PlayStation State of Play Underscores Muted Release Year Ahead of Summer Game Fest

Sony’s surprise State of Play stream last week was short on major announcements related to PlayStation franchises.

No wonder some fans found the stream — which kicked off the annual summer season tied to Summer Game Fest, the de facto E3 replacement for this occasion — underwhelming for what little it had to say regarding games coming to PlayStation 5 and PS VR2.

The presentation did highlight an “Astro Bot” game from Team Asobi out in September, a follow-up to 2020’s PlayStation 5 launch title “Astro’s Playroom,” as well as an August release date for “Concord,” Sony’s next live service hoping to continue the hot streak created by “Helldivers 2.”

Released in February, “Helldivers 2” became PlayStation’s fastest-selling game in the console brand’s history, delivering a much-needed win after as many as six planned live services were delayed or canceled entirely.

Beyond that, a slew of remakes, remasters and PC ports were announced for existing games, alongside upcoming third-party titles. In its February earnings call, around the same time as another State of Play presentation, Sony executives did acknowledge that the current fiscal year ending in March 2025 wouldn’t see any new games from core PlayStation franchises.

It’s been a slower-than-usual year for new releases after the surge from COVID-related lockdowns spurred many consumers to the medium. By this point in the current console cycle, pretty much anyone who wants a new PS5 or Xbox Series system has acquired one after the shortage in semiconductor chips subsided. As a result, hardware sales have sunk this year while content spend remains high, despite additional slowdowns in engagement across live services and subscriptions that were expected.

The core Summer Game Fest stream airing this Friday still promises over an hour of announcements, trailers and gameplay exhibition for upcoming titles, and it will be followed by presentations from Xbox on Sunday and Ubisoft thon Monday, which has been par for the course with prior years.

But Ubisoft has also cautioned it will streamline its game output to focus primarily on open-world and live-service titles, making it questionable how much there is to show off this year beyond the next “Assassin’s Creed” title.

Industrywide layoffs have affected the French publisher and many other companies, especially Xbox parent Microsoft Gaming. Xbox already detailed four big 2024 titles earlier this year, so unless its presentation focuses on big titles that are further out, its stream might also register as lackluster with some if there are not many new titles to show off.

Summer Game Fest presenter Geoff Keighley acknowledged the difficulties impacting global game developers earlier this year to mixed reactions, making it a possibility that amid the fun of new announcements, part of the Summer Game Fest stream will highlight the challenges gaming workers are facing.