I thought it was time to open a thread just dedicated to Sony's E3 conference.
These are my thoughts on their conference.
Playstation in the driving seat:
So I firmly expect this press conference to illustrate that Playstation 4 is the leading the console sales race and despite this I do not expect Sony to be to smug about it, they will try and convey they are humble.
VR: Playstation VR is finally coming out this year and I expect Sony to show some new titles from 1st party and 2nd party studios. I think they will heavily push that GT Sport is built with VR in mind. I also think Sony London will have another title to announce for VR. We might even see North West’s new game as well as From Software’s new VR title. I still do not expect them to spend a massive chunk of time on this because VR is very hard to show on stage and in trailer format. I also expect release dates for stuff like rigs.
3rd Party: Well one thing is for definitely we are going to be seeing more of Call of Duty: Infinite Warefare and Sony and Activision’s continued burgeoning relationship. But I do not expect this to the centre piece of the 3rd party content. I think we will see Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts 3 showcased with impressive trailers. Watch Dogs 2 will be there too as the first one was marketed with PS4 and it helped Sony moves PS4 and Ubisoft shift a considerable amount of copies, especially in Europe. This is a bold prediction but I expect Rockstar’s next game to be announced at Sony’s conference just like they announced the next gen version of GTA V. Rockstar and Sony have always had a good relationship and I expect this to be centre piece of the third party support. Also we will see a trailer for new Destiny DLC.
2nd party: Despite Final Fantasy XV’s imminent release I think another trailer for Final Fantasy 7 remake will show up but that will be the last of it till PSX. I think Sony is patently aware of Persona 5’s growing influence in the JPRG market and will showcase a trailer with a release date for December in North America; with no release date in sight for Europe sadly. I would also be surprised if we do not see some sort of update on Shenmue and Sony thanking them for their on-going support. The big talking point of second party will be Crash Bandicoot coming back and I think it will be someone like Sanzaru games doing it. The I.P will remain as Activision’s but a deal was worked as Activision realized only Playstation games are nostalgic and crave Crash back.
1st party: SIE’s studios are like a vehicle in my mind. The engine takes a while to get warmed up but when that engine is purring and humming along there is not many in the business who matches the quality, breadth of content and variety of games. This is year when SIE America comes to the forefront and showcases what they have been working on but despite that I still expect Horizon Zero Dawn to be front and center. It is clear Sony view the I.P in high regard just from the massive advertisement already plastered on a building in downtown LA and the talk of creating merchandise from the game. Horizon should get a 10 minute demo and I expect it to wow people as there is so much we have yet to see; Guerrilla are keeping a lot of stuff close to their chest. This and The Last Guardian will get a release date, but I think TLG will only merit a trailer this time. I also expect a short trailer for Gravity Rush 2. The 3 new reveals will be a bombastic trailer for God of War 4, Sony Bend’s much rumoured open world horror game and Sucker Punch’s Spiderman game. Sony Bend’s game will have a similar reveal to Horizon as that worked so well, a premise trailer and then into gameplay. SP’s trailer for Spiderman will be a teaser with a slither of gameplay of swinging through downtown New York.
Please share your thoughts too!
