Sony State of Play Coming This Week, Sparking Hopes For GoW Ragnarök
Sony has announced that a new PlayStation State of Play event will take place on March 9, prompting speculation that God of War Ragnarok will be present during the showcase. A new State of Play has been rumored for a while now, especially now that Gran Turismo 7 and Horizon Forbidden West are available, which means Sony is expected to start announcing new games or giving dates for existing titles.
Aside from a recent Gran Turismo 7-focused event, the most recent State of Play event was held in October 2021 and many fans considered it to be a disappointment, as the biggest announcement was for a new Star Ocean game. This new showcase is in a different position, as the PS4 and PS5 have few exclusives remaining for the rest of the year. By comparison, Microsoft has Starfield coming in November, and the Switch has a number of exclusives, including Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. It's still early in the year and Sony has plenty of time to flesh out its remaining schedule for 2022, and provide release dates for games like GoW Ragnarok.
The official PlayStation Twitter account and the PlayStation Blog have revealed some concrete details about the event. The new State of Play will be roughly twenty minutes long and it will focus on games from Japanese publishers, though there will be updates from other developers as well. Fans shouldn't expect to hear any updates about the PSVR 2 hardware or its games, even though the PSVR 2 headset and controllers were recently revealed by Sony. There will be announcements regarding both PS4 and PS5 games, so the previous-gen owners won't be left behind. The State of Play will take place on March 9, 2022, at 2 pm PT/5 PM ET/11 PM CET.
Reactions on Twitter show that fans are eagerly awaiting an update about God of War Ragnarok, which was originally supposed to launch in 2021 but was delayed to 2022. There's also a chance that the rumored PlayStation Spartacus will be featured, as it's suggested that Sony is almost ready to announce the alleged subscription service. If the show is focusing on Japanese publishers, then there's also a chance that FF16 or maybe even FF7 Remake 2 will appear. FF16 was announced during a PS5 show and it was meant to receive another trailer in 2021, but FF16 information was delayed due to the pandemic and pushed back to 2022, so a new trailer with a release window could appear during the show. One game that will almost certainly appear is Ghostwire: Tokyo, which will be released for PC and PS5 on March 25.
The fact that State of Play is focusing on Japanese publishers means that there are lots of potential games that could appear during the show. There have been all kinds of rumors about a Resident Evil 4 remake, as well as a potential Metal Gear Solid remake, a new Silent Hill, and an FF9 remake. Companies like Capcom and Square Enix have been huge supporters of PlayStation events in the past, so there's a good chance they will be part of the State of Play. There are also rumors circulating that Hogwarts Legacy will be revealed during a March PlayStation event, which lines up with the State of Play. The PS5 might be outpacing the Xbox Series X/S in sales, but it needs killer exclusives to keep up the momentum, especially in the wake of the Activision Blizzard acquisition, so all eyes will be on the upcoming PlayStation State of Play.
Source: PlayStation/Twitter, PlayStation Blog