Grumblevolcano

@Xbox_Dashboard Wolverine seems likely to be 2024 judging by the way Sony have announced things in the PS5 era. September 2024 would be 3 years since the initial reveal meanwhile the gaps between initial reveal and release have been on the shorter side (e.g. 1.5 - 2 years for Spider-Man 2, GoW Ragnarok, HFW and GT7).

So my guess would be gameplay reveal either at Game Awards 2023 or Playstation Showcase 2024 and release in Fall/Holiday 2024.

@Member_the_game I think it's questionable who is actually doing the best with regards to this. Microsoft and Nintendo have brought a higher proportion of their older games to current systems though Microsoft gave up proceeding further in 2021 and Nintendo did a few limited time releases in 2020.

While Sony's no doubt doing the worst in that regard, they're the only one that's keeping their older stores alive. It did take backlash in 2021 for that to happen but the PS3 and Vita stores are still around for the foreseeable future meanwhile 3DS and Wii U shutdown in March 2023 and 360 is shutting down in July 2024.

So I'd say all 3 have gigantic room for improvement in regards to game preservation.

@OldGamer999 There's a difference between being concerned as a result of no known big 1st party release for 2024 so far and being under the impression we know nothing about 2024 when we do know stuff.

My guess is it's going to be Wolverine and naturally you wouldn't want to have Wolverine interfere with the Spider-Man 2 marketing (they're both big single player Marvel games).

@ROTTIEMAN16 We know early 2024 is packed particularly on the 3rd party multiplatform side but there's also 3 Playstation Studios releases (Helldivers 2 and Destiny 2 The Final Shape DLC in February and MLB The Show is annual so will be around March) and major 3rd party exclusives like FFVII Rebirth in February.

Beyond that is more vague (some 2024 releases and some TBA releases) but then again it was like that after GoW Ragnarok last year. We didn't know about the Burning Shores DLC until the Game Awards, Spider-Man 2 wasn't given a Fall 2023 release window until mid December 2022.

I do think we'll get a State of Play in November though which'll give a release date for Stellar Blade (currently scheduled for 2023).

@Nem The events of 2022 and 2023 make it rather clear that Persona's fate has changed. It used to be a Playstation franchise with the odd spinoff coming to Nintendo systems but now it's very much a fully multiplatform franchise which also comes day 1 to Game Pass.

It could be a case of being announced for Switch 2 when the system is revealed. There's been other questionable Switch omissions recently like Persona 3 Reload.

@__jamiie Possibly that every PS5 Slim is technically a digital model and the disc bundle doesn't automatically have the disc drive attached to the PS5 (you have to attach it yourself).

There's still the mystery of the Kojima State of Play tweet and Stellar Blade 2023. As Sony usually does State of Play on Thursdays, perhaps we're getting one on October 26th or November 2nd and they announce the release date there?

Given with volume 1 they considered the NES and MSX2 games bonus additions, it would be cool if Portable Ops and the Acid games were bonus additions for volume 2 (Rising I'd guess would be a separate remaster).

I think PS5 and Spider-Man 2 will be #1 for October as I don't see SMB Wonder's physical sales outselling Spider-Man 2's digital + physical sales (Nintendo doesn't provide digital sales for these charts).

Between Stellar Blade still having a vague 2023 release window and everything that's happened since the September State of Play only having already announced games suggests we're getting a State of Play before the end of the month. It fits also that we got a State of Play in late October 2021 (the last time we saw Little Devil Inside).

@Shepherd_Tallon I'd say it wasn't wasted effort. While Jim Ryan failed in the end with getting the acquisition blocked, the resistance helped reveal the truth about Xbox while also temporarily slowing down future Xbox acquisitions.

The FTC trial, Xbox leaks and how Microsoft handled Bethesda made it very clear this is a lie.

This is the damage Microsoft caused with their endless acquisition spree.

I like that they stuck with both models rather than just having a digital edition with the disc drive being an optional extra but the vertical stand being separate is bad. Though the biggest takeaway from this is that PS5 Pro in 2024 is looking very likely now.

@Boucho11 Teardown, it's not out yet. Sony announced it as a day 1 PS+ Extra/Premium release and it comes out on November 15th.

I think it's real because of Sony's PC strategy (given the games they've ported over already, TLoU 2 seems extremely likely). But I also think they'd be releasing a PS5 version to get rid of the "Only on Playstation" branding that was on the PS4 boxes hence avoiding false marketing lawsuits.

@Serialsid Sony's already announced that you can't play games natively on it or use cloud gaming, it's literally just a device that uses Remote Play.

Microsoft are truly the ones to blame here with the whole "Spend Sony out of business" strategy that was found out at the FTC trial (the Xbox leak also revealed Microsoft's malicious strategy at getting a monopoly). Meanwhile the FTC trial revealed that AAA is unsustainable without a separate source and Sony's separate source was 3rd party live service games like CoD so the looming threat of Microsoft resulted in Sony themselves entering the live service arena.

I wish Sony instead went the Nintendo route of having games of various sizes and better use of legacy content than going for live service (Nintendo's only live service games are mobile and those games are gradually being shutdown). But who knows if that would've worked either for Sony as a big advantage Nintendo has with their strategy is using much weaker hardware. Switch 2 may very well be Nintendo's PS4 moment.

This is interesting as it suggests the main way Switch's handheld mode is used by players is in your own home given PS Portal is useless when far away from the PS5.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Nintendo Life's version of the article has that it was 30% less than FIFA 23.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/10/uk-charts-ea-sports-fc-24-physical-sales-down-30percent-compared-to-fifa-23

Hopefully Square Enix treats this as a traditional online multiplayer game like how things were in the PS3/360 era and not go the live service route.

@knowles2 Concord releases in 2024, Fairgame$ is the one which doesn't have a release year.

If the CMA approves the Activision acquisition in the final decision next month, Sony's share price will plummet. So if Sony has games to show off that aren't just Spider-Man 2, it would make sense to have a State of Play or PS Showcase ready to announce the day after the CMA announces their verdict (Sony announced the May PS Showcase the day after the EU approved the acquisition).

If the CMA blocks the acquisition then the State of Play/PS Showcase could just be delayed or cancelled.

@nhSnork From Sony's actions so far, I get the impression their strategy for Playstation Studios PC ports is:

• PS4 era - Only the AAA single player stuff
• PS5 era - Everything except MLB The Show

Given the decision to port over Legacy of Thieves Collection before Nathan Drake Collection, I get the feeling if the PS3 trilogy comes to PC it'll be individual remakes rather than porting over the collection.

PC release window lines up with 2 years after the PS5 release. So we can probably guess from this that 2024 PC ports (excluding day 1 live service releases) are going to be:

• HFW
• GT7
• GoW Ragnarok

Alongside at least 1 of the following games that are more than 2 years old:

• Ghost of Tsushima
• Demon's Souls
• TLoU Part 2

Is it just owned or does games played via PS+ also allow you to rate games? If the latter I get the feeling the system will have a review bombing problem like with HFW (that game always seems to be a target for some reason).

Given the tactics revealed in the Xbox leak about acquiring Nintendo, I don't think any company is safe from the gigantic threat that is Microsoft.

@DeathlySW It could be because of the whole live service mess. Babylon's Fall flopped but didn't make them give up on live service. Now the live service graveyard is a lot bigger than it was in October 2022.

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2022/10/colossal-flop-babylons-fall-hasnt-changed-platinums-plans-for-more-live-service-games

Not related to this week's charts but still relevant to the topic of UK sales. I noticed that there's another big discount for the disc PS5. £50 off (£429.99) for the disc PS5 with free EA Sports FC 24 included. I checked and it's present at GAME, Amazon, Smyths, Argos and Currys so I'm guessing it's a country-wide discount like the previous 2 big PS5 discounts.

For a game that released digitally 3 months ago, Pikmin 1+2 getting 4th in the physical charts is impressive.

@Godot25 Like the leak revealing Microsoft has a former board member buying up Nintendo stock to force Nintendo to merge with Microsoft. You'd hope that Nintendo would take that seriously and the current cozy relationship between Microsoft and Nintendo burns down.

I do wonder if the recent Xbox leak may have burned some bridges with 3rd parties such that the final decision is different.

@LifeGirl MGS4 being a PS3 exclusive is to blame. Even Sony are struggling with their own PS3 hardware choices as shown by PS3 games on PS+ Premium being only via cloud streaming.

Good to see FFXVI is doing well enough that it's not on sale here.

I wonder where Stellar Blade will fit in if delayed from the current 2023 release window.

This list was before Microsoft acquired Bethesda so Microsoft likely cancelled the remasters completely as the games are already available on XB1/Series X|S via the backwards compatibility program.

The only XGS ports/remasters/remakes of games that came to the backwards compatibility program since the program was announced in June 2015 were:

• Gears of War Ultimate Edition - August 2015
• Halo Wars Definitive Edition - December 2016
• Halo Reach (as part of MCC) - December 2019

Gears of War Ultimate Edition was probably in development before Microsoft chose to go down the backwards compatibility route and the 2 Halo games were when Microsoft became serious about PC gaming.

You can tell how much Microsoft is opposed to releasing ports/remasters/remakes of games already added to the backwards compatibility program by how those Marcus Fenix Collection rumours turned out fake despite 3 of the Gears games (2, 3, Judgment) not being on PC. I'd guess the strategy here is about xCloud as those 3 Gears games were added to xCloud in March 2021.

Given no platforms are announced, it feels like either the 3 games with no platforms listed are getting Switch 2 ports (DQ3 remake, DQ12, KH4) or it's a Starfield type situation where an acquisition happens with those games becoming exclusive to the system by the company that acquired them (e.g. exclusive to PS5 if Sony acquired Square Enix).

Hoping that the Switch 2 theory is the correct one.

@Ralizah The Level 5 games staying with 2023 release window but not giving a precise release date gives me the impression they'll be announced as day 1 on Game Pass in Microsoft's TGS stream with a precise release date.

It was an ok State of Play given the expectations set beforehand (only previously announced games, focus on 3rd party and indie) but ranked it good because of the FFVII Rebirth trailer.

@BusyOlf No, it's similar to how Sony don't own Kojima Productions so Death Stranding was able to appear in a 3rd party State of Play despite being a Playstation Studios game.

@Beerheadgamer82 It would've been a bit more than that regarding Xbox Game Studios without Bethesda:

• Goldeneye 007
• Age of Empires II Definitive Edition + Return of Rome DLC
• Forza Horizon 5 Rally Adventure DLC
• Minecraft Legends
• Age of Empires IV
• Forza Motorsport

My point being that one of the reasons Sony has a smaller library is that their lack of interest in bringing back old games, even PS+ Premium seems like an afterthought. Ports/remasters/remakes is one of the reasons Nintendo's lineup is so packed a lot of the time. This year for example had:

• Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
• Metroid Prime Remastered
• Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp
• Pikmin 1+2
• Super Mario RPG

There will probably be more announced in today's Direct for this year as well.

Each company's approach seems to be:

• Microsoft seems to only care about ports/remasters/remakes of games that never appeared on any Xbox console previously
• Sony only seems to care about ports/remasters/remakes of games that are already playable on PS5 via backwards compatibility (Demon's Souls was a sole exception)
• Nintendo's approach seems to be pretty much anything is possible for port/remaster/remake as long as it's not F-Zero

@pharos_haven It currently has a release window of Early 2024.

@Sequel I think it could be a mixture of going too heavy on live service and the whole Activision acquisition situation. Sony very well knows that it going through would result in their share prices plummeting (the EU approving the acquisition showed an insight into this) so they need something to counteract that drop.

Arrowhead isn't owned by Sony so I could see Helldivers 2 appear here with a release date (Death Stranding appeared in a 3rd party State of Play despite being a PS Studios game).

As for the closer I'd guess it'll be FFVII Rebirth with a release date, I hope we see Gold Saucer.

Speaking of State of Play, I get the feeling Sony will announce one later today for airing tomorrow because of the Nintendo Direct timing.

The normal Nintendo Direct timing for February and September is 10pm GMT/11pm BST but last September the Direct was at 3pm BST because there was a State of Play at 11pm BST. Tomorrow's Direct is also airing at 3pm BST so the reasoning may be the same.

@Cashews Wouldn't it make more sense to have 1 or 2 games if you want Second Story R to sell well though? I mean, if you're to look at it from the typical subscription mindset you think that given all these are here you can play those and wait for Second Story R to come to PS+ Premium next year.

Interesting that they put almost the entirety of the Star Ocean franchise on there.

@MagisterMagi So far Sony has announced PS+ Extra/Premium games on the 2nd Wednesday of the month which would mean September 13th for this month.

@Bez87 Alan Wake 2 is digital only, this list of games are only ones that have physical versions.