Microsoft and Sony are likely to have a very busy year. Demand for the new consoles is there, and with more people turning to video games to help stave off boredom during lockdowns, gaming is a surefire bet on which markets to keep your eyes on. Even though those consoles are pegged to sell a massive amount of units, NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella, Kantan Games’ Dr. Serkan Toto, and Ampere Analysis’ Piers Harding-Rolls believe that the Nintendo Switch will once again come out on top in 2021.

Going forward, Sony will only offer the PS4 500GB slim model in its jet black colour scheme, moving efforts towards production of the PS5 consoles which are currently rarer than living parents in a Batman comic book.

January’s a bit of a dry month, but for the rest of the year? There’s some dang good content on the way. Arkane’s version of Groundhog Day, Ubisoft’s return to madcap acid trips with guns, and the twilight of the gods boy, are just some of the highlights on the horizon. So here’s a rundown, of what to expect this year.

Microsoft is now poised to be the leading name in western role-playing games. Alongside Bethesda, it also has experienced studios such as Obsidian and InXile Entertainment under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella. That’s a lot of RPG experience right there, which will pay off in the years to come.

Technically, it’s news to someone even if it is almost a week old! While we were all shoving handfuls of food into our gaping maws during the silly season (how do you make mince out of fruit and turn it into a pie asking for a friend), developer GSC Game World dropped a new trailer showing off STALKER 2’s first-person atmosphere.

In news that won’t shock anyone, it’s still going to a hell of a long wait before The Elder Scrolls 6: Mission to Moscow makes an appearance. Bethesda has said in the past that it’s all hands on deck for Starfield right now. And then presumably more hands will be required for fixing all the post-launch bugs. Once that’s all done, it’ll be time to focus properly on The Elder Scrolls 6, but until that day arrives here’s something else to tide you over and make tinfoil hat fashionable again: A tease of what’s next.

It’s the dawn of a new year but if you’re still feeling nostalgic for the year from hell that was 2020, then Steam has your back. The almighty digital distribution gaming platform has revealed which of its games made the best-seller list and clocked the highest number of hours from people desperate to escape the horrors outside.

Over on the Epic Games Store, the annual slavings for savings sale has kicked off. Epic’s Holiday Sale includes a number of games well worth a recommendation, such as the delightful Immortals Fenyx Rising, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and yes Ubisoft I’ll take that pay-off in the mail.