Concord and Astro Bot look great, but are a symptom of the weird year PlayStation and the PS5 is having
PlayStation's hotly anticipated May State of Play dropped with as little warning as we've grown accustomed to with showcases of this ilk. Honestly, I'm not sure what I was expecting from it, beyond my own selfish wants to see more titles like Marvel's Wolverine and whatever any of Sony's other major studios are working on. While it featured some fantastic-looking games, some release dates, and a handful of fresh reveals, the showcase at large felt symptomatic of the unusual year the PS5 and PlayStation is having.
The showcase comes after PlayStation made some serious changes to its business, canceling several unannounced projects, making heavy layoffs, and closing the PlayStation London studio altogether. It followed that with making leadership changes, promoting two PlayStation veterans to the new SIE CEOs to replace the now long-departed Jim Ryan. With all of those changes, Sony vowed it would unveil its new "long-term vision" and the important role SIE will play in it, but so far, it feels like more of the same.
Hermen Hulst, as part of the vision, said the plan is to have "at least one tentpole single-player launch during the holiday season" every year. If we go with the current confirmed dates from last night's State of Play and previous announcements, it feels bizarre that Astro Bot will potentially act as that single-player focus for 2024. While I'm a huge fan of the little fella and its whimsical platforming ways, it's not exactly reaching the same audience as the likes of God of War, Horizon Forbidden West, or any other of its core single-player IPs.
A slower Sony year
That shouldn't really come as a surprise though, as PlayStation has been fairly upfront about its lineup for this year. Sony Group president Hiroki Totoki said back in February that Sony wouldn't be releasing any "major existing franchise titles" before April 1, 2025 (sorry Astro Bot). Instead, the focus was on giving studios time to develop the next wave, and a continued push into live service titles, which is clearly where Concord comes into play.
The new IP from developer Firewalk Games marks a new FPS era for Sony, which hasn't really had its own first-party FPS series for some time now. Concord looks like it's Sony's answer to Overwatch - a 5v5 multiplayer FPS, complete with a roster of heroes to choose from and a weekly vignette drop to give more backstory to each of them. In fact, it's so unashamedly Overwatch that you'd imagine Blizzard's hackles were immediately raised.
The live service strategy was also echoed by the console release announcement for Marvel Rivals in the State of Play. Another PvP hero shooter, this time from NetEase rather than one of Sony's own studios, it's another tick in the live service box for this year on PS5.
The full package
Of course, that also helps reinforce that while the State of Play was more muted from Sony's side of the proceedings, it was balanced by good showings from its partners. Monster Hunter Worlds' full reveal was an impressive one, with Capcom's RE Engine making all the difference under the hood. We finally got the Silent Hill 2 Remake release date too, with the upcoming horror release nipping in just time for Halloween. Even Infinity Nikki got an excited rumble from the GamesRadar+ team thanks to its Pokemon Snap meets Breath of the Wild vibes.
Sony also leaned into its repeated pledge to make PC releases a part of its strategy, by bringing God of War: Ragnarok to PC with all the appropriate bells and whistles this September. It remains part of the strategy to have a large gap between the original PS5 launch and the PC port though, with PlayStation's CEO thinking that PC gamers will buy a PS5 for exclusive sequels rather than just waiting for the inevitable PC-specific release. With games like Helldivers 2 proving that simultaneous releases aren't exactly damaging to the PlayStation brand, I'm still unconvinced that Sony's nailing the PC strategy when it's clearly an important part of their forward vision.
What is clear though is that PSVR 2 isn't exactly a priority for Sony. Over a year after launch, just two upcoming PSVR 2 games featured in the PlayStation State of Play. Behemoth from Skydance - responsible for brilliant virtual reality title The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners - looked impressive in the way it simultaneously channeled Skyrim and Shadow of the Colossus, but could only muster a 'Fall 2024' launch window. Alien: Rogue Incursion should have been a headliner as the first Alien VR game, but the 53-second 'gameplay trailer' wasn't dark, unimpressive, and didn't actually feature much gameplay. PlayStation's not exactly screaming 'You must buy this peripheral for the holidays' in the faces of its most engaged audience with that duo, especially not with PSVR 2 still retailing at almost full price, bar the occasional almost-tempting deal and the PSVR 2 games costing nearly as much as a AAA PS5 title.
So overall, a mixed bag for the PlayStation State of Play against a backdrop of a turbulent industry. It shouldn't have come as much of a surprise really, but with Concord and Astro Bot leading the way for first-party PlayStation's next six months it's certainly not the 2024 I expected.
