Enix game. Konami hinted to having E3 presence but has so far lacked anything (the closest is Super Bomberman R which just released on other platforms). This likely means either a Bomberman game or a Castlevania game will appear on Switch. Square Enix has had a lackluster E3 with their big stuff appearing for bits in the other main conferences. They probably won't leave Nintendo out of the loop especially with the lack of information on The World Ends With You. I expect this will appear during Treehouse but probably not in E3. I would expect something like Dragon Quest Builders or a Final Fantasy game. Outside of that. maybe Warner Bros or Atlus. will show something since they weren't really at the other conferences.

For first party, I think Fire Emblem will kick off the Direct similar to Xenoblade Chronicles 2 did last year. It's a big cinematic piece that works to start it off. Super Smash Bros. will either be like Mario Maker and go in between each part (with a big reveal trailer second) or be the big finale. I'll also predict Xenoblade Chronicles 2 DLC getting a short trailer, Yoshi getting a rereveal, NSMBU Deluxe getting a teaser, Star Fox Grand Prix also getting a teaser and Metroid Prime 4 getting the first bit of gameplay followed by Metroid Prime Trilogy announcement. I will also expect 2 2019 suprises on top of that (Pikmin 4 and whatever Next Level Games is working on as my highest expectations). Since 7 3DS games appeared in Amazon, some will probably be announced soon but not likely during the Direct. I'm expecting Yo-Kai Busters (Fall 2018) and Yo-Kai Watch 3 (2019) to be a decent chunk of them. Aside from that, Nintendo probably has one holiday title they are saving for the 3DS that might be announced during Treehouse.