Sony has announced that a fresh State of Play will air this Thursday at 2 pm Pacific/5 pm Eastern/11 pm CEST. For the uninitiated, State of Plays are essentially the PlayStation brand’s answer to Nintendo Directs — focused presentations that serve to provide substantial updates on upcoming games and formally announce new titles. In other words, there’s nothing quite like them and video game enthusiasts can’t get enough of ’em. Rumors of a July 2021 State of Play have been swirling for ages, so it’s great to finally see some confirmation on the matter.
It didn’t go unnoticed that Sony opted to skip E3 entirely. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that the tech giant prefers to set its own dates, controlling its news rollout entirely on its own time and without any meddling middlemen. While there’s something to be said for the reduction of what was once the gaming industry’s most palpably exciting time of year, it’s probably better for Sony’s hard-working studio personnel not to have to worry quite as much about crazy deadlines.
Don’t Expect Major First-Party Updates
That said, it sounds like this particular State of Play is less concerned with first-party fare. Sony specifically cites third-party and indie games as their focus here, with Bethesda’s Deathloop taking center stage. Deathloop will have a nine-minute deep dive followed by around 21 minutes worth of unannounced unveilings.
What’s more, Sony has even outright stated that this new PlayStation State of Play will not feature God of War or Horizon Forbidden West, urging fans to “stay tuned throughout the summer” as they’ll have more updates soon. Speculation time: with Horizon Forbidden West getting to be the star of a one-game show recently, perhaps 2021’s God of War will have the full limelight soon in turn. Or maybe Sony is planning to bring back its massive PlayStation Experience events after a four-year dry spell? Time will tell!
Is the July 2021 PlayStation State of Play FFXVI’s Big Moment?
The July 2021 PlayStation State of Play is poised to be a big one. One third-party game that was announced during the September 2020 State of Play but has gone radio silent since (except for a lovely website update one month later) is Final Fantasy XVI, Square Enix’s next mainline installment in a franchise that’s 34 years in the making.
While Final Fantasy VII Remake is a right-proper attention-grabber in its own right, and this November’s Final Fantasy XIV expansion, Endwalker, looks incredible, there’s nothing quite like booting up a FF with a bumped-up Roman numeral for the first time. The stories, the gameplay, the lofty expectations… the downright bizarre… it’s either going to be there for fans or it won’t be, and we’re always hoping for the best. And with veteran FFXIV director Naoki Yoshida serving in a producer role, this could be one of the best games in the award-winning series.
Plenty of Other Third-Party Possibilities
Of course, JRPGs are by no means for everybody. What else might we see at the July 2021 PlayStation State of Play? What about Death Stranding: Director’s Cut? Announced during Geoff Keighley’s Summer Games Fest, Death Stranding: Director’s Cut will supposedly have more news updates fairly soon. There’s always room for yet another Grand Theft Auto V fresh coat of paint for PS5, too. I can also see Kena: Bridge of Spirits and Stray hopping into the new PlayStation State of Play as well.
Are you excited for more Deathloop coverage? What else do you hope to see? Let us know in the comments below — and we’ll see you this Thursday!
