Game news Harry Potter, inFamous… The big absentees from the PlayStation Showcase

Naughty Dog, Bend Studio … Big Sony studios are missing

It has been months now that some of the big names at PlayStation Studios have not been talked about, this is the case in particular of Naughty Dog which leaves us without news or almost since the release of The Last of Us Part II which, let us remember, has been released more than a year ago now. We were therefore waiting for the announcement of the next project of Neil Druckmann, the co-president of the Californian studio, but it is not. Yet, according to the latest rumors and confirmations, the studio is reportedly currently working on a single player game as well as an independent multiplayer production. The latter, formalized not long ago, could also be directly taken from the universe of The Last of Us Part II. Already in 2019, the team had mentioned the existence of such a project. Unfortunately, it is not today that we will hear any news.

The other great team that we expected around the corner is obviously Bend Studio which, since the release of Days Gone in 2019, has remained very discreet. However, following the controversy surrounding the cancellation of the second installment, the studio recently took the floor to announce work on a brand new franchise. More recent rumors still, which are obviously to be taken with a grain of salt, announced that the Oregon house is currently working on a Men in Black game … An astonishing choice given that the cinematographic saga no longer has the same aura as before. In any case, Men in Back or not, we were curious to see this new license in pictures and an event like the PlayStation Showcase seemed ideal for that. But as you understood, Sony decided otherwise.

The third major absent from the conference is Sucker Punch! There was little chance of seeing the American studio appear at the event – the Director’s Cut version of Ghost of Tsushima being very recent – and yet we still had hope. It must be said that Shpeshal_Nick, the insider and co-founder of the XboxEra site, had a few hours earlier launched the rumor that‘a new infamous is currently under construction. It’s hard to believe such an idea now that Insomniac Games is working hard on other much more popular superhero games (Spider-Man in the lead), but since the development house has yet to announced its future projects, everything is still possible.

Hogwarts Legacy, Final Fantasy XVI, the next Hideo Kojima …

The big expectation that constantly comes up in the mouths of players is Hogwarts Legacy: Hogwarts Legacy, the role-playing game taking place directly in the Harry Potter universe. Indeed, the title first announced at the PlayStation 5 Showcase in September 2020 had every interest in coming back to the forefront to be talked about again before its release which is still expected for the year 2022. And what better way to do this than to resurface alongside Sony? We expected then a return with great fanfare of this project at this new conference, but surprisingly, the ambitious production preferred to stay in the shadows.

We can also gently rail against the absence of Final Fantasy XVI or the next unannounced project of Hideo Kojima, but to be honest, we expected it. Naoki Yoshida, the producer of Final Fantasy XVI, announced last July that the Action-RPG would not be ready for the TGS which will take place at the end of the month, so there was little chance of the title making the show during this event organized by Sony. As for Hideo Kojima, the director is currently working on Death Stranding’s Director’s Cut, so it’s only natural that the man chose to be low-key.

Where are the arcade racing games?

Recently, the Twisted Metal saga has been talked about again: a series produced by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Deadpool and Zombieland) is in motion and many rumors even announce the big return of the franchise on consoles. These noises of corridors, more and more consistent, then made us hope for the presence of a trailer during the PlayStation Showcase, unfortunately, the title, if it is under development, did not deign to surface. We would also have appreciated that Sony took advantage of the PlayStation Showcase to resuscitate other of its cult racing game licenses, we inevitably think of the WipEout saga or the MotorStorm franchise which seems definitely buried. To heal our wounds, the Japanese manufacturer has lingered for a long time on the next title of Polyphony Digital, namely Gran Turismo 7, which seems more than ever to return to the sources.

Other studios like Team Asobi (Astro’s Playroom) or Bluepoint Games (Demon’s Souls) have not given any news, but we imagine that we will learn more in the weeks or months to come. We must therefore be patient and to help us, PlayStation is preparing to release some console exclusives, starting with Kena: Bridge of Spirits which will point the tip of its nose on September 21, 2021 or even Deathloop. As a reminder, the title of Arkane Lyon (Dishonored) is expected on September 14th.