PS5 Reveal Event PlayStation 5 4

Nothing will ever top the Holy Trifecta™ – ever. That triple-punch of The Last Guardian, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Shenmue III is the kind of thing that legends are made of; I’ll be telling my grandchildren about it, and I expect them to tell their grandchildren as well. E3 2015, as I wrote at the time, was the greatest gaming press conference ever – it simply can’t be topped.

But it can be rivalled, and you’ll find many people without a personal connection to the aforementioned franchises who argue that Sony’s almost-as-epic E3 2016 press conference was actually better than its predecessor. I don’t agree, but it was a good one: God of War, Death Stranding, and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy – impressive stuff.

Subscribe to Push Square on YouTube152k
Watch on YouTube

Here’s something that I’ve been thinking about for some time: the PlayStation 5’s reveal event is going to be insane. It’s a weird one this time, because the platform holder has actually shared a lot of information about the device already, but one could argue that it’s got all of the boring bits out of the way. We know the name, for example, and that it supports raytracing; we know that it’s got a 4K Blu-ray drive and a controller with haptic feedback.

PS5 Reveal Event PlayStation 5 3

Of course the company’s going to spend some time talking about the hardware, but I think it’s going to lavish even more attention on the feature that matters most: the games. Here’s the thing: Sony’s practically shut up shop this past year. Yes, it’s updated us on some of its tentpole PlayStation 4 titles like The Last of Us: Part II, but we’ve barely heard a peep from it beyond that.

There’s no doubt a small clan of keyboard warriors on enthusiast forums who feel that the organisation has “lost its way” and succumb to its deep-rooted hubris from the PlayStation 3 days; I happen to believe it’s been busy behind-the-scenes, and it’s been building the biggest atomic bomb imaginable ahead of that all-important unveiling.

It’ll hold some stuff back, of course it will: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is surely in development, but I don’t think we’ll see it for a little while yet; the same with God of War 2, which will likely drop a few years into the generation. The sequel to Horizon: Zero Dawn, though – even though I don’t think it’ll be a launch game, you can bet every last copper coin you have on it putting in an appearance, complete with a full-range of features inspired by the DualShock 5.

PS5 Reveal Event PlayStation 5 2

Demon’s Souls Remake, obviously, is going to be there – assuming that is, indeed, what Bluepoint is busy beavering away on. There are few franchises that attract the hardcore quite like From Software ones, and while this is unlikely to have director Hidetaka Miyazaki’s involvement, I think we all know people are going to freak out when they see this running in real-time on next-gen hardware.

I think we’ll see Gran Turismo 7, as I still fully expect that to be a launch game. Honestly, I think it’ll be closer to what people wanted out of GT Sport as well; I reckon all of the innovative online e-sports features will remain intact, but I expect the whole package to be padded out with a more traditional single player campaign to boot. Plus, let’s be honest, it’s going to look unreal – well, by unreal I actually mean, y'know, real.

To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a new Ratchet & Clank announced, and I still believe that Ghost of Tsushima is going to be cross-gen; already we’re looking at a mouth-watering slate of software. But it won’t just be the first-party stuff; Sony’s said that it’s aggressively targeting third-parties, and I think we’re going to see at least one controversial Rise of the Tomb Raider-esque timed exclusive, alongside a slate of third-party debuts.

PS5 Reveal Event PlayStation 5 1

Rocksteady, for example, has been whisper quiet since the release of Batman: Arkham VR – I believe it’ll be in attendance at the PS5 reveal event in some capacity. I genuinely believe that Sony’s working with Remedy on something; there’s been far too much smoke for there not to be some kind of inferno blazing in Finland. The platform holder will probably retain its partnership with Activision on Call of Duty, but don’t be surprised if it also debuts some kind of new Crash Bandicoot game.

And it’ll definitely have a few Japanese organisations under its umbrella: Capcom will be in attendance; Yakuza Studio always has something to show. The bottom line is that Sony’s been so quiet for so long, it simply must have been stockpiling ammunition in the interim. I think it’s going to go big – really big. There’s so much content clearly in the works; what better way to showcase it than alongside new hardware?

How much potential do you think the PS5 reveal event has to upstage E3 2015? What kind of next-gen announcement would get you hot under the collar? Look forward to the imminent unveiling in the comments section below.