Sony wasn’t at E3 2019, and they had announced they would be skipping E3 2020 before all of E3 2020 got cancelled- and though E3 is coming back this year, Sony is still sitting this one out. But this is the season of making big announcements, of putting your cards on the table and letting people know what’s coming up in the months ahead. It’s not guaranteed that Sony will have a State of Play show in the next couple of months, but honestly, this seems like the right time to do a big show with multiple announcements and updates on upcoming games. If that does end up happening – and it’s likely that it will – these are the ten big games we expect to see at the show.
FORSPOKEN
Luminous Productions’ Forspoken was announced as Project Athia nearly a year ago, and officially given its proper name earlier this year, and everything we’ve seen of this game so far has looked fascinating. The traversal, the setting, the protagonist, and the visuals all seem to setting up one of Square Enix’s most exciting new properties in a long, long time- and surprisingly enough, the game’s not terribly far away from launch. Forspoken has been given a 2022 launch window, and if Sony does have a big blowout-style State of Play show, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the game making an appearance with an entirely new trailer.
HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST
Horizon Forbidden West was given a 2021 launch window when it was first announced, and even now, Sony and Guerrilla Games are insistent that the open world action RPG is not going to be delayed. If the game is indeed sticking to its original launch window, then we’re probably not far away from the time when Sony starts showing us more of it and giving us new gameplay details. Ahead of a possible late 2021 launch, Horizon Forbidden West should be all but guaranteed to become the centerpiece of Sony’s marketing in the coming months- probably not long after the launch of Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.
GHOSTWIRE: TOKYO
GhostWire: Tokyo is a big mystery right now- we’ve seen glimpses of the game in new trailers here and there, and have even seen its first person gameplay in action at times, but there’s still so much we don’t know about it. Officially, the game has a 2021 launch window, and if it doesn’t get delayed (which it very well might, honestly), then the time when Bethesda and Tango Gameworks begin pulling back the curtain on exactly what it is should be fast approaching. Given that, as one of PS5’s biggest exclusive releases in late 2021, it would make sense for it to be shown off in a summer State of Play show.
SILENT HILL
How long have we been hearing rumours about a Silent Hill revival? Too long. From Bluepoint Games to SIE Japan Studio to Bloober Team to many others, quite a few developers have been mentioned in these rumours as possible studios being in charge of the beloved series’ revival. SIE Japan, of course, has been shuttered, so that’s not happening- but rumours still insist that Silent Hill is coming back. If that does happen, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it getting announced at Sony’s next big State of Play. Of course, that’s a big if, so we’re a little less sure about this one.
SIE LONDON STUDIO’S NEXT GAME
SIE London Studio’s Sony’s first party virtual reality specialist, and they certainly proved to be worthy of that moniker with the excellent Blood and Truth. So what’s next for them? Well, we’re hoping to find out soon. Blood and Truth is over two years old now, so we’re assuming (or hoping, at least) that the developer’s next game will be ready to be announced not long from now. Job listings have suggested that it’s going to have multiplayer elements, while recently, Sony also registered a trademark for “Soho Engine”– that last bit in particular might suggest that they’re working on something to do with The Getaway. One way or another, whatever it is should be worth keeping an eye on, so hopefully, we’ll be seeing it sooner rather than later.
GRAN TURISMO 7
Gran Turismo 7 may have been delayed from its 2021 launch into next year due to COVID-related production issues, but make no mistake- this is still one of the PS5’s biggest upcoming exclusives. As the first numbered Gran Turismo game in nearly a decade, GT7 is a game millions of people are eyeing keenly- but other than its initial announcement, we’ve seen nothing of the game so far. And sure, the aforementioned development issues may have been at least partially responsible for that, but hopefully, by the time Sony does its next big State of Play show (if that happens, that is), Polyphony Digital will be ready to give us another look at the game.
FINAL FANTASY 16
Final Fantasy 16, unlike some of the other games we’ve spoken of here, doesn’t have an officially release window attached to it- but rumours and reports have generally agreed that the game’s closer to launch than most people would expect from a Final Fantasy game. A late 2021 launch looks next to impossible at this time, but if the game is coming in 2022 (which seems far more likely), we’d expect to see it getting more gameplay and story details soon. And as a major PS5 exclusive, it makes sense that it would have a spot reserved at the next State of Play. In fact, producer Naoki Yoshida said earlier this year that Square Enix would be sharing updates on the game later this year. Hopefully, those plans are still in place.
THE LAST OF US: FACTIONS
Naughty Dog said back before The Last of Us Part 2 came out that even though the game wouldn’t have a Factions multiplayer mode, the mode would be returning eventually, and even though no such announcement has been made, people have assumed that it’s going to be a separate game down the line. Reports over the last few months (not to mention job listings at Naughty Dog) have suggested that The Last of Us: Factions (or whatever it will be called) will be released as a standalone multiplayer project, and all logic dictates that the game won’t be too far away from launch at this point. An announcement is hopefully on the horizon, and if it is, it’ll probably be made at Sony’s hypothetical State of Play show.
RESIDENT EVIL OUTRAGE
Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil Village have all been announced in Sony shows, and as the next big Resident Evil game (if rumours are to be believed, at least), Resident Evil Outrage is probably going to be announced at a State of Play as well. Leaks have suggested that the game would be announced shortly after the launch of Village, and Village is out now, so probably that announcement is approaching soon. The fact that the game is supposed to be a timed exclusive for the Switch might be a complication, of course- if that’s true, it’s obviously not going to be announced at a State of Play show. But if it’s multiplatform, a State of Play is extremely likely.
GOD OF WAR: RAGNAROK
God of War: Ragnarok is obviously not launching in 2021. I think Sony knew that as well as we did back when the game was announced that the 2021 launch window was just a way to get people excited for PS5’s upcoming games and nothing more. But we now know that the next game in the series is in development, and people will get antsy if Sony goes too long without showing us at least a little bit of the game. Even if it’s just a brief trailer (or, you know, a confirmation of what the game’s actually being called) we expect to see at least something about God of War’s next instalment if Sony does do a big State of Play show in the next couple of months.
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