The Game Awards 2023 predictions: Reveals, announcements, & surprises

While The Game Awards are a fantastic time to see your favorite games receive the recognition they deserve, the show also tends to offer up a host of reveals and announcements from numerous publishers. Here are some of the announcements we think, and hope, will be made during the show this year. On Thursday, December 7 at 4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET / 9:30pm GMT / 10:30pm CET, many of us will be tuning into The Game Awards to watch Geoff Keighley for a couple of hours… and maybe celebrate our favorite games receiving some awards. Between all of the fun celebrating the year’s top releases, we’ll also likely see the words “World Premiere” blown up on our screens time and time again as publishers and developers attempt to win us over with their upcoming releases. Microsoft has already teased that it has Xbox news “you won’t want to miss,” and Larian will finally give us a Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox release date, but what else could be shown? We’ve discussed this at length, so in an attempt to blindly predict the future, here are the announcements we think might appear during the show.1. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II release date announcementOkay, so Hellblade II has made it onto almost every prediction list we’ve put together since it was announced alongside the Xbox Series X at The Game Awards in 2019. This year, though, something different has happened: the game was recently rated by the Australian Classification Board alongside Clockwork Revolution and South of Midnight. Was the rating just for a new trailer, or will we finally be in for a release date? We’re hoping for the latter.2. Baldur’s Gate joins Xbox Game PassThis prediction has the team split, as some us think the older Baldur’s Gate games will be added to Xbox Game Pass while Larian’s latest is left out, while others think Microsoft might have flexed its wallet at Larian to get all of the games into the service, including Baldur’s Gate 3. With this year’s release looking like it has the sway to cement itself as game of the year, the pendulum could swing either way. Here are some words of positivity from our very own Sean:Something, something… no Baldur’s Gate 3Ever the pessimist, I don’t think we’ll see Baldur’s Gate 3 shadow drop into Xbox Game Pass during The Game Awards. Unless Microsoft is willing to pay an absolute fortune, I don’t see why Larian would need to put what is seen by many as one of the best games of all time straight into Xbox Game Pass. I’m sure the hype that’s been building around Baldur’s Gate 3 over the past few months will see Xbox fans buying copies left, right, and center. What I think will happen, though, is that both Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2 will shadow drop into Xbox Game Pass on the night instead. Earlier this year, Xbox fans with the Game Pass app were sent strange phone notifications saying that Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2 were available to play on Game Pass when they were actually nowhere to be seen. This has happened a couple of times before with games like Shadow Warrior 3, for example. Fans received similar notifications saying the first-person hack-and-slash platformer was out on Game Pass, only for it to not actually be available with the service. Around ten months later, Shadow Warrior 3 was announced for Game Pass. I think we’ll see a similar thing here with Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2. CounterpointOh what a bundle of joy he is. Anyway I believe in Big Phil and his big wallet, so I’m predicting Baldur’s Gate 3 will be coming to Game Pass.3. Baldur’s Gate 3 will win Game of the YearWhile we’re talking about Baldur’s Gate 3, we might as well get this out of the way. it’s going to steamroll these awards. An absolute shoe-in for best role-playing game, and we think the strong favorite to also grab game of the year while it’s at it. Ian already has his “Alan Wake 2 was robbed” sign at the ready.4. Geoff Keighley gets stage-rushed despite extra securityBoth The Game Awards 2022 and Summer Game Fest 2023 have seen an audience member rush onto the stage to blabber something nonsensical down the microphone before being escorted away. But while it’s garnered a few chuckles from onlookers, Geoff Keighley has had a far less amused attitude towards the stage crashers. This year, Keighley has said that additional security will be in place… but will it be enough to quell the thirst for two-second stardom from a fan with nothing intelligent to say? We’ll just have to wait and see!5. Fable reboot gameplay trailerIf we weren’t already excited about Playground Games’ Fable reboot, the trailer shown during the Xbox Games Showcase earlier this year would surely have changed our minds. What’s more, the small amount of gameplay we saw in the trailer was later confirmed to have been captured on an Xbox Series X by one of the devs. We expect Playground to wow us with a full gameplay trailer during The Game Awards, filled with chicken-kicking and other Fable-esque delights!6. Hideo Kojima takes the stage with Geoff KeighleyAs with the words “World Premiere,” Hideo Kojima has become synonymous with Keighley’s shows, whether in-person or virtually, so we expect the famed video game developer to appear in some form during this year’s award show. Kojima has two confirmed projects in the works at the moment: an unnamed Xbox console-exclusive title and the PlayStation console-exclusive Death Stranding 2. The Xbox collaboration was announced last year, so it will be interesting to see if we get our first look at the mysterious Xbox project.7. Lollipop Chainsaw remaster gameplayIt wouldn’t be a TrueAchievements predictions list if we didn’t mention Lollipop Chainsaw somewhere in here… Tom is the guy that willed the remaster into reality, after all. I take full credit for the Lollipop Chainsaw remasterOkay, maybe I had absolutely nothing to do with Dragami working on a Lollipop Chainsaw remaster, but after adding it to every one of my predictions since I started with TrueAchievements, I feel like the gaming gods had enough of my whining and made it happen. You’re welcome.The Lollipop Chainsaw remaster, or RePop, was initially down to launch this year before Dragami delayed it into 2024. The original announcement had it pegged as a remake due to various licensing issues, but the developer recently announced that the project is a remaster with improved combat and the like — we’ve already seen the new Juliet Starling model. My hope is that Dragami either gives us a release date for this wonderful game, or at the very least, offers us a proper trailer to get excited over!8. Age of Mythology Retold gets a surprise trailerHeidi likes to champion Age of Mythology in the office, and over a year after Age of Mythology Retold’s announcement, feels it’s high time for more info. I still have hope for Age of Mythology RetoldAlright, I know: in a week that brings us the official GTA 6 trailer and what will probably be a stampede of a win for Baldur’s Gate 3, it might not seem the time to spare a thought for Arkantos and his mythological troubles. Something happening with Age of Mythology has been my dream for so long (and something I badger the team about constantly) that when Age of Mythology Retold was actually announced, it seemed almost too good to be true. Now that we’re over a year from that announcement and I’ve had time to process that something this amazing could happen, I take it as permission from World’s Edge to expect to see Age of Mythology at every event for the rest of time until it actually comes out. Hence my (slightly desperate) hope that we’ll see it at The Game Awards. If you’re going to celebrate the best games, then Age of Mythology has to be there, right?9. Dave the Diver is announced for XboxDave the Diver is now out for Nintendo Switch as well as PC, and we’re hoping its popularity carries it still further. Dave the Diver needs to come to XboxThis prediction looks like it could actually have a reasonable basis, rather than just relying on my own fervent hopes. Dave the Diver took us all by storm. It’s been nominated for Best Independent Game at the Game Awards, and while there might be some discussion about whether it actually is an indie game, there’s no doubt that it’s wildly popular. In theory, the game is about diving for ingredients during the day, which you’ll use to stock the sushi restaurant you run at night. In true main-character fashion, however, a host of other people will also give Dave a bunch of other stuff to do too and the sheer scope of things you can do in this game is just nuts. There’s always so much going on, and all of it is excellent. Its massive success and the fact that it’s one of this year’s Game Awards nominees makes it hard not to hope we’ll see some sort of “oh, go on then” announcement that it’s coming to Xbox and PS5 as well.What about you fine TrueAchievements friends? Have you got any predictions, hopes, or dreams for The Game Awards on December 7? You know the drill. Drop a comment below and let us know!



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