In the world of video games, we are used to leaks. It’s something that’s on the agenda and from time to time we have leaked gameplays, special editions (like the new Starfield-based Xbox controller), entire conferences previewed, etc. However, one of the most notorious cases in recent years is all about the future release plans of various companies. Yes, we are talking about the NVIDIA leak.
A leak that shook the world of video games at the time by revealing no longer unexpected games, but titles that few people expected. It’s been almost two years now and although NVIDIA tried to calm the waters saying they were only placeholderthe reality is quite different, since this leak has emptied a large part of the announcements and surprises of 2022… and perhaps of 2023 too.
Let’s start at the beginning: September 2021
Like any good story, you have to start at the beginning. That is, to explain the leak itself. To do this, you have to jump to September 2021, when a user was tinkering with the code for GeForce Now, NVIDIA’s cloud gaming service. During this task, the user accessed information hidden in the company’s servers: a list of titles that were due to be released on PC in the months and years to come and that the company planned to add to the service.
A list that included games from Microsoft, Sony, Square Enix, Capcom, and more. Since this was information culled from inside information and it did not necessarily need to be updated, many of us (including the one writing this) consider everything to be mere speculation or placeholder from NVIDIA, which the company itself defended and assured that it was only internal speculative information. It was in no way intended to hint at actual releases or developments. But the reality turned out to be quite different, as the vast majority of games on the list have not only been confirmed, but many are already available.
The hits on the list: Sony landing on PC, new Kingdom Hearts and much more
The predictions in this list marked a 2022 full of surprises. You could say that somehow the GeForce Now leak spoiled us all year and maybe part of 2023. produce. The games already confirmed and released from the leak are Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Edition, Death Stranding: Director’s Cut, God of War (2018) and Sackboy: A Big Adventure. Returnal has also appeared and is expected to arrive, but no date yet, and recently Insomniac confirmed that Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart will be coming to PC in July. In other words, PlayStation’s landing strategy on computers had already been anticipated since 2021, although many did not believe it. Of course, looking at this history, we warn: Bloodborne was not on the list and it’s the only exclusive that, at the moment, doesn’t seem to be coming to PC. Will we remain without seeing it outside of Sony systems?
From other companies, such as Square Enix, there were unlikely titles, such as Kingdom Hearts IV. Me, a big fan of the saga as you know, I didn’t want to believe that the study was already in the fourth installment and wasn’t involved in a thousand spin-offs. The reality is very different and for a few months we know that the fourth game is already in development, although we still don’t have an approximate release date. Among the games already confirmed and some released by the Japanese company, Nvidia has listed Chrono Cross Remastered, Tactics Ogre Reborn, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Final Fantasy XVI, etc. They also mentioned a new Tomb Raider, developed with Unreal Engine 5, but the franchise now belongs to the Embracer group and its development is carried out by Amazon, so we can also include it among the successes of the list.
Capcom is another big developer that has had its plans leaked. Resident Evil 4 Remake, Street Fighter 6, and Dragon’s Dogma 2 were three titles that appeared before being announced. The first two are already on the market, while the third has just delighted us with excellent gameplay and we are eagerly awaiting its release. Additionally, there has been talk of a fourth game from the developer, a new Monster Hunter that has yet to be announced, but surprise, there are already rumors that it will be announced this summer and will arrive in a few months. Something that would not be strange given the success of recent releases, such as World or Rise.
Another of the names that seemed very unlikely at the time was Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake, a title that was confirmed a few days ago. At the same time appeared the remake of the second opus, of which we have no news yet. But looking at history, you start to think it’s real.
What about Microsoft and Xbox?
Don’t think we forgot the Xbox or that it didn’t appear in the leak. Nothing could be further from the truth, but we wanted to dedicate an entire section to it, because what leaked was a series of codenames: Project Holland, Woodstock, Kalimba, Indus, and Gravity. Games that we don’t know about themselves, although there is speculation about many of them. Holland would be the new PlayGround Fable, while Woodstock would be Forza Horizon 5, a game that’s already on the market. About Kalimba, Indus and Gravity nothing is known or speculated.
Also, the list added one more name: Gears 6. A game that we all know will arrive at some point, but as of now The Coalition hasn’t confirmed its development or announced anything. But it’s one of those games that the whole community has in mind that sooner or later we’ll see. Will 2023 be the year of your announcement?
What’s left to announce?
Looking at the history of success, the question jumps out at us. What games were on the list that haven’t been announced yet? The list goes on and on, but we have no doubt that the vast majority of them will eventually arrive sooner or later. Stand out names like Gears 6, which we’ve talked about before, or Final Fantasy IX Remake, which we’ve been hearing about for months. For the moment, Square Enix has not announced anything yet, but it seems more clear that the game is in development. With them we have a Half-Life 2 remaster, a GTA compilation, a new XCOM and much more.
- BioShock RTX Remaster
- Batman: Arkham Knight RTX Remaster
- Fight for Middle Earth
- Final Fantasy IX Remake
- Speeds 6
- Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
- Half-Life 2 Remastered
- Injustice 3: The Gods Will Fall
- Mirror’s Edge RTX Remaster
- Monster Hunter 6
- Shin Megami Tensei 5 PC
- Timesplitters 2 (Remastered)
- Tomb Raider 25th Anniversary (2021)
- XCOM 3
Although we didn’t want to see it, the leak was real
With this little recap we did, we can see that NVIDIA’s leaked list was largely correct. Many games were expected at launch, big surprises revealed in advance. The biggest spoiler in games history came from a leak that we all wanted to go through a placeholder or just NVIDIA’s anticipation. But the reality is that at NVIDIA, they have corporate insider information for their cloud service. That or they have a crystal ball, because such a number of hits is, to say the least, symptomatic.
Anyway, we can conclude that the leaked list is a reality that has provided a lot of information about the companies’ projects in recent years and perhaps also for this 2023. Many games on the list have not been confirmed yet, but I don’t think they’re taking the time to do that. Cases like Gears 6, Final Fantasy IX Remake or the new Monster Hunter, I think we will see them in 2023, at least their announcement. And seeing that less likely things like Kingdom Hearts IV turned out to be true, my faith is even greater.
Table of Contents
