With this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo fast approaching, the time has come for us to make a few predictions about what we expect to see and what we hope will be announced in Los Angeles during the most important time of the year for the video game industry.
Here are some of our predictions for what Sony will show during the PlayStation E3 2016 Press Conference:
Richard Bailey Jr. – Editor-In-Chief
Sony’s E3 2015 Press Conference was easily the most memorable show last year because the company proved that they are willing to listen to fans and give them gaming experiences that they’ve been asking for. While it may seem impossible for them to have repeat success the second time around, they remain confident and are already working on making things bigger and better in virtually every way imaginable. After watching last year’s show a third time, I came up with a few ways Sony can make this conference another instant success.
First and foremost, Take-Two Interactive made it clear in a recent investors call that they are working on several titles and will be at E3 2016 in a big way. This coupled with a leaked map from what is believed to be the next installment in Rockstar’s Red Dead series has led to speculation that the game will be shown next week. While I could see Microsoft revealing this title at their conference and packaging a backwards-compatible version of Red Dead Redemption free with this new game, the safest bet would be for them to show this at Sony’s conference instead. Microsoft is trying to get out of the habit of doing third-party deals while Sony can fully utilize them given that they have the best selling console on the market. For this reason and this reason alone, I fully expect us to see the debut trailer of the next Red Dead at PlayStation’s show.
One other major bombshell that I’m expecting Sony to announce is a new subscription model that combines PlayStation Now with PlayStation Plus to allow players to access PS3 games on their PS4 consoles. Xbox One owners who have Xbox Live Gold can do this now thanks to backwards-compatibility for Xbox 360 titles but are limited to two free games every month unless they own titles that are already compatible. If Sony were to announce a feature like this, they would gain the upper hand over the competition because they can offer more titles starting on day one. Of course, Sony has already said it would be challenging to bring full backwards-compatibility to their console but this could also be another feature the rumored PS4 Neo has to further convince fans to invest in one.
Tony Polanco – Executive Editor
It’s hard for anyone to argue that Sony didn’t have the strongest E3 showing, not only of last year, but of recent history. During the event, it dropped two thermonuclear bombs with the announcements of the Shenmue III kickstarter and the long awaited Final Fantasy VII remake. Let’s not forget The Last Guardian, not exactly a groundbreaking reveal, but it was great to know that the damn game was still in development.
We shouldn’t expect for Sony to be able to match last year’s show, let alone surpass it, so we should keep our expectations reasonable and not anticipate another mind-blowing presentation. Despite that, I do think Sony does have the capacity to deliver another impressive show that could be the highlight of this year’s E3.
I expect a good chunk of the focus of this year’s event to be centered new hardware. With the PlayStation VR peripheral dropping this October, I expect it will get significant stage time. I know that some (myself included) don’t much care for PSVR — or VR in general — but this is where the new hot trend the industry has latched on to so it’s best to just accept it and hope something worthwhile comes out of it.
I hope Sony will finally sheds some light on the rumored PS4 NEO. We’ve had more than enough speculation about this console during the past several months and it’s time for some definitive answers. This system is supposedly coming out during the fall as well (to coincide with the PSVR, no doubt), so we should hear something if all of these rumors are true. More importantly, if Sony does reveal the existence of the PS4 NEO, that they give consumers good reasons why they should spend money on a brand-new system just three years after buying a PS4.
Sony can easily win this E3 by having Hideo Kojima come on stage to talk about, or better yet, show off what his PS4 exclusive game is. Considering how Kojima was more or less forbidden from attending E3 last year by Konami, his presence alone will create headlines.
I fully expect God of War 4 to be officially unveiled at the show. In fact, I believe Sony will close out their event with this one. This game will supposedly have Kratos battling against the Norse Gods so it should make for an awesome presentation if they have any footage ready. Kratos versus Thor? Oh, hell yeah. Bring me that shit.
Dana Abercrombie – Content Writer
Because you know I’m about that Hideo Kojima, Bout that Kojima, no Konami
I’m about that Hideo Kojima, Bout that Kojima, no Konami
I’m about that Hideo Kojima, Bout that Hideo Kojima
He’s bringing gaming back
Go ahead, basic gamers and clap back
Because every inch of Kojima’s creativity will bring something for us all
Yeah, my momma she told me don’t worry about Silent Hills
(that cancellation, that that cancellation)
She said, Konami couldn’t appreciate his mad skills
They tried to shut him down but the people spoke.
And now Konami is looking like a big joke.
If you can’t tell by my remixed rendition of Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” (oh yeah, be jealous) I’m really excited for Hideo Kojima and his partnership with Sony for an upcoming video game. Despite Konami trying to erase him from our minds and history, he will not go quietly into that good night. He shall rage on into the dying light… which is basically this year’s E3 stage.
On this day, the skies shall open and the voice of GOD himself (Morgan Freeman) and the voice of Sony Jesus Shuhei Yoshida, shall announce the upcoming title and there shall be a thunderous applause that will continue for a record-setting time.
What could be revealed? Who knows? Who cares? Okay, we all care, but whatever it is, it’s bound to tickle our trigger fingers and make us run to our computers ready to upload our video reactions once he drops that trailer with screams of “EERRR MEE GAWD.” Teaser trailer be damned, this a game most likely not to be cancelled and we can play in full, Kojima’s gone through hell while still looking unbothered sipping tea. We’re getting a full trailer and who knows maybe it be available to play that same day.
EEERRRMEEGAWD *faints*
Chris Sealy – Contributing Writer
Sony is going into E3 2016 still being “King of the Mountain” for now in terms of console sales, but this entire console generation has been somewhat lackluster. Now with the rumors that both Sony and Microsoft are releasing upgraded versions of the current consoles, it will take more that raw power to excite gamers, it takes quality games. These are my predictions for Sony’s E3 2016 conference.
First let’s get the obvious hardware out of the way. We are going to be introduced to the PS4 Neo console and get official specs and reasons why Sony will expect gamers to upgrade or jump onboard. The main reasons will be 4K support and Playstation VR, which will be the next piece of new Sony hardware we’ll get introduced too. Along with that, Sony will have to announce some titles to go along with VR.
Sony will hype up Gran Turismo Sport for sure. The conference will feature probably a long sizzle video showing off more of the game. I don’t imagine they’ll spend too much time on this since it’ll probably be playable on the show floor and it comes out in November.
I’m carrying over a prediction I had from last year that we will see something for God of War. I think there has been enough time since GoW: Ascension, and with three years into this generation, Sony has to pull God Of War out of mothballs and bring us a new, next-gen version.
Naughty Dog, hot off the successes of Uncharted 4, are probably already working on the next The Last Of Us game. We probably won’t see much though — maybe a cut scene and familiar voices from the original game.
Sucker Punch has also been very quiet of late, so we could expect something from them. I don’t know if that will come in the form of a brand new Sly Cooper game, a new inFAMOUS, or something totally new. It isn’t hard to imagine Sucker Punch trying a new IP, similar to Insomniac created something new with Sunset Overdrive.
I think also the elephant in the room is The Last Guardian. This game has been in development for far too long (two generations). Sony needs to close the book on this game and either present it and drop a release date, or just drop it altogether.
As for third parties, Sony might have a deal with Activision again and show off something for the next Destiny game. It could also be possible, since Rockstar is at E3 this year, that it could be possible to see the next Red Dead game on PS4 hardware. Only time will tell!
Jakejames Lugo – Senior Editor
Sony has a lot of good things going for them leading into E3 2016. Despite the visceral response to PlayStation 4 Neo, there are a lot of PlayStation games and tech for gamers to be excited about at this year’s E3. A safe prediction is to expect Sony to get on stage for their E3 conference and start things with a bang, revealing surprises leading up to the definitive release date for The Last Guardian as the closer of their conference. Sony Japan’s game is one of the most anticipated titles of the year, especially since many reports have tentatively confirmed that The Last Guardian will be released in 2016.
Throughout the show and for the rest of the week, I expect to see more info on games that were big reveals at last year’s conference. Games that are multiplatform, but almost synonymous with the PlayStation brand, will be given more shine in-between talk about big exclusives. Popular third-party games like Final Fantasy VII Remake, Shenmue III, and Kingdom Hearts 3 might be teased alongside more footage of Horizon: Zero Dawn and a possible unveiling of the next God of War title from Sony Santa Monica. We may get more Sony first party studios showing their games for the first time at the booth, but most of the attention grabbers will be only at their press conference and not on the floor.
I feel this is where we will also see more confirmations on new PlayStation VR titles, as well as an official reveal of PlayStation 4 Neo. I feel the discussion about Neo will be alongside PlayStation VR to reinforce the power of the new PS4 model, as well as show new games that PlayStation fans can pick up with the new console and PlayStation VR later this year. Much of the discussion will be about how all PlayStation owners will be able to experience everything on both the old and new models, but the subtle wording of everything will be geared towards getting the definitive experiences for games and VR on the Neo.
