Guide to E3 2017: The Big Three

Sony – Monday, June 12 at 6 PM PT/9 PM ET

  • On the hardware front, Sony is the most stable of the big three platform holders with PS4 Pro and PlayStation VR both releasing last fall and still out there doing solid sales, so there shouldn’t be much to talk about there. Though I could see a crazy $400 Xbox Scorpio leading to Sony dropping the price of the PS4 Pro to $350 or less in response, but that seems like long shot premise to begin with.
  • Going into E3, the Sony games we’re expecting to appear in some form are God of War, The Last of Us Part II, Days Gone, Gran Turismo Sport, Knack 2, Everybody’s Golf, Insomniac’s Spider-Man game, Dreams, Death Stranding, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Detroit: Become Human, Matterfall, Wattam, and Wild as potential games they can focus on during this show. That’s a hell of a lineup of games we know about and it’ll be interesting to see which titles are featured and which games move on to TGS, Gamescom, and other shows later in the year. I could see at the least that God of War, The Last of Us Part II, Spider-Man, Detroit: Become Human, Gran Turismo Sport, and Days Gone getting featured in some form whether that is a stage demo or new trailer.
  • As for what new Sony games or studios that will show up with announcements, Sucker Punch has been quiet for a while and this seems like a great place to show off their next project, which I’m expecting to not be Infamous.
  • However, there are rumors that with Hidektaka Miyazaki being done with Dark Souls, that he’s working on a new game with Japan Studio that is a different spin on the Souls formula like Bloodborne. It has an Ancient Aztec aesthetic, focus on hand-to-hand combat and martial arts, and a focus on customizing your fighting style without that being tied to weapons like in the Souls games. This all comes from a supposedly reliable leaker on Reddit, but it’s still from Reddit.
  • Let’s do one more bit of guesswork here and assume that Sony aims to announce some more nostalgia games at the show like last year’s Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. I’ll throw out a few classics that could do well with a remake or new title that people would go nuts for at E3: Ape Escape, Jak & Daxter, Sly Cooper, and Spyro the Dragon Trilogy. May or may not happen, but those would be titles that could be done well today with either sequels or remakes in a more modern look.
  • PlayStation VR will have a presence at E3, though it’s hard to pin down what to expect since most of the announced games in the last year or two are out. Ace Combat 7 and some of the smaller titles are still on the way, so we could see those returning for follow-up trailers. Sony has one or two internal studios making PSVR stuff that should make an appearance and I’m going to go out on a limb that they have one or two Resident Evil 7-level games coming from third-parties along with other smaller titles that could be shown off in montages or quick succession of announcements. I could see Sony announce some new PSVR hardware to follow the successful PS Aim controller, though I’d put my money on improved Move controllers that are more easily and accurately tracked that will be sold separately and bundled with PSVR units.
  • Third parties will probably be a big part of the show once again and Sony has no shortage of known marketing deals that can and will make an appearance. You can pencil in Call of Duty: WWII for a demo for sure along with Destiny 2 being featured with news about the Summer beta being revealed. Star Wars Battlefront II could also see some time if Andrew House gets to announce whatever is exclusive from that game. Despite Red Dead Redemption 2 being delayed to Spring 2018, we could still see it at the press conference with a big trailer that could be a closer for the show. There will probably be more companies that can show up, like a Square Enix, Ubisoft, and others that could announce marketing partnerships for their big upcoming games.