Later today, Sony is having another State of Play showcase, which will air at 2 PM PT, 5 PM ET, and they’ve said it will run for 20 minutes. They’ve also laid out some clues about what they will and will not be showing, and I think it’s probably best to manage expectations as I’m seeing rumors start to spiral out control.
Sony says that the showcase will be “first looks and updates” with a “special focus on games coming from our Japan publishers.” Though they will have a few updates from other developers elsewhere in the world.
As such, I would not expect this to be a big preview of God of War Ragnarok, nor does this seem like it’s time for Naughty Dog to reveal Last of Us Factions or anything like that. They also specifically say that this will not feature PS VR2 or any games for it. The focus on games also would seem to indicate this is probably not the moment they will be debuting PlayStation Spartacus, the long-rumored redesign of PS Plus and PS Now, as that seems to me something that probably doesn’t need to be presented in a State of Play, and if it does, certainly not this one. If it was, I’d imagine they’d be saying something like “a look at the future of PlayStation online services,” as I don’t know why you’d need to save that as some sort of surprise.
So what should we expect from a 20 minute, mostly Japan focused show? Again, even within those bounds, expectations feel high. The most common rumor we’ve seen is a potential remaster of Bloodborne, the iconic 2015 FromSoftware title that seems destined to get that treatment eventually.
Others want more information on Final Fantasy XVI. Square Enix said we would not hear more about the game until “spring 2022.” I guess you could consider early March as spring, but technically the actual first day of spring is not until March 20, and I would guess Square Enix would probably want to do their own presentation for it. I would be surprised if anything more than another short teaser was jammed into a 20 minute State of Play like this.
I’m guessing Ghostwire Tokyo will feature heavily in the Japan-focused show. Probably Stranger of Paradise, which is out very soon.
There have been rumblings that Sony may be looking to purchase IP from Konami, which could include Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid. But that is a very nebulous rumor right now, and even if it is true, I would doubt that it’s about to be announced in just a few hours.
I may expect may be one “big” thing here, but I probably would put the Bloodborne remaster as the absolute max for scale. This is not a dig at PlayStation, I just don’t think this is meant to be some sort of blockbuster showcase, and I don’t think it’s wise to build it up like that. Watch the showcase here at 5 PM ET.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
