PlayStation Paris Games Week Conference Predictions
With Paris Games Week kicking off this week, PlayStation appears to once again be getting the hype train rolling. "E3 was only half the story" their tagline reads, with the PlayStation EU Blog proclaiming that their media showcase will feature "21 game updates, including seven all-new game announcements for PS4 and PS VR" - a seemingly more substantial conference than anyone was expecting.
With PlayStation Experience (PSX) right around the corner in early December, announcements regarding stuff like The Last of Us Part II will most likely not be shown at the Paris Games Week Conference, however there are plenty of announcements, especially from PlayStation's European studios, that could be made tomorrow.
Release Dates, and a bunch of them...
In addition, not much has been said about Quantic Dream's title Detroit: Become Human besides introducing two new characters at both E3 2016 and 17's pressers. With the game having been announced two years back in 2015, with the game seemingly being in development since 2013, it's about time we see more of the game including a release date. If a release date were to be shown for Detroit Become Human, it would either be between March and May or sometime in June.
Days Gone will also shown again, this time with a new story trailer ending with a release date close to July 2018.
Dreams Reborn
Dreams is a strange title. Media Molecule, the developer's known best for the LittleBigPlanet series, have been working on their new game Dreams for almost six years now since development wrapped up on LittleBigPlanet 2. It was showcased at the PlayStation 4 reveal event in February 2013 as a tech demo for their new project, with the official announcement of the title coming from E3 2015. Since PSX 2015, nothing substantial on the game has been shown since, with a Beta set to release in 2016 being delayed to 2017, and with only two months of 2017 remaining, time is running short.
Dreams embraces the creative aspect of the LittleBigPlanet series and brings it to a whole new level, but had received plenty of criticism for being more of a game development tool than an actual game. At the Press Conference I predict we will finally receive an in-depth look at Dreams and how it's evolved and changed since we last saw it, with the announcement of an open beta going live the moment the presser ends.
Classic PlayStation Icons Return?
This year has been an extremely popular year for fans of nostalgia, most notably with the success of the Crash Bandicoot: N-Sane Trilogy. PlayStation fans ever since Crash released have been clamoring for remasters of old classics, with the most-requested being both Crash Team Racing and the Spyro The Dragon Trilogy. While announcements like these would best be suited PSX in December, it could be possible when discussing the success of the N-Sane Trilogy that Sony might drop the bomb and announce one of these two titles.
Jak & Daxter is another classic franchise that fans, myself included, have been fighting for a new game in the series for years now. Earlier in the year, it was announced out of the blue that all four Jak & Daxter games will be coming to PS4 sometime in 2017, although only the first game has released yet (back in August with the release of Uncharted: The Lost Legacy), with the remaining three still to come. It could be possible we'll see the announcement of those three remaining Jak games launch on PS4 very soon along with a new Jak & Daxter game coming in 2018 by studio other than Naughty Dog. While extremely unlikely, I still have hope!!!
Sucker Punch-es with a New IP
Sucker Punch is another developer that has been very quiet for several years. After the release of inFamous Second Son and it's standalone story expansion First Light in 2014, not much has been said about their next project. Many have been speculating for years when we might see their latest project, with several E3 and PSX conferences going by with their absence being frustratingly acknowledged by their fans, tomorrow might finally be the day. What the game will be, nobody knows, however I'm confident the game will be a new, open-world IP.
Miscellanous Announcements Galore
Its hard to predict exactly what will be shown in this category as we have no clue what to expect in terms of new game announcements, but there are a few things we can expect. For starters, Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds will get a new trailer to build up hype as it launches on 7th November, along with games such as Call of Duty World War II and Star Wars Battlefront II. We may get our first look into Destiny 2's first expansion The Curse of Osiris, as that is expected to release in December. New PSVR games will also be shown, as well as a bunch of indie titles and perhaps a few PC titles making their way to PS4.
If Sucker Punch are at the show, one announcement that would make me super happy would be in regards to their one of their other IPs; Sly Cooper. With the success of Ratchet & Clank in 2016 and Crash Bandicoot this year, it would make sense for the Sly Cooper Thieves in Time developers, Sanzaru Games, to bring Sly Cooper and the Gang over to PS4 in the form of a sequel.
Kojima Closes the Show
Sony usually closes their press conferences with something big and sometimes unexpected, much like the announcement of The Last of Us Part II at PSX 2016. While TLOU2 most likely won't make an appearance, I believe Death Stranding will and will be what closes the conference. What makes me think this Geoff Keighley, long-time friend of Kojima, will be attended the event, with a tweet saying "Do not miss the livestream."
Kojima loves to tease people about his latest projects, with two trailers last year at both E3 2016 and Geoff Keighley's own awards show, The Game Awards, with the project officially beginning only a couple months prior to E3. Kojima and his team skipped on E3 this year however, meaning there's been no new information about Death Stranding for over 10 months. If Death Stranding is shown at the conferences, it will most likely be our first look at gameplay.
The PlayStation Media Showcase kicks off at 3:00pm GMT/4:00pm CET/8:00am PDT and can be viewed here. Will you be watching the press conference, and what announcements would you like to see? Leave your predictions down below!