The 5 most anticipated announcements we didn't get to see at The Game Awards
This year's event wasn't quite the deluge of reveals we'd hoped.
On, Thursday night the global gaming industry gathered at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angles for the fifth-annual Game Awards. Japanese developer FromSoftware snagged 2019’s Game of the Year for their fantasy-samurai title Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Microsoft unveiled its upcoming console — the Xbox Series X. Even so, the annual ceremony left a lot to be desired.
A plethora of rumors circulating ahead of the show set sky-high expectations the show just didn’t live up to. Even stuff we knew ahead of time was going to be there didn’t turn up: Valve pulled the plug on its previously announced demo of the upcoming virtual reality game Half-Life: Alyx just hours before the ceremony.
Here are five of the most anticipated 2019 Game Awards announcements that never made it on stage.
5. New Crash Bandicoot title
There's a possibility that Crash Bandicoot could join the 'Smash Bros. Ultimate' roster.
Activision was expected to tease yet another Crash Bandicoot title following therelease of Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. Games YouTuber the Canadian Guy Eh noticed that a surprising number of social media influencers received Crash-themed toys and apparel days before the Game Awards.
Activision did something similar last year, according to a tweet from content creator Genelle Amiee, months before the release of Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. The remastered racing game was revealed at the 2018 Game Awards, but it appears the company wasn’t ready to announce its next title just yet.
4.Batman Arkham Legacy
WB Games Montreal has long been hinting that a new Batman game is on the horizon. The developer tweeted what was widely perceived as a teaser of two villains (Ra’s Al Ghul and the Court of Owls) that could be featured in the next Caped Crusader game.
Established games leaker Sabi also posted a tweet that stated “Arkham legacy??” back in October, further fanning the flame that WB was on the verge of announcing a new title. With 2020 right around the corner, it seemed that the Game Awards would be the best place to do it, but that didn’t come to fruition.
3. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC character five teaser
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Smash Bros. Ultimate was named the 2019’s Best Fighting Game and was nominated for Game of the Year. The day before the Game Awards Nintendo uploaded three private videos to its “Super Smash Bros.” YouTube playlist, heavily hinting that it was on the cusp of revealing the game’s next DLC fighter. What’s more, the first Smash Ultimate DLC fighter was revealed at last year’s awards, so another reveal seemed like a given.
The games giant revealed that its next addition to the Smash Bros. Ultimate roster would arrive later than February 29, 2020. A Thursday night reveal seemed to fit the script, but fans will need to wait a bit longer to see who will succeed Terry Bogard from the Fatal Fury series.
2. A first-party Nintendo teaser
Aside from Smash Bros. Ultimate’s presence at the Game Awards, Nintendo also seemed poised to tease a first-party title, specifically a Metroid remake.
The long-awaited Metroid Prime 4 was delayed earlier this year and its release date remains up in the air. But Twitter user LeakyPandy claimed the company plans to re-release the Metroid Prime Trilogy (2009) optimized for the Switch and a remake of Super Metroid (1994) over the next two fiscal years.
If this timeline is accurate, the Switch could have two fresh Metroid titles by April 2022. That would suggest Nintendo should be cooking up a reveal soon.
1. Half-Life: Alyx gameplay
Finally, the biggest disappointment of the night was Valve pulling the plug on its announced Half-Life: Alyx demo. The company tweeted that it wouldn’t be on stage hours before the Game Awards, even though it confirmed it would have something to show a month earlier.
YouTuber Tyler McVicker who runs the Valve News Network uploaded a video about the cancellation, claiming Valve has yet to implement “smooth locomotion” in Half-Life: Alyx, which means testers still can’t use the VR joystick to move around the game.
That isn’t reassuring for a game that set to launch in March 2020. The Game Awards demo was supposed to persuade viewers Half-Life: Alyx would provide some of the most cutting-edge VR gameplay to date. Instead, they were left wondering if the title will even ship on time.
