Grumblevolcano

Nice to see there is a State of Play, will be interesting to see what comes. I will say it's a shame that as PSVR2 approaches its 2nd anniversary, Sony's already seemingly dropping the system from events (the previous events explicitly name dropped PSVR2 but this one is just PS5).

I don't do VR but pretending a system doesn't exist this soon after launch is very bad.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner @Decoy_Snake Depends on when Switch 2 actually releases. If it releases in May/June then Microsoft could announce on April 2nd via the Switch 2 Direct that AoE2, FH5 and Indiana Jones are all releasing same day on PS5 and Switch 2 (PS5 wouldn't be mentioned in the Direct itself but the release date trailers that are available straight after the Direct do). AoE2 could even be used to show off the teased mouse functionality for the Switch 2 Joy-Con.

If it's later then PS5 versions will be released first and could easily be given release dates before April 2nd.

My guess is September Switch 2 release so the latter outcome happens.

I think if there is one this week, outside of MGS Delta which Sony leaked release date of last week there will be no precise release dates for after June. Instead, lots of vague release windows like "Summer 2025" or "2025" as everyone waits for Rockstar to reveal GTA6's release date.

@IOI I think the Lizard Squad attacks in 2014 were the most recent multiple consecutive days PSN outage (December 25th - 30th 2014).

If companies are willing to announce specific release dates so close to Fall 2025, that must mean that GTA6 news is imminent (likely a delay to 2026).

I'm going to predict that this is to do with the next Smash game. Switch 2 is approaching so that means the Smash fighter speculation cycle begins anew.

I wonder what an alternate reality where Epic continued with Gears of War instead of creating Fortnite would've looked like.

They're going to release Days Gone Remastered on the 10th anniversary of Bloodborne.

This'll be an interesting one. Does Sony have a State of Play/Showcase around then like past years or do they take advantage of the Xbox showcase practically being a lengthy 3rd party State of Play (with PS5 logos included) while giving Geoff some PS Studios announcements.

This makes me think they'll drop from 3 games a month to 2 games. When they removed PS3 and Vita from PS+ to only be PS4 games, there were fewer games total.

Xbox did a similar thing when they removed Xbox and Xbox 360 games from the Games With Gold lineup (it became 2 games a month instead of 4).

MySims was a DS/Wii game and then the re-release came to Switch so I think considering Sims 1 and 2 came to PS2/Gamecube/Xbox, they'd come to PS5/Switch/Series X|S.

@xDD90x PC port got discussed even before the game launched on PS5:

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2024/08/do-you-want-astro-bot-on-pc-creative-director-wants-to-know

So the question is when it'll come to PC rather than if it'll come to PC.

So judging by this timeline, Stellar Blade is probably May (April is already confirmed to be TLoU 2) and then Astro Bot in June.

@Americansamurai1 If Nadella follows the Windows Phone formula for Xbox, what'll happen to Xbox hardware is:

• 2024/2025 - Microsoft starts to go all out porting Xbox exclusives to PS/Nintendo
• 2026 - Microsoft releases next gen Xbox hardware
• 2027 - Microsoft cuts back on Xbox hardware support because the next gen hardware sells so poorly
• 2030 - Xbox hardware is completely abandoned

Not necessarily that day but I think GTA6 news will be next week. It's the week before Take Two's earnings call and investors will want to know if GTA6 is still on track for Fall 2025 release. It would also explain somewhat the odd timing of the Switch 2 reveal.

I think we now know why Sony dropped the Playstation Showcases. Any future ones would've been comparable to the May 2023 one where the focus on the new 1st party announcements side of things is live service.

I figure that this year's PS events will mirror the May 2024 State of Play (start with live service, end with a big game) but with some 1st party PS4 remasters added into the mix like Days Gone:

• One early on in the year that starts with Fairgame$ and ends with Ghost of Yotei
• One around May/June that starts with Horizon Online and ends with Death Stranding 2
• One in September that starts with Marathon and ends with Intergalactic

@Americansamurai1 There's still stock issues like Amazon UK currently only has 2 copies left and most Smyths stores are completely out of stock.

@RagnarLothbrok I'd imagine it's similar to how Atlus ported over Persona 3 Portable in 2023 and then did the remake Persona 3 Reload in 2024.

It's crazy how Xbox GoW comes to PS5 before Sony's Greek GoW games.

@aj21009 If PS is your preferred platform and you see the multiplatform signs of Xbox, doesn't it make most sense to hold off buying games on Xbox in case they come to PS?

That way you get the games on your preferred system without having to double dip.

The way Microsoft's messaging has been since the multiplatform rumours exploded in February last year and Nintendo announced 2 of the 4 initial batch, it has felt very much that Switch 2 reveal was a key part of the Xbox multiplatform strategy.

@somnambulance Considering PS Studios has nothing for PS5 with a specific release date (just 2 PC ports) but they always have something for January - March, I think January State of Play is likely.

As for the January - March PS5 PS Studios release, my guess would be Days Gone Remastered in late February/March as Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered was announced only a month before launch.

@Neither_scene Software drives hardware. As long as the 1st party lineup is strong and Nintendo keeps them exclusive, Switch 2 will do well.

I noticed that Astro Bot is out of stock at multiple retailers.

@somnambulance GTA6 wasn't one of the voting options for Most Anticipated Game. Maybe Sony's expecting it to be delayed to 2026 because of no trailer 2 this year so far and Wolverine (which got 2nd) ends up releasing in Fall 2025?

@pyrrhic_victory There is still a big unknown in the form of Nintendo's next system. What Xbox games will Switch 2 get and will they release same day as PS5? Are there Xbox games in the Switch 2 reveal? Does the Switch 2 reveal set the stage for Microsoft putting PS5 and Switch 2 logos at the end of trailers at Xbox events?

Switch 2 may end up explaining a lot about the PS5 timings.

I want Astro Bot to win but I think Erdtree will because after 2016 FromSoftware soulsborne has never lost.

I used to think PS6 would have discs but all that talk about a handheld that natively plays PS5 games complicates things. Naturally discs that size wouldn't fit in a handheld so backwards compatibility on the handheld would have to be limited to digital only.

Which gives me the impression that there'd either be a PSP to Vita style transition (PS6 carts exist but there's no disc drive) or the console is fully digital only.

@QBGaming12 April - July would be my guess for Yotei, Hiroki Totoki's comments earlier this year deconfirms January - March (Sony's current fiscal year is April 1st 2024 - March 31st 2025) meanwhile August - December would be too close to GTA6.

I could see a Horizon game release in Fall 2025 though as that franchise always seems to have the worst possible release timing.

My guess is TLoU 3 and something related to Valve. The impression I get is that people are expecting the next Naughty Dog game to be something not TLoU so to see TLoU 3 announced first with a release year of like 2027/2028 would fit.

As for Valve, the past few years of the Game Awards had Steam Deck giveaways but this time it's PS5 Pro so maybe Valve has something new to announce.

Odd that they chose to do this trailer before the Game Awards rather than after.

@Dodoo Astro Bot didn't even make the top 10, it was sadly knocked out in round 1.

I think one will be April/May and the other be June/July taking into consideration that they're both releasing in 2025 and GTA6 is Fall 2025.

Considering no Showcase/SoP happened to celebrate PS 30th anniversary, while there's still a chance of a SoP being announced for Tuesday it seems more likely at this point that Sony saved their announcements for the Game Awards instead.

I'm thinking it may be PS event rather than the Game Awards. For the PS 25th anniversary celebrations, Sony ended the week of celebrations by announcing a State of Play for the following week (December 10th 2019) so they may do something similar here.

It would be really nice if people moving away from Twitter resulted in stuff like Playstation Home and Miiverse making a comeback.

I wonder if Sony would've let The Last Hope Dead Zone Survival (TLoU clone that released on Switch in 2023) or War Gods Zeus of Child (GoW clone that released on Xbox in 2022) live if they came to PS5.

I don't see the point in saying there's no red lines but then not bring the heavy hitters (Halo, Gears, Forza) soon after. So if FH5 wasn't going to appear, it would probably be because FH6 is coming soon and they want that to be the debut Forza game for PS5.

As for announcing FH5, I'd guess either the Game Awards or the Switch 2 reveal. Indiana Jones for PS5 made a big splash at Gamescom Opening Night Live and the Game Awards has way more viewers than that event. Alternatively, they may want to show they're properly supporting Switch 2 and the Switch 2 reveal would have way more viewers than the Game Awards.

They released 3 Horizon games on PC this year (Forbidden West in March, Zero Dawn Remastered in October, Lego in November) so wouldn't you expect numbers to be low?

Figured it would be helpful to note that Amazon UK's £399 deal for the PS5 disc console has a delivery date of January 3rd 2025.

@somnambulance Regarding Switch 2, Nintendo said for the fiscal year, not the calendar year so if they announced Switch 2 on March 31st 2025 it would still fit in with what was said back in May.

@somnambulance Back in August, it was revealed the release date was being announced this year.

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2024/08/metal-gear-solid-delta-snake-eaters-ps5-release-date-will-reportedly-break-cover-later-this-year

I think MGS Delta is the big sign of something happening. It feels unlikely that Geoff would allow a Konami trailer at the Game Awards and even more unlikely that Nintendo announces Switch 2 this year which leaves these options if the game is still getting a release date announced this year:

• Random trailer out of nowhere
• Sony has an event which includes the game

The latter sounds more likely.

If real, this has me concerned about PS6's ability to play physical media. The clearest messaging regarding being able to have games run on both PS6 and the handheld would be to completely get rid of the disc drive.

Horizon Warriors perhaps like how they worked with Nintendo for Hyrule Warriors and Fire Emblem Warriors. Considering how often the Horizon franchise keeps appearing like from VR to Lego to whatever Horizon Online ends up being, I could see Sony wanting even more Horizon spinoffs.

I get the feeling that the PC version and more info about Season 2 of the TV show will be at the Game Awards.

@ear_wig The way I see it is:

• Another Code, Emio, Nintendo World Championships, Endless Ocean - Those types of games are very unlikely to be nominated
• Mario vs. DK, LM2 HD - Action/Adventure category is already very packed
• TTYD, Brothership - RPG category is already very packed

Which left Princess Peach Showtime, Echoes of Wisdom and Super Mario Party Jamboree which all got nominations. DLC being eligible was just an excuse to include Erdtree so Splatoon 3 Side Order was unlikely to be nominated.

I really liked Switch 2024 but I'm not surprised that Nintendo's presence at the Game Awards was limited.

I think Erdtree will win and the final World Premiere is Bloodborne related (e.g. sequel, remaster/remake, movie).

@Nem It's a similar situation to Tomb Raider. Legend got added to the PS2 classics lineup but it would make a lot of sense for the next release after the 4-6 remasters to be 7-9 remasters (Legend, Anniversary, Underworld) especially as Xbox 360 got exclusive DLC for Underworld.

That's a shame, all but confirms that Shadow of the Erdtree will win. Astro Bot winning GotY was the best chance of knocking some sense into Sony.