2018 Hottest Video Games Predictions

In a matter of days, we will flip calendars to a new year. There are bound to be a few games that will grow in popularity as we move into 2018, and those are the games we’d like to discuss today. Below are three titles that we predict will be some of 2018’s hottest games!

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds – PUBG

Credit: PUBG Corp.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds may have made the survival shooter genre-relevant again in 2017. Sure, H1Z1 and DayZ were there, but they never succeeded in raising the genre to the soaring popularity enjoyed by PUBG. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was very popular in 2017. As soon as the game entered early access, players all over the world joined in on the fun and never stopped. How popular could this game really be, you ask? At its peak, almost 17 million players were recorded playing worldwide. The trend shows no signs of stopping, either. With its recent release on Xbox One and PC in December of 2017, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ popularity will only continue to grow in 2018.

Rocket League

Credit: Psyonix

33 million is the magic number for Rocket League. 33 million copies of Rocket League have been sold across all platforms, meaning that there are AT LEAST 33 million players worldwide. A similarly impressive statistic is that active players per day reach approximately 1.5 million. There are 3.3 million players every week and 6.1 million players monthly. With numbers that amazing, no one is expecting Rocket League to decline in 2018. In fact, we predict that Rocket League will only become even more popular in 2018.

One of the main reasons that we think Rocket League will stay relevant in 2018 is the huge following that it has developed in the E-Sports scene. Rocket League tournaments and majors were held recently and attracted a huge audience. As more players realize that playing the game and actually getting good at it gives them a chance to become E-Sports athletes, the huge player base is going to continue to thrive. New players might even migrate to Rocket League because of its E-Sports scene alone! Big companies are also taking notice of Rocket League’s E-Sports presence and are sponsoring different Rocket League tournaments.

Path of Exile

Credit: Grinding Gear Games

This might be an unpopular opinion, but hear us out. Numbers don’t lie, my friend: POE’s player base increased by 40% in 2017 thanks to Patch 2.6.0. In March 2017, the peak player count soared to 113 thousand. Steam also reported a 150% growth in the number of players in the last 30 days, with a peak of 70 thousand players in-game at once. That’s a huge number considering that the game is not accessible on Steam in some parts of the world, so many Path of Exile players aren’t playing the game through Valve’s gaming service.

War for the Atlas, the latest expansion to Path of Exile, was just released on December 8, 2017. It’s just a matter of time before this release results in a spike in Path of Exile’s player base. New content always means an influx of new and returning players.

Do you agree with our top three predictions for 2018? If not, what are your predictions for the hottest games of 2018? Let us know!

Rocket League Frosty Fest

It is getting absolutely frosty as Christmas Day approaches. There are only three days left ‘til Christmas, everyone! You can feel the holiday spirit all around you, even in Rocket League. Rocket League has a holiday event that is actually already underway! If you haven’t participated in the Frosty Fest yet, don’t worry, you aren’t too late.

Frosty Fest

The Frosty Fest event started on December 11thin North and South America, and on December 12th in Europe. Frosty Fest is formatted like the Haunted Hallows event in October. There will be an added currency,‘Snowflakes,’ which is the counterpart to the Candy Corn currency from Haunted Hallows. Snowflakes can be earned by participating in and finishing an Online Match.

There are also Frosty Fest Event Crates. You can get some of these surprise-filled crates by finishing a particular number of Online Matches, or you can buy them directly from the Rocket League Store. Either way, they can be obtained pretty easily: all you have to do is play, play, and play some more!

Obtainable Items

During the last Haunted Hallows event, players complained that the limit on the number of Decryptorsthey could buy was too low, resulting in a change to this limit during Frosty Fest. Now that the Decryptor limit has been increased, let’s take a look at the many goodiesRocket League player can obtain from Frosty Fest and Frosty Fest Event Crates!

Here is a list of the Rocket League Items that you can buy with Snowflakes:

Antennas:

Holiday Stocking and Peppermint

Decals:

Cold Sweater and Polar Force

Player Banners:

Cold Sweater

Toppers:

Angel Wings, Fallen Tree, Happy Penguin, Holiday Bow and Snowboards

As mentioned above, Decryptors can be bought with Snowflakes, as well. Also, don’t forget about the so-called “Secret Santa Crates.”It can take a considerable amount of game time to acquire these crates, but again, they are also available in the Shop in exchange for real money. Buying the crates will be a lot faster than earning them, but you will have to part with your cash. You are free to spend your time or your money, whichever you prefer.

On This Event

The best thing to do this Frosty Fest is to play as many games as you can while the event lasts. There is still plenty of time to join in, and participating in the Frosty Fest makes the holidays even jollier! You get to join other players in spreading the Christmas spirit while fashioning those new Frosty Festitems. Playing a lot of games is also a good idea because opening Rocket League Crates is more fulfilling when you earn them through playing, instead of just buying them, and it maintains the suspense of what’s inside the crates! It’s like waiting for Christmas day and being unable to sleep because you’re so eager to open your gifts. Of course, if the very last day of the event arrives and you are still missing some of the Frosty Fest items you wanted, then it may be time to buy crates from the Store.

The Frosty Fest event ends on Tuesday, January 2, 2018 at 10 am PST, 1pm EST, and 7pm CET. There is still plenty of time and a lot of fun games to be played! So, what are you waiting for? Join the Christmas fun in Rocket League’s Frosty Fest now!

PUBG performs badly on Xbox One - and X • Eurogamer.net

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is - without question - the biggest game in the world right now, so Microsoft's current console exclusivity for the title is obviously a big deal. Equally without question is that the PC game is notorious for its work-in-progress visuals and wobbly performance. With that in mind, some might say that it's somewhat miraculous that any playable version of PUBG is possible on a console right now. From another perspective though, what's clear is that the current build of the game is a long way short of the standards expected from a polished console release.
PUBG on Xbox One starts up promisingly enough with a decent, attractive front-end, but once you've moved on from character creation to your first in-game lobby, you're instantly besieged by low-resolution textures that seem to be failing to stream in properly, combined with performance just above or below the 20fps threshold - depending on whether you're playing on Xbox One or its significantly more powerful 4K counterpart. Continue Reading full story here