Update: As we were writing this, news just broke alleging widespread sexism within Sony Interactive Entertainment. While this post isn’t specifically about Sony, it does bear mentioning that companies like Sony use press events like States of Play to obfuscate things like this that are inarguably much more important than new video games. Go read this post at Polygon by Nicole Carpenter on the new sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit against Sony.
Sony just wrapped up another edition of their State of Play series where they let players know what’s coming to their consoles over the next few months, and is it just me or did Square-Enix take up most of that conference?
We got a new demo, out now, for Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin (also out on Xbox Series X|S), a new trailer for Forspoken (which just got delayed until October), the announcement of a new tactics game called The Diofield Chronicle and a sneak peek of an action RPG called Valkyrie Elysium. That’s a lot of games coming out this year from this particular studio!
State of Play wasn’t completely devoted to Square-Enix, though. We got some new gameplay from Ghostwire: Tokyo; a peek at Gundam Evolution, which looks like a 6v6 hero shooter a la Overwatch but with Gundams; the announcement of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle; and a new trailer for Trek to Yomi, an upcoming Devolver Digital title.
But still, damn, that was a lot of Square-Enix games. And we’re sure they’re all coming out this year? Okay, fair enough.
I don’t want to write Square-Enix off entirely, but it hasn’t escaped our notice that they’ve been going really hard in terms of releases – of varying quality – lately. While excellent works like Dungeon Encounters have gone largely unnoticed outside of the critical sphere, other titles like Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Soars and Babylon’s Fall have been… less than impressive despite their pedigrees.
When it comes to the games announced today, the footage looked like it came from especially early builds. Undoubtedly things will improve, but this leads to other questions: how hard is Square-Enix making its employees work? Who’s having to crunch right now to make Valkyrie Elysium, for example, a passable game that can be released this year?
Anyway, PlayStation fans have other stuff to look forward to soon. Like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Cowabunga Collection!