The first big demonstration of the summer game opening season is always significant. It sets a tone of excitement for revelations during and after and can change the mood of the entire season depending on whether it is good or bad. This year this honor was awarded to Sony State of Play on June 2, which presented the upcoming games for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation VR2.
Although the showcase did not contain God of War: Ragnarok, as many PlayStation fans had hoped, it was still a great show. It included some shocking third-party game announcements, demonstrated the power of the PlayStation VR2 with several trailers, and even contained a surprising PC port message for one of Sony’s most popular series. Since everything announced in the State of Play was strong, I’m even more excited about what could be a fantastic summer for video game revelations.
The best condition of the game so far
In the last two years, Sony has released its biggest announcements for the PlayStation Showcase in September, far out of season to unveil the summer games. As a result, State of Play often suffers because the games featured in them are not as interesting as Sony’s games on the first hand and leave viewers wanting more. This state of the art still technically followed this formula, outside of the PC port for Marvel’s Spider-Man. We didn’t see a God of War Ragnarok or Marvel’s Wolverine on this show, and we didn’t even get a price or release date for the PlayStation VR2. Fortunately, the highlighted games were mostly of a much higher caliber than previous State of Play storefronts.
The show started with the confirmation of a remake of Resident Evil 4, one of the most famous horror games of all time. This will probably be one of the most memorable messages of the summer. However, the show brought more exciting news, including in-depth trailers for long-awaited games such as Street Fighter 6 and Final Fantasy XVI. It also contained some great AA and indie games, with Stray and Rollerdrome looking especially great. Although the specific details of the date and price of the PlayStation VR 2 are still feared, games such as Horizon Call of the Mountain and Resident Evil Village have shown that this should be an impressive piece of VR hardware.
It wasn’t as exclusive as the 2015 Sony E3 conference, which featured The Last Guardian, Horizon Zero Dawn, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Shenmue 3, as it wasn’t as focused on exclusives or first-page titles. Fortunately, it was much more impressive than any state of the game before it, as the previous ones were often pretty bad outside of one or two major revelations like Iron Man VR and or Exoprimal. Since Sony has made an impressive state of the game without releasing a lot of first-party revelations, it really makes me hope that Microsoft and Jeff Keeley are also introducing their A-game.
Creator of trends
It is unlikely that any new titles in the rest of 2022 will dethrone Elden Ring or Kirby and the Forgotten Land from the Game of the Year awards and reviews. However, these summer presentations are our last chance to find out which contenders are still on the horizon. We can also be excited about what lies ahead in 2023, as the video game industry is finally recovering from the delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The State of Play has managed to achieve this by highlighting games such as Stray and Final Fantasy XVI, the last of which will not arrive until next summer. Summer Game Fest, Xbox and Bethesda Showcase and potential Nintendo show already have a high bar to deal with if they want to impress, but if they can do it and show games first hand, then this may be the beginning of an amazing summer for video game announcements.
After these summer demonstrations, we need to better understand exactly how the next year and a half of games will accumulate. Let’s hope that the summer showcases for games are only better than here. And even if they don’t, I’m happy with all the exciting messages we’ve received in this state of the game.
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