PlayStation Experience 2016 Preview: Expected Game Announcements, Gameplay Demos And More

It’s almost time for the PlayStation Experience again. And with the importance of industry events like E3 decreasing, as more and more companies take to their own events and social media channels to interact with their customers directly (thank you Nintendo, for being prescient enough to induce this change in the industry), the odds of major announcements at the event are higher now than ever before.

See, PlayStation Experience over the last two years hasn’t had any true major announcements- the first year event was great, with loads of notable mid tier announcements, if nothing else. Last year’s show was mostly a bummer, though I suppose we did get Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom out of it, if nothing else. However, this year’s event promises to be more exciting- this year, Sony have two new platforms they need to sell (the PlayStation VR and the PlayStation 4 Pro), this year, they’ve skipped out the Paris Games Week and Gamescom, which means they might as well have decided to save up their big announcements for their own events, and this year, there are rumors and rumblings of some actual big announcements at the event.

Which brings us to the question- what do we expect at the PlayStation Experience this year? On a very basic level, I would say we expect a further look at Sony’s first party games. God of War is sadly out of reckoning for PSX, but that apart, we will probably see more of Horizon: Zero Dawn, Gran Turismo Sport, and Spider-Man. We might also see more of Detroit: Become Human. Additionally, existing Sony games, such as Uncharted 4, will probably see some announcements regarding their DLC at the event.

"God of War is sadly out of reckoning for PSX, but that apart, we will probably see more of Horizon: Zero Dawn, Gran Turismo Sport, and Spider-Man."

We can also safely expect all games that are demoed on stage to be demoed on the PlayStation 4 Pro- Sony so far have done a terrible job of actually selling the damn thing, but simply showing off beautiful looking games, and saying ‘this is the PS4 Pro version, incidentally,’ will end up creating a halo effect around the system- by only saying that the really visually impressive demo is from the new console, and never pointing out what the game will look like running on older consoles, you automatically create an aura of desirability and power for the new machine.

There will also almost certainly be an entire segment dedicated to the PlayStation VR. Most of the games shown off for it will probably be games from smaller, indie game developers, or smaller slices of bigger games, if they are from bigger developers (think the ‘Star Wars Battlefront Experience’). But there should certainly be enough content shown off for the new headset to make new owners of it feel as if their purchase is justified. I do expect a significant portion of the keynote dedicated to showing off just PlayStation VR games.

"Finally, I do expect there to be one major announcement from Sony themselves at the event- now, that could be The Last of Us 2, as well placed insiders are saying. But even if that isn’t announced, something big certainly will be."

Third party games will definitely be sharing the limelight, too- we might see some Mass Effect Andromeda gameplay (do remember that the PSX is after The Game Awards, which is where we get to see gameplay footage for this game for the first time- meaning Bioware should hopefully feel comfortable sharing more footage of the game by that point). There are indications that Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding will also be at the show, not necessarily in playable form, but at the very least with a technical demo being shown off, which also confirms the engine the final game will use. Square Enix may decide to show off some more Final Fantasy 7 Remake at the event, but it is more likely that they just decide to share more footage of Final Fantasy 15, which will just have been out for a few days at the time- maybe they can show off some of the announced DLC for the game, if they feel so bold.

Finally, I do expect there to be one major announcement from Sony themselves at the event- now, that could be The Last of Us 2, as well placed insiders are saying. But even if that isn’t announced, something big certainly will be. Sony haven’t had a major games focused event in long enough, and they seem to be understanding the significance of having their own events well enough, that I entirely expect them to have at least one ace up their sleeves. What will it be? I guess we’ll find out during the keynote.

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