PlayStation September Showcase Predictions: God of War Ragnarok, Gran Turismo 7, and More
PlayStation's September showcase could be Sony's biggest gaming event of the year, and these are just a few of our predictions for what you can expect to see at the show.
On September 9 at 4 p.m. EST, PlayStation will host a special showcase event that some are already calling the company’s long-awaited E3 “makeup show.” While Sony is obviously stopping short of referring to it as such, the consensus seems to be that this will end up being the PlayStation team’s biggest event of the year.
That being the case, predictions for this show are running a bit wild at the moment. To hear some PlayStation fans tell it, this show is going to feature pretty much every dream PlayStation announcement you’ve ever heard of and the exclusive reveal of Half-Life 3 to boot. Of course, this year has taught us that the industry is still very much dealing with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and that it’s best to manage your expectations when it comes to these kinds of events.
Even still, it does feel like the PlayStation team’s best chance to really go all out and show us what the future of the PS5 looks like. That being the case, here are a few (maybe slightly bold) predictions for what we might see at this show.
God of War: Ragnarok Teaser Trailer (But No Release Date)
God of War: Ragnarok is by far the most anticipated upcoming PlayStation game in the minds of many, so it’s highly unlikely that the PlayStation team doesn’t at least reference the upcoming title sometime during their big September showcase.
That being said, you really shouldn’t expect an update regarding the game’s exact release date. Some very optimistic gamers once suggested the God of War sequel could be released in 2021, but it’s now clear that even the game’s current 2022 release window may prove to be optimistic.
Gran Turismo 7 Finally Gets a Release Date
It has been five years since the release of the divisive Gran Turismo Sport, so it’s easy to understand if franchise fans are starting to become a little impatient. Gran Turismo 7 has a lot of expectations to live up to.
I do think that we finally get a Gran Turismo 7 release date during the September Showcase event, but I’m really curious to see whether or not Sony chooses to showcase a substantial amount of new Gran Turismo 7 gameplay at that time. There’s a chance that the PlayStation team still needs to sell this game to non-diehards, and this is certainly one of their best upcoming opportunities to do just that.
An Extensive Look at GTA 5’s Next-Gen Port
Look, it’s obviously at least a little bit funny that GTA 5 is being re-released yet again, but the fact of the matter is that GTA 5 (or, more specifically, GTA Online) is as hot as ever. The game’s upcoming next-gen port has to be considered one of the biggest upcoming game releases in a dry holiday season.
That being the case, it feels safe to predict that GTA 5 will enjoy a substantial share of the spotlight during this PlayStation event ahead of the next-gen port’s November 11 release date. We might even get an update on those rumored remasters of GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas, but Rockstar may choose to showcase those games on their own terms.
A Brief Preview of PSVR 2
While I wouldn’t be surprised if the next generation of PSVR hardware ends up being a major part of the upcoming showcase event, the safer bet is that Sony will choose to briefly reference the technology at that time and then devote an entire showcase to the hardware sometime down the line.
Still, it would be nice to get a brief look at the PSVR 2 headset and maybe even hear the PlayStation team talk about some future VR projects that will take full advantage of the new hardware.
A Ton of Horizon Forbidden West Gameplay
Horizon Forbidden West may have been delayed to early 2022, but it’s still one of the only major upcoming first-party PlayStation exclusives that have a set release date. As such, it’s also the PlayStation team’s best bet for a game they can “safely” feature.
That being the case, you should expect quite a bit of Forbidden West gameplay during the upcoming show. I don’t think PlayStation would go so far as to devote the majority of the event to Forbidden West, but it’s best to anticipate a lot of Forbidden West gameplay talk/footage so you don’t walk away from this event too disappointed.
Naughty Dog’s (The Last of Us?) Multiplayer Project
Thanks to a fairly recent round of job listings, we’re pretty sure that Naughty Dog is working on a standalone multiplayer project at the moment. What we don’t know is whether or not that project is set in The Last of Us universe as some rumors suggest it might be.
I suspect the project is indeed related to The Last of Us (especially since previous reports suggested that Naughty Dog was working on The Last of Us Part 2 multiplayer before deciding to focus on the campaign), and I strongly suspect that we’ll get a glimpse at whatever the mysterious game is during this upcoming PlayStation showcase event.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Teaser Trailer
Don’t let the excellent Miles Morales distract you from the fact that Insomniac Games still intends to release a full sequel to Marvel’s Spider-Man and may have been working on that sequel while developing their other recent projects.
It’s doubtful that we get this game any sooner than late 2022, but a simple teaser trailer for the project would go a long way to reassuring PS5 fans that it is indeed on the horizon.
A Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Gameplay Update (But No Final Fantasy 16)
The Stranger of Paradise reveal didn’t exactly capture the kind of attention that Square Enix was probably looking for (“Chaos…”), but there are still plenty of reasons to hope that the upcoming Final Fantasy action game from Team Ninja will live up to the potential of its concept.
This upcoming show would be a great time for Square Enix and Team Ninja to wipe the bad taste out of some fans’ mouths and focus on Stranger of Paradise‘s gameplay instead. Based on what we’ve heard, though, you probably shouldn’t expect Final Fantasy 16 to make an appearance at this show as it sounds like Square Enix doesn’t plan on showing off that game until we’re much closer to its reported 2022 or 2023 release date.
Bloodborne PS5 Remaster/PC Launch
The popular theory at the moment is that the Uncharted series (or at least part of it) is coming to PC, but since that’s such a popular theory, I’ll instead be a bit bolder and suggest that Bloodborne will soon finally get its long-awaited PC port.
While we’re being so bold, I’ll go one step further and also suggest that Bloodborne may soon get a PS5 remaster (though probably not a full remake in the style of Demon’s Souls). The PC port prediction is probably more likely, but a remaster might make quite a bit of sense at the moment considering that the PS5’s upcoming “true” next-gen exclusive release schedule is looking a bit thin.
Ghostwire: Tokyo Gameplay Preview and Release Date
Ghostwire: Tokyo caught many people by surprise when it debuted at E3 2019, but we really haven’t heard a lot about it since then. We know it’s been delayed until 2022, and we know it will be a timed PS5 exclusive, but the details of this horror title remain mysterious.
It would be a little odd for Bethesda to chose to showcase this game during a PlayStation even given that they’re now owned by Microsoft, but because Ghostwire: Tokyo is a timed PS5 exclusive, there may be no great way around that awkwardness. If there’s more of Ghostwire: Tokyo that’s ready to be shown, then this is a great place to show it.
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Matthew Byrd is Games Editor at Den of Geek and an entertainment enthusiast living in Brooklyn. When he's not exploring the culture of video games, he's…