After a foresightful and busy 12 months , 2024 is officially in the book . Players have a few weeks to take a breather before the video game firing calendar beak up in February with a bombardment of major releases . That ’s a problem for next calendar month , though . Until then , we ’ve still catch some meter to reflect on what was a rollercoaster year for the gaming industry , full of surprise hits , full flops , and surprising no display .
At the center of all that was the three pillars of mainstream gaming : Sony , Microsoft , and Nintendo . While their great power may be waning in the age of portable PCs like theSteam Deck , these weapons platform holder are still the watercooler conversation starters whose every move generate buzz . This twelvemonth , all three companies found themselves in a strange touch . PlayStation 5andXbox Series Xhit the awkward centre of their life , while the Nintendo Switch was leave to tread piss after its much anticipated heir was pushed out of 2024 . All three would have to get creative if they were going to end the year strong .
The expert word is that all three deplumate that chore off , even if no one excelled . Each society had an asterisk on its disc that created an spotty year no matter which cabinet you played on . continue last class ’s custom , we ’re once again closing out the year by reach out last grades to Sony , Microsoft , and Nintendo . All three passed , but they ’ll all postulate to analyze harder if they ’re going to become A students in 2025 .
PlayStation
If I were a tough grader , I ’d have good reason to flush it the PS5 this year . Sony ’s class was full of floating-point operation and disappointments that made its 2024 look dire in a vacuity . Its big severeness came in the form ofConcord , a game that was mean to usher in PlayStation ’s alive service future . rather , it was an immediate nonstarter that was submit offline in weeks and thestudio behind it was shuttered . That one dear catastrophe may have put years of provision in jeopardy , single - handedly changing what PlayStation ’s future will look like .
That sorry newsworthiness was coupled by some subdued disappointment . The much anticipatedPS5 Profinally launched this class , but with underwhelming specs considering its eye - popping cost tag . That made the organization a slow newbie , one that raise interrogation about how much incremental power is really necessary in a console . It did n’t help that the organisation ’s AI upscaling tool , PSSR , was a bit buggy at launching , too . Elsewhere on the ironware front , Sony seemed to all but abandon its VR ambitions , pop the question very trivial software program bread and butter for PlayStation VR2 ( it ’s biggest upgrade this year was PC support ) . At time , it felt like Sony ’s ironware business had strike a brick bulwark .
If I were only look at those lowlights , though , it would be a reductive view of what was a potent class for PlayStation overall . Sony ’s win did n’t come from hyped up first - party exclusives likeMarvel ’s Spider - Man 2 , but through unexpected surprise that help expand the organisation to unexampled audiences . The crown gem of the crop wasAstro Bot , which found Sony once again making the variety of all - old age platformer that helped build the original PlayStation . Helldivers 2emerged as a live armed service success story that counter - balancedConcord‘s failure . EvenStellar Bladelanded as a pleasant surprise , tolerate a Korean developer to find international success .
In between those top , we got a smattering of third - party exclusives that gave the PS5 the in effect biz lineup of any console this twelvemonth . Final Fantasy VII Rebirthdelivered the praise thatFinal Fantasy XVIcouldn’t quite achieve in 2023 , while Bloober Team’sSilent Hill 2pulled off the impossible labor of remaking one of the best game of all fourth dimension in a satisfying manner . Those highs were enough to round out out an uneven year where Sony leaned heavily on unneeded forked dips likeHorizon Zero Dawn Remastered . It may have been the PS5 ’s best and worst twelvemonth in one .
mark : B
Xbox
Since the launching of the Xbox Series X in 2020 , it was clear that Microsoft ’s console was going to have an unusual lifespan . Microsoft made it cleared early on that it was n’t necessarily attempt to pump out cause of death apps so much as it was essay to make Game Pass a life-style subscription military service that every gamer need . 2024 would take that experimentation to some really irregular place that provide Xbox rooter with whiplash ; we seemingly alternated between dreadful news and heavy game every month .
The bad side wasverybad . Xbox kicked the year off with mass layoffs , which shut out down both Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks . The latter was incredibly puzzling considering that the studio had grow perhaps the Series X ’s best exclusive , Hi - Fi Rush , just one year prior . by and by in the year , Microsoft rolled out a convoluted Game Pass price hike that turn the “ good pile in play ” into a pricey proposition . It did n’t help that some of the service ’s biggest plot did n’t exactly pan out as expected . BothStalker 2andMicrosoft Flight Simulator 2024were buggy messes at launch , whileSenua ’s Saga : Hellblade 2andStarfield : Shattered Spacelanded as underwhelming releases .
It was a never-ending PR crisis for Xbox in 2024 , even when it was n’t warranted . Xbox ’s determination to relinquish sure scoop on contend platforms should have been a effort for celebration as Microsoft gnaw at the pestering exclusivity wall that divides consoles . rather , the move fuel console war outrage . interchangeable , Xbox made great strides to make its biz more accessible than ever , bringing Game Pass to devices like Amazon Fire Stick . That too was criticized thanks to the companionship ’s “ This is an Xbox ” ad campaign , which implied that any gimmick that could run its game was basically an Xbox . That move rubbed console purists the wrong way , but I see the underlying message as a positive step forward for TV game .
While it was n’t a vast class for exclusive , Xbox deliver where it mattered . It ended the twelvemonth strong withCall of Duty : Black Ops 6andIndiana Jones and the Great Circle , two of the best - received games of this Xbox generation . In route to those tentpole release , we contract a firm watercourse of “ twenty-four hours one ” third - party releases that still sold the service ’s value . Dungeons of HinterbergandKunitsu - Gami : Path of the Goddessare both sleeper hitting that ended up on Digital Trendsbest 10 games of 2024list . With that in head , I ’m willing to let Xbox out of 2024 with a perfectly good , if unremarkable grade . I expect to see some big improvement in 2025 , though .
score : B-
Nintendo
After invite a coveted A grade in last year ’s report , Nintendo had a big chore ahead of it — and it sounded like it would have no trouble delivering . After all , 2024 was sure going to be the year we finally got theNintendo Switch 2 , bringing a bevy of heavy strike exclusives likeMario Kart 9orMetroid Prime 4 : Beyond .
Well … that did n’t happen . After all the expectancy , Nintendo ’s new console table was a total no show . Nintendo would acknowledge its existence after years of speculation , but it stopped short of actually testify it off or announcing so much as a spec . That left Nintendo in a weird spot when it came to software system . It was clear that the society ’s most celebrated developer were quietly working on newfangled games for the platform , leaving the B vitamin - squad to fulfil out the Switch ’s terminal full year . To Nintendo ’s credit rating , it deliver at least one sole a month from January to December , but the really lineup was eclectic .
Very few Switch exclusives released in 2024 were must - own program library addition . The faithful ones wereSuper Mario Party JamboreeandThe Legend of Zelda : echo of Wisdom , but nothing rose to the degree ofSuper Mario OdysseyorFire Emblem : Three Houses . Instead , we stupefy a buffet of corner games and odd remaking . It ’s not that games likeMario vs. Donkey KongorNintendo World Championships : NES Editionweren’t welcome on Switch ; it ’s just that these were the console ’s master game rather than quirky filler . Those games did n’t always deliver either , as games likeEndless Ocean : LuminousandPrincess Peach : Showtime!felt more like underdeveloped experimentation than the kind of polished game we ’ve come to wait in the Switch ’s lifespan .
Even if it was an underwhelming year overall , the experimental nature of Switch ’s yr once in a while led to the sort of highlighting that can only materialize when a publishing firm is n’t being precious . Emio — The Smiling Manis a fantastic revival of Famicom Detective Club that I do n’t retrieve we would ever get outdoors of a year like this . Splatoon 3‘s underappreciatedSide OrderDLCis a true enshroud treasure , and I ca n’t complain about a full remaking ofPaper Mario : The Thousand - Year Door . The bloom were n’t exactly high , but this is the variety of strange yr that I imagine I ’ll search back on with nostalgia in a few years when Nintendo is back in its usual gyration of predictable hit .
Grade : C+
