So it is a few months into the year, but I thought that I might write down some predictions on what we may see happen in the industry.
The release of Blood on the Clocktower, I feel, will be a watershed moment in board game criticism and the line between review, preview and paid promotion. The Blood on the Clocktower Kickstarter campaign was buoyed by very strong critical acclaim from big reviewers and it’s production and release will show us what the game is really like. With such strong positive opinions, I think, this game will really need to hit the ground running and make it into the Top 200 games quickly, lest cynicism towards reviewers build.
Frosthaven will be a massive success, not a controversial opinion, but more so because I believe that the vast majority of backers will not have actually completed their own copy of Gloomhaven by the time that it is released. I have a feeling that there won’t be a great deal of mechanical changes, but the focus will be on more classes/races and a more in depth narrative. The big question is: Will Frosthaven integrate at all with Gloomhaven?
CoVid-19 will have a big impact on the industry from shipping to Kickstarter fulfillment to game nights. However, solo gaming has been on the rise for a while now, so I think that will be something that will build even further. With social distancing and quarantine I think that players will see the advantage to solo play. I hope that this also means that more games will come with ‘baked in’ solo modes, rather than the tacked on modes that we often see. Places like BoardgameArena may see an increase in players for a bit, but I think this will drop once people end isolation measures, where I see the boom in solo gaming persisting.
On the BGG Top 100 Gloomhaven will remain at Number 1 with Pandemic Legacy (buoyed by an interest in Pandemics) will stay at Number 2. With it’s quick rise, I see that Brass: Birmingham will make it to Number 3, taking the spot of Terraforming Mars. There will be movement in the Top 10, though there will not be any new 2020 games that make it into this list.
So what about you, what are your predictions for the rest of 2020 in gaming?
