Feature: Our PS5, PS4 Predictions for 2020 - How Did We Do?

The truly terrible year that was 2020 comes to a close in just a handful of days, which many will be rightfully celebrating. But before we can look ahead to the next set of 365 days, it's time to take a look back at the predictions made by the Push Square editorial team at the beginning of the year. 2020 was a milestone year for Sony, marking the launch of the PlayStation 5 — as such, almost all of our predictions were based on the reveal of the new machine. So, without further ado, let's see what predictions we got right as well as the ones that were woefully wrong.

Sammy Barker, Editor

Sony introduces universal PS4-to-PS5 software upgrade initiative. Well, the ability to upgrade your PS4 games to the PS5 version free of charge was very much a thing for the vast majority of titles released this year. However, it wasn't something mandated by Sony itself. We saw the likes of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War charge extra for a cross-gen bundle, while owners of Control have to re-purchase the Ultimate Edition if they want a free upgrade. This sort of happened, so we'll award Sammy half a point here.

The Last of Us: Part II is good but not great. Naughty Dog's latest epic was definitely a lot better than "good", picking up a rare 10/10 rating in the Push Square review. So, no points here for Sammy. He's even the one who reviewed it!

Remedy announces a Sony-published exclusive at PS5 reveal event. Yeah, this didn't happen. Remedy was nowhere to be seen during June's PS5 reveal event. Maybe next time?

0.5/3 points

Robert Ramsey, Deputy Editor

Cyberpunk 2077 will piss a lot of people off. Robert must have a crystal ball or something because boy was he correct with his first prediction. But not for the reason he was expecting. Cyberpunk 2077 has indeed pissed a lot of people off because it launched in a terrible state. A full refund is easy to come by digitally less than two weeks after release and Sony has even temporarily pulled it from the PlayStation Store entirely. Robert gets the point here, but Cyberpunk 2077 has frustrated a lot of players for very legitimate reasons.

Our first real look at a first-party PS5 game will be mind-blowing. Sure, June's PS5 reveal event was darned impressive. The very first next-gen title debuted was Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, with later announcements including Demon's Souls, Resident Evil Village, and Horizon Forbidden West. Mind-blowing? Absolutely. Robert picks up another point with his second prediction.

Deep Down will finally return in some form. Capcom's Deep Down did not return in any shape or form during the year 2020, but there was more to Robert's prediction. He also reckons the project could have become Dragon's Dogma 2 and features a heavy emphasis on online play. That didn't happen either, so our deputy editor's wait for the dragon-mounting sequel goes on.

2/3 points

Stephen Tailby, Associate Editor

PS5 will launch on 20th November 2020 for $399. Well, well, well, Stephen got the price of the PS5 bang on! The PS5 Digital Edition, anyway. He can have half a point for that one. Elsewhere, Sony decided to once again split the US and European launches of the new console across November, so it hit the US on 12th November 2020. EU users got it a week later on 19th November — Stephen was just a single day off! Very close, but not close enough. Half a point in total for this prediction.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 will show up at E3 2020 as a next-gen game, but we still won't get a firm date. Stephen was way off with this prediction as the mysterious follow-up was nowhere to be seen throughout the entirety of 2020. Two Ubisoft Foward livestreams came and went without a mention, but it's pretty obvious that Beyond Good & Evil 2 is a PS5 game at this point. Ubisoft has stated it is aiming to show gameplay in 2021, so Stephen was just a year off. No point here.

Sony will formally announce Horizon Zero Dawn 2 at the PS5 reveal event, but we won't see it. The sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn was indeed announced during June's PS5 reveal event, named Horizon Forbidden West. Better yet, we actually saw the game thanks to a cinematic trailer. Stephen shouldn't have held back with this prediction! Another half-point for his total.

1/3 points

Liam Croft, Senior Staff Writer

Square Enix announces Final Fantasy XVI at E3 2020. Oh no, the possibility of this prediction happening was completely washed away when E3 2020 was scrapped. Final Fantasy XVI was indeed announced this year, but it happened during a September event rather than the traditional June showcase. As such, Liam doesn't get a point here.

PS Plus comes to PS5, but the service only offers one free game per month at launch. Liam got this one absolutely bang on. The PlayStation Plus service has been accessible on PS5 since launch, and we have only received one free game per month so far. Those being Bugsnax and Worms Rumble.

The next Assassin's Creed game is revealed at E3 2020, but it's not scheduled to release until next year. This is another prediction ruined by the fact that E3 2020 never happened, but Liam wouldn't have gotten the point anyway. Assassin's Creed Valhalla actually came out this year rather than during 2021. Ubisoft really did put out Watch Dogs Legion, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and Immortals Fenyx Rising all in the space of two months. Madness from the French publisher.

1/3 points

Deputy editor Robert Ramsey wins the inaugural award for our PS5, PS4 predictions! We'll be back at the beginning of 2021 with another set of predictions, but until then, congratulate us all in the comments below.