Grumblevolcano

@AverageGamer It's in other countries as well. For example in the UK, Series S 512GB increased from £249.99 to £299.99.

It's a relief that this event is happening in April because it increases the chance of Sony having a more general SoP/showcase in May/June. Maybe Rockstar announces the GTA6 release date on the week beginning May 12th and then the floodgates open for gaming news in general?

@Chimmy1024 I'm cautious because of those other things. You know something's very wrong when the platform that has a disc drive as an optional extra (PS5) is more physical-friendly than the newest Nintendo console.

@Chimmy1024 @Cutmastavictory The vast majority of Nintendo's use of microtransactions were in mobile games. However, I don't think it's wise to assume that the Switch 2 era stays the same in that regard.

I think 2027 for the 30th anniversary of the original, it would also fit the pacing of Switch 2 catching up (Remake is 2025 so perhaps Rebirth in 2026 and part 3 in 2027).

I'd guess KH4 is the big 2026 game considering how long ago it was announced. One of Geoff's 2025 events being the source for next news.

@Dodoo Playstation Blog says there's a physical standard edition so it seems they're going with the same approach they used for Spider-Man 2:

• Physical standard edition
• Digital standard edition
• Digital deluxe edition
• Digital collector's edition

Really surprised they chose to do this now instead of waiting for a May/June PS event. Maybe the May/June event is just the Borderlands 4 State of Play that was announced in February then?

@AverageGamer Game Pass got a price increase in both 2023 and 2024, it's a safe assumption that Microsoft will continue doing annual price increases.

I think if it's announced next week, it's not a shadow drop but rather like a June release. Shadow drops can be effective when they're part of events but I don't see anymore upcoming April events happening outside of the already announced Mario Kart World Direct and Borderlands 4 State of Play.

Nowadays it seems like companies are always using other companies' anti-consumer practices as cover to push through their own anti-consumer practices.

The focus is all on Nintendo charging $80 for Mario Kart World so Sony secretly pushes through a PS+ price increase.

@ShogunRok I think it may have been to try and convince people that Sony weren't abandoning single player games.

Jim Ryan talked a lot in 2022 about there being a huge quantity of live service games incoming so if Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine weren't announced in 2021, people would've put the pieces together and came to the conclusion that GoW Ragnarok was the end of single player games and Sony sent all their studios to the live service mines.

@somnambulance I think the comments would be "why is Sony involved with yet another live service game instead of doing Bloodborne".

With Sony appearing twice in last week's Direct (Patapon and Everybody's Golf), I could maybe see this being about Switch 2. Sony's trying to make TLoU be the next Skyrim and Skyrim played a very important role in the early Switch 1 era.

@Lowdefal To be fair, the dynamic between Sony and Microsoft is what kept PS4 and base PS5 launch prices reasonable.

After the PS3 era, Sony couldn't afford another "599 US Dollars" incident with PS4. They really went all-out with the PS4, taking full advantage of the damage Don Mattrick's vision of XB1 did to the Xbox brand.

Meanwhile with the PS5 era, Sony and Microsoft were very much playing chicken over pricing. Series X|S pricing was leaked and that meant Sony couldn't charge more than $499 for the PS5 disc model.

I think the situation next time will be something like:

• PS6 handheld - Somewhere in the realm of $399 - 499 (depends on Switch 2 pricing)
• PS6 home console - Somewhere in the realm of $699 - 799

It's an exciting concept, Wipeout would be my most wanted dormant Sony IP to return.

The multiplatform side of things? I think it's a risky choice by Sony considering what happened to Xbox but in the end I think Switch 2 and PS6 will coexist. Pick up Switch 2 if you want to play anywhere or experience Nintendo's exclusives, pick up PS6 if you want to play the 3rd party games Switch 2 can't run.

September or delayed to 2026 would be my guess. March onwards (including the Sony IP published by Bandai Namco) for 2025 is:

• March - Midnight Murder Club
• April - Days Gone Remastered
• May - Lost Soul Aside
• June - Death Stranding 2
• July - Patapon 1+2 Replay
• TBA - Ghost of Yotei and Everybody's Golf Hot Shots

Golf is more of a Spring/Summer game release so I think Everybody's Golf Hot Shots is August. Then you have the situation regarding GTA6, the only Sony game I could see releasing in October - December is Horizon Online.

Being disappointed that old games aren't playable on modern hardware is understandable and Sony choosing to remaster or remake games like TLoU/TLoU2/Uncharted 4/Lost Legacy/Until Dawn/HZD/Days Gone that already had a native PS4 version adds to that disappointment.

However, expecting Greek saga remasters just because Grubb says it's apparently happening is not the way to go.

@LiamCroft I'd say 15th anniversary of Xenoblade Chronicles this year. The anniversary itself is on June 10th but Nintendo celebrated it big as with the release of Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition next week, the entire franchise is now on Switch.

Oh, I get it now. If Outer Worlds 2, Oblivion, Starfield and Avowed are all coming to PS5 by the end of September to avoid GTA6 then there has to be compromises on timings. For example a 1.5 month gap between each of the 4 RPGs would mean somerhing like:

• Late April - Oblivion
• Mid June - Avowed
• Late July/Early August - Outer Worlds 2
• Mid/Late September - Starfield

Getting announced around the anniversary (March 20th) would feel realistic but April release sounds really odd considering what's already coming that month from Microsoft, both on the Xbox side and the PS side so I don't believe April release.

@PVTHudson A new blog post has revealed that AoE 2 is coming to PS5 in mid-April:

"Last month, we teased that not only would Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition be coming to PlayStation, but a new expansion is planned as well. To put a cherry on top, we will also be releasing one of the biggest updates Age II: DE has ever had!

While we continue working on getting all of this incredible content and fixes ready for you, we wanted to provide a preview of our work in progress. Why so early? These patch notes are long – legendarily long – and we wanted to give you an early look to take it all in.

Everything you see outlined and described below is what will come in the next update to Age II: DE. We don’t have an exact date to share for this update just yet, but you can save the date for mid-April!"

https://www.ageofempires.com/news/a-sneak-peek-at-new-content-coming-to-age-of-empires-ii-definitive-edition/

Hopefully physical is a true physical version and not that stupid code in box nonsense.

@Americansamurai1 @Dragoon1994 I think for the big single player games we'll see something like:

• August/September 2025 - Ghost of Yotei
• February/March 2026 - Saros
• May/June 2026 - Intergalactic
• September/October 2026 - Wolverine
• February/March 2027 - Horizon 3
• May/June 2027 - Sony Santa Monica's next project

I wonder if disconnecting from the internet allows you to bypass this requirement like with DOOM Eternal.

Based on how the February State of Play turned out, I think Death Stranding 2 is July/August and then Ghost of Yotei is in that awkward Fall/Holiday window of "Do you delay to 2026 because of GTA6?". If Ghost of Yotei was releasing first, we'd have seen gameplay in the February State of Play.

@get2sammyb While that is true, I don't think that alone can explain Series X going from 1612 to 79 to 35 in 3 consecutive weeks. To me it looks like stock ran out and then Microsoft didn't restock which is a worldwide problem at the moment.

@ChrisDeku Series X|S stock issues has been a worldwide problem for months.

@RenanKJ I think it could be like the DKC/Metroid Prime dilemma. Retro Studios did the Metroid Prime games and the 2 most recent DK games (DKC Returns in 2010 and DKC Tropical Freeze in 2014). Metroid Prime 4 exists and is releasing in 2025 but DK has been absent outside of remasters since 2014.

So the comparison to Naughty Dog would be that by not committing to TLoU 3, it opens the possibility of Intergalactic getting a sequel in the PS6 era.

@heavyartillery56 I think the playtests will be about Sony's live service games like Marathon, Fairgame$ and the Horizon multiplayer game.

@Cikajovazmaj They're generally timing PS5 releases with when new content updates/DLC comes to PC/Xbox (Grounded, Sea of Thieves, Age of Mythology, FH5, Age of Empires 2) so an April release for Indiana Jones would suggest that's when the Order of Giants DLC comes out.

While it would be nice to happen, I can't say I believe the rumour considering Sony hasn't remastered/remade a game that wasn't already playable on PS5 via backwards compatibility since the Demon's Souls remake back at PS5's launch in November 2020.

A 2018 remaster and maybe GoW 3 gets a re-remaster while the PS2 games, PSP games and Ascension end up in the PS+ Premium classics line would be more believable.

Announcement in March sounds more believable than the summer showcase shadow drop rumour. Physical on Xbox hardware is pretty much dead (e.g. Indiana Jones and Avowed were code in box) but this sounds like the kind of game that would have a proper disc/cart version for PS5/Switch.

Is it perhaps that the PC strategy is more about avoiding monopoly concerns from regulators at this point? So like the PS6 ends up having no disc drive (not even optional add-on) but regulators consider that acceptable because they sell their games on Steam/EGS as alternate options.

PS5 Pro not having a disc drive in the box, the standalone disc drive being hard to get and Days Gone Remastered being digital only does seem like Sony's heading more towards a digital only future.

Top 3 were:

• Sonic Racing
• Shinobi
• Onimusha 2

Turns out I was wrong, the track which I thought was a remake of the Transformed track Carrier Zone (After Burner) is actually Metal Harbor from Sonic Adventure 2.

It was a rough State of Play overall though there were still some really cool announcements. My favourite was the Sonic Racing trailer, it was nice to see mechanics from Transformed and crossover courses return.

A similar situation happened in September with TGS so I guess this rules out it being in tomorrow's State of Play.

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.