PlayStation 5

It'll be interesting to see how Sony approach the upcoming gen given some of the design choices they've made. The Series X is the more powerful console on the whole, but between the SSD, their push for immersive audio and even what they're doing with the controller (and I think there might still be an additional surprise there) it seems like there could be some fun experiences to be had on the PS5. Whether third party developers will take much advantage remains to be seen, but I can see this leading to some exciting exclusives from Sony.


In regards to the 'select titles' for backwards compatibility, it's been clarified that that specifically refers to PS4 titles that will receive additional enhancements from the PS5 (i.e. improved framerates, resolution boost etc.). Most PS4 games will run on PS5, it's just that most will be running via a PS4/PS4 Pro legacy mode, so the games will be played as they were on the original console, with no additional PS5 enhancements. Even then, as with any sort of BC, there's always likely to be some games that won't work properly (I certainly remember having issues with a couple of PS2 games back on the PS3).

To be honest that rumour is actually pretty dubious. The original source was a random Youtube comment, which in turn saw a few Microsoft insiders/people associated with Microsoft focused sites (some of whom have a bit of history of dabbling in fanboyism) claim that they had heard similar things, and it spiralled from there. Obviously, we won't know until the consoles are out in the wild, but given the source(s) and the fact that none of the more notable industry insiders were willing to back it, makes it seem pretty unlikely. If there was to be any delay at this point I'd imagine it would be more to do with the pandemic than anything else, but both Sony & Microsoft seem pretty adamant that the new consoles are releasing this year.


In regards to Sony's weird marketing approach to the PS5, I honestly think it's a just a combination of some of the higher-ups at Sony apparently not liking traditional presentations and wanting to take a different approach, not wanting to overshadow their major PS4 releases (The Last of Us: Part 2 & Ghost of Tsushima) by showing off next-gen games and the confidence (some would say arrogance) they have from dominating the current generation.


The initial Wired reveal was odd (although I vaguely remember there being talk that it was a sort of jump or be pushed type scenario, although I could be wrong about that), but in the case of the logo and controller reveal, both of which generated a lot of buzz on social media, I think they've shown that they don't need to follow the traditional playbook in regards to console reveals. The way they've been trickling information (the logo reveal in January, the console specs in March and the controller the other day) I'm half expecting them to show a picture of the console itself in May. Had it not been for the current situation I would've expected some sort of big blowout/hands-on event in July, but I'm honestly not sure how they'll go about it now.

 

Saying there will be a console reveal on this Friday now.

edit: just got and email from Sony, there’s an reveal event 9pm bst on the 11th.

 

Loads of people saying £400 for this and maybe £500 for the Xbox, I just edited my original post mate, there’s a PS5 reveal this Thursday 9pm UK time. I just got an email from them about it.

 

Just a heads up for anyone the PS5 reveal is happening tonight at 9pm. Sony have said that event will last over an hour, and they're recommending that you wear headphones (it sounds like they're planning on doing some 3D audio stuff).

Like most people I've had some additional free time recently, so I did a quick-ish rundown of the what games are likely to, or could potentially turn up tonight, for anyone interested. I'll spoiler it, because some of the games are intended to be a suprise reveal and can understand that some of you reading this might want to keep it that way.

Spoiler: PS5 Showcase Games

First Party/Exclusives:


All but guaranteed to be announced:


Demon’s Souls Remake (Bluepoint Games) – This has been heavily rumoured for a long time and Bluepoint were featured prominently in the PS5 articles from Wired. There’s a chance that they’re remaking something else, and they did hint at other games/series in the past, but most industry insiders seem to be suggesting that it’s Demon’s Souls. Combined with some of the recent Bloodborne PC port talk, I can’t see it being anything else. This is also supposedly going to be a launch game.


Horizon 2 (Guerrilla Games) – Heavily rumoured, and of all the current major PlayStation IP’s this is likely the first in line for a sequel. There was a rumour recently that Guerrilla were planning some sort of co-op mode, but there hasn’t been any real follow up to that. The fact that the original game is getting a PC release this Summer is also something you could potentially read in to. I don’t expect this to be a launch title, but I think it’ll be an early 2021 release.


Silent Hill (Sony Japan) – Sony have apparently licensed the Silent Hill IP from Konami, with a new entry being headed up by the series creator (who left Konami for Sony following the release of the original game) with the original art director & composer also being involved. By all accounts, it hasn’t been in development for too long, so this definitely seems like a 2021 title at the earliest. It’s also probably worth mentioning that, outside of being a Silent Hill game, this won’t have any connection to the previously cancelled P.T./Silent Hills



Likely to be announced exclusives:

A family orientated title – Every console launch has one of these and I doubt the PS5 will be any exception. Part of me expects it to be a completely new IP, but of the pre-existing series I could potentially see Ratchet & Clank (It hasn’t missed a PlayStation console since the series began, it’s a consistent seller and it’s one of the longest running PlayStation series), Knack 3 (probably unlikely, but the original was one of the first games announced for PS4, and despite it being neither a critical nor commercial success, it does weirdly feel like a third game could happen) and Astrobot (also unlikely, but it was Playstation’s first big critical & commercial success in the VR space, and I could see them trying to leverage the IP into a non-VR game).


Gran Turismo 7 (Polyhphony Digital) – There was a random leak on Instagram regarding this the other week that initially seemed to be a bit of a non-story but other sources started supporting it’s legitimacy. Racing games are usually typical next-gen showpieces anyway, so this wouldn’t be too surprising.


New AAA IP from Housmarque – Probably best known for Resogun, one of the early PS4 PS Plus titles. They had a string of critically acclaimed arcade style games, but none of them sold particularly well. This led to them announcing that they were moving away from those types of games, and in turn saw them announce a battle royale game. They later halted development on that project, stating that they were shifting focus to a new AAA project. While they’re not a first party studio, they’ve previously had a close relationship with Sony, and there’s evidence of them having met with PlayStation execs. It would be incredibly surprising if anyone outside of Sony was funding their new game and it seems a likely contender to be announced.


New project from Arrowhead – Previously developed the Sony funded Helldivers. Like Housemarque, they’re not owned by Sony, but they seem to be developing a larger scale project and there’s evidence of them having held meetings with PlayStation. I think they’re another likely candidate, especially if Sony are wary of leaning to heavily into sequels.





Probably unlikely, but still a chance


A new project from a new Sony team in San Diego – Sony have been putting together a new team in San Diego over the last few years. There’s been nothing major in terms of rumours, but there was some speculation that the studio was created with the intention of continuing the Uncharted series. If it is Uncharted, given how close we are to the The Last of Us’ release, I doubt they would show it.


Guerrilla’s second game – A second team at Guerrilla Games are apparently working on some sort of multiplayer project. There’s never been much talk about it, other than it exists and that it’s a new IP (so not Killzone related). There’s always a chance, but I’d be extremely surprised if we saw two games from the one studio being announced.


Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac) – There was a rumour last year that the sequel to Spider-Man was a lot further along than most people would expect. If that is the case, combined with the fact that Sony used the first game as an example of what will be capable with the PS5’s SSD, I think there’s a small chance it could be teased.



Potential Surprise Exclusive


A new project from Ready at Dawn – A studio perhaps best known for The Order 1886. Prior to the release of The Order they had a strong relationship with Sony, having developed a few PSP spin-offs of notable PlayStation IP’s (Daxter and both * of War: Chains of Olympus & Ghost of Sparta). The relationship seemed to fall apart after The Order disappointed both critically and commercially, but they later went on to develop the successful Lone Echo series on Oculus. As a studio they’ve been expanding and hiring people for a new third-person shooter project over the last few years. Whilst there’s nothing to directly connect this new project with Sony, they have been notably talking up the PS5 in recent months (despite having not released a PlayStation game, or anything on a console, in over five years) and, prior to The Order, were widely expected to be Sony’s next big studio purchase.




Third Party/Non-exclusive:

I’m only going to focus on the likely major publishers/games here, there’s obviously going to be some smaller/indie games but they’re obviously a lot harder to predict.


2k

I’m not expecting anything really, but if I had to guess:

Bioshock 4 (Cloud Chamber Game)– This is in development at a new studio built specifically to work on the Bioshock series, but it’s probably too early. The series probably started out more associated with Xbox, but it did latterly have some ties with Sony (with PlayStation All-Stars being the main example).


NBA 2K21 – It’s a big seller, and it’s a nice quick game to show



Activision

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (Treyarch) – This seems to be all but guaranteed. PlayStation has partnered with COD this entire generation, stuff has been leaking over the past few days (including on the PSN Store) and an announcement seems imminent. As the title suggests, it’s set during the Cold War with Vietnam apparently being the focus. Over the last few days it’s also been rumoured that Blackout, from Black Ops 4, will return in some capacity (although that could just be some sort of update to Warzone). It’s apparently had a troubled development, with Treyarch having to be brought in after issues arose between Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software (who were sharing development duties).


Crash Bandicoot (Vicarious Visions) – A new Crash game is in development and there’s the very obvious history with PlayStation. Depending on when it’s due to release this might be a bit early for it to be announced, but some merchandise was leaked yesterday so it certainly doesn’t seem to be far away. I could see this potentially filling the family game slot in the line-up (and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Sony try and get some sort of timed exclusivity).



Bethesda

They were planning an E3 show but ultimately decided against doing a digital event, so it’s difficult to say what their plans are now. Bethesda Games Studio are working on Starfield (which I think will probably show up at the Xbox event) and The Elder Scrolls 6 (which is still years away, so I don’t expect to see that anywhere).

The two games that could potentially show up are Deathloop (Arkane) or Ghostwire Tokyo (Tango Gameworks) but I’d honestly be a bit surprised to see either (particular the latter, seeing as it’s had some behind the scenes upheaval).



Capcom


Dragon's Dogma 2 - Probably very unlikely, but there's always a chance.


Resident Evil 8: Village (stylised as VIIIAGE) – There’s been a series of pretty extensive leaks for this game over the last month or so and it sounds like it’s going to be announced imminently. Without touching on some of the more spoilery story stuff here’s a quick rundown of what’s been rumoured/leaked (I’ll spoiler it, just in case people would rather not see it):

Spoiler

• It’s first-person like RE7

• Ethan, the protagonist of RE7 returns in the same role. A secondary character, a woman named Emily, is also be playable in some sections.

• The game has a heavy occult theme

• It’s said to be particularly gory

• As the title suggests, a rural village will be the main setting but caves, a forest and a castle will also feature heavily

• A witch-like enemy will stalk the player during parts of the game (she’s an actual character rather than just a random enemy. It also sounds like she won’t be the only stalker you’ll encounter)

• There’s apparently werewolf-like creatures

• Zombies feature prominently, with some carrying weapons (swords, clubs etc.)

• There’s some sort of flashlight mechanic

• The game was initially being planned as Resident Evil: Revelations 3, but a combination of this game testing so well and the original planned Resident Evil 8 having some development issues led to shakeup. Parts of this games story were rewritten or scrapped, as well as some gameplay elements, and the original RE8 is now apparently being treated as a potential Resident Evil 9

The series has a long history with Playstation and given that Resident Evil 7, 2 Remake & 3 Remake were all announced during Playsation events, this seems like a likely candidate. It’s also worth noting that the multiple RE games randomly went on sale last Thursday (the original date for the PS5 presentation) so that’s arguably another potential sign. It’s apparently targeting an early 2021 release.





EA

EA will be hosting their own show in the next few days, so I expect more teaser like reveals if they do have a presence tonight. Any of their likely major new announcements such as Battlefield 6 (said to be set in the modern day, for anyone curious) or big remaster projects (Battlefield 3 and the Mass Effect Trilogy) are likely to be saved for their own event. If anything was to be announced here the two most likely games are:


FIFA 2021 – There’s a chance EA saves the reveal for their own upcoming show, but I’d expect it to show up here. Like COD, the marketing rights have been with PlayStation during the past generation. The fact that Microsoft showed off Madden last month, and not FIFA, leads me to believe that Sony are still cosying up to EA.


Star Wars: Project Maverick – The existence of this game was leaked a couple of months ago and was listed on the PSN database. Whilst Sony had marketing rights for Battlefront 2, Microsoft had the deal for Fallen Order, so who knows where it will show up. Again, I’m still a bit iffy on whether or not EA will announce any new non-annualised sports games outside their own show, but there’s a definitely a chance.



Gearbox

Godfall (Counterplay Games) – I probably wouldn’t have mentioned this if it wasn’t for the fact that this was technically the first game to announce it was coming to PS5, so I think it’s likely to put in an appearance.



Ubisoft

Like EA, they’ll be holding their own event in the coming days. I feel like they’re too big not to have some sort of presence, but it’s difficult to predict what they could show. As it stands currently, we know Assassin’s Creed is tied to Xbox, so that’s definitely out. They could potentially partially reveal some titles here but save the full reveal for their own show.

Far Cry 6 – This is apparently due to be announced imminently (with the current rumour being that it’s set in an exotic location), but I expect Ubisoft to save it for their own show. I doubt it shows up, some sort of teas isn’t ouwiwth realms of possibility


Watch Dogs: Legion –I don’t think Sony will want to show previously announced games so I think that would rule this out, but there’s a chance.




Square Enix


Avengers (Crystal Dynamics) – Like with Watch Dogs, I’m a bit sceptical that any previously announced games will show up tomorrow and this is actually having it’s own livestream later in the month. In saying that, Sony have the marketing deal and some sort of exclusivity in regards to post-launch content, so it makes sense for them to promote a PS5 version. There’s also the Spider-Man connection, and there seems to be some contradictory stuff in regards to them sharing a universe.


Babylon’s Fall (Platinum) – A bit of a surprise announcement at E3 2018 that went radio silent until it emerged during a State of Play video late last year promising more news this for some time this year. Sony have previously promoted this, but I’d be a bit surprised if this is turns up.


Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2 – I honestly think it’s probably way too early, but they’ve never been afraid of showing off anything FF related early.


Final Fantasy XVI – It’s definitely in pre-production and, as mentioned above, Square does tend to have a habit of announcing Final Fantasy projects years in advance. I could see some sort of vague teaser.


Nier 3 (Platinum)– Neir Automata was a surprisingly big hit for Square, and it probably wouldn’t be surprising to see something announced.




Warner Bros.

They were apparently going to host their first ever E3 show before the pandemic happened but, like Bethesda, have chosen not to hold a digital event. At the moment there’s no clear indication of how they’re planning on doing their previously planned announcements. Whilst some of these games are probably big enough for a standalone announcement, I’d be surprised if at least one title wasn’t shown off by Sony or Microsoft. The current games that they seem likely to be announced are:


Batman (WB Montreal) – This is being developed by WB Montreal (who previously developed Arkham Origins, and have since had a string of cancelled DC/Batman projects) and is said to be a reboot with a story centred on the Court of Owls. The rumours also suggested that it’s due out this year, and that it was supposedly a cross-gen title. The Arkham series usually turned up during PlayStation conferences in the past but given the current ties with Marvel who knows if that trend will continue.


Harry Potter/Wizarding World RPG (Avalanche Software) – There was some leaked footage of this a while back and it looked quite next-gen. Harry Potter stuff is always going to be big, and this style of game has a lot of potential. It’s apparently being developed by Avalanche Software who previously worked on the Disney Infinity series. They were shut down by Disney following the cancellation of that series, but Warner Bros. would later buy and then revive the studio. It might be too early for it, but there’s definitely a possibility (and it technically wouldn’t be first time a J.K. Rowling related project turned up at a PlayStation event).


Rocksteady’s new game – Since Arkham Knight, the only game they’ve released was Arkham VR (which was a timed exclusive for PS VR). Unlike WB Montreal, there’s been no real solid rumours about what they’re working on. It seems to be a DC related game (but not specifically a Batman or Superman game) and has some sort of online component. If it is a DC game, I’d be surprised if they announced it before the Batman game has released.


Hitman 3 (IO Interactive) – When the first game in the new Hitman series was shown off, it was announced during a PlayStation event. I honestly expect this to either be announced separately, or at the Xbox event, but there’s definitely a chance it shows up.

 

Just show me something for a new * of War and I’ll be happy.

 

Are they actually revealing the console or just the games ?

 

This is about to start in the next few minutes (9pm), here’s links to both the official YouTube and Twitch streams depending on what you prefer. I’d also hide the live chat just in case, I’m expecting it to be rife with people posting Last of Us spoilers.

I believe they’ve only confirmed games, but it seems to be generally assumed that the console is going to be shown as well.

 

Sony already showing way more than Xbox game wise imo, it’s going to be a tough decision for me which one I buy first.

 

That spiderman trailer has me confused, is it a spin off cross gen game? Dlc?

 

Not feeling Godfall I think it looks *.

 

Started off strong but I'm sick of all this indie *

 

Demon souls !! Get in!!!

 

Horizon Zero Dawn 2 Offt!

 

Holy fuuuck lol

 

That's a weird design

 

I seriously hope they do an all black version of the PS5

 

That is going to have a hard time staying cool imo, yes the Series X is basically a mini itx but * is this?

 

Too much futuristic * for me, not blown away by that reveal, will still buy it lol.