What We Want To See From PlayStation During Not-E3

PlayStation has not announced plans for any summer games events, but if history is any indication, the company will have some kind of showcase before the end of the year. Whether or not it happens during June–the traditional E3 timeframe–or sometime later remains to be seen, but we’re expecting something. E3 2022 has been canceled, but nothing can stop gaming.

While we wait for official details, GameSpot editors have sounded off on what they want to see from PlayStation at some point this year. Read on below for more! Check out the full Not E3 schedule to learn more about this summer’s big gaming events.

Make it weird again, Sony!

Over the last decade or so, Sony’s first-party studios have focused largely on making the “it looks like a movie!” game. From The Last of Us and Spider-Man to God of War and Ghost of Tsushima, they’re games that seem like they will be awarded end-of-year honors almost merely for just existing. Don’t get me wrong: I think these games are often great. However, Sony’s studios have made some weird games in the past, and I want to see some of those shown off this summer.

Enough of the photorealism! The closest we’ve seen to the old whimsy of Sony’s first-party studios is the free PS5 game Astro’s Playroom, which utilizes the DualSense controller in some truly brilliant ways. Media Molecule seems like it’s up to the task, and if some sort of major PS5 upgrade for Dreams could be that source of creativity and joy, I more than welcome it. I don’t want to see those Oscar-bait games completely absent, but I do want to watch Airplane or Spaceballs in between viewings of A Bird Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence. — Gabe Gurwin

GTA 6

Rockstar Games has finally confirmed Grand Theft Auto 6, and I’m hoping we’ll see it during any summer games showcase that Sony might host. Sony and Rockstar have been partners dating back decades, and in recent years, Sony’s E3 showcase hosted GTA 5’s next-gen reveal. The partnership continued with exclusive content and offers for GTA Online players on PlayStation. The next evolution of this partnership could be Sony showcasing GTA 6–or at least providing a glimpse–during its summer event. Given Rockstar’s penchant for secrecy and doing things its own way, I wouldn’t expect to see much, but even just a glimpse would be enough. — Eddie Makuch

The coming-out party for PSVR2

When Sony introduced its first PSVR device, virtual reality tech was surging. Sony rode that interest with a device that was well-designed, comfortable, and accessible for new players by leveraging the existing PlayStation hardware. VR doesn’t seem quite as ascendant in pop culture now, but more companies like Meta are betting big on it for the future. The PS5 is selling incredibly well, which means Sony has another golden opportunity to both leverage its gaming brand and bring new players into the fold. We know the PSVR2 is coming, but we don’t know much more than that. This should be the year that Sony takes the wraps off and lets us see its next-gen VR device. — Steve Watts

Bring back Sly Cooper

While the golden age of the mascot platformer might be well behind us, we’ve certainly seen a resurgence in recent years. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart and Psychonauts 2 were two of the biggest games of last year, Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time offered an incredible return to the series back in 2020, and who could forget what a fantastic job developer Toys For Bob did with the Spyro Reignited trilogy in 2018? However, one furry friend has remained elusive: Sly Cooper.

Stylish and sleek, stealth-filled and seriously funny, the Sly Cooper series is one of the best mascot-led collectathons to ever grace consoles. However, the series has remained dormant for nearly a decade while Sucker Punch has turned its attention towards super-powered punks and vengeful samurai warriors. I would love to see the team pivot back to the series and give Sly, Bentley, Murray, and the ever-irritable Carmelita Fox a new adventure, filled with fun locations, new heists to pull off, and more family history to uncover. — Jessica Howard

A PlayStation transmedia explosion

The Uncharted movie adaptation finally released in 2022 after what feels like 900 years of development. When it did, it also solidified the position of PlayStation Productions, a movie arm now growing out of the company’s video game wing. Sony is making video game movies, and I’m hoping it uses its not-E3 platform to dump a whole bunch more new brand synergy and intellectual property monetization on us.

Those words sound bad, but actually, I think more movie and TV adaptations derived from games could potentially be very interesting. Games have a long history of being terribly adapted, and there are a lot of reasons for this–a lot of games have traditionally treated story as an afterthought, for one thing, and the interactive element of games often elevates stories that don’t function as well in other media. But the worldbuilding bones of a lot of game franchises are actually pretty great, and I’m excited to watch Sony find ways to make those stories work in other media. What’s more, Sony’s acquisition of Bungie is apparently aimed at expanding the developer’s worlds–namely, Destiny–into other media as well. There’s a whole lot of weird and interesting stuff in the Destiny universe that could make for weird and interesting movies and TV shows.

So here’s hoping that Sony’s announcements go beyond games. I sometimes think back to the world promised by Microsoft when it announced the Xbox One, when Don Mattrick touted a transmedia world where games and TV shows expanded on stories and even interacted with each other. It was never to be, but maybe it was just too soon for such a thing–or maybe Sony is the company to deliver on the idea. In any event, I want more weird video game things that aren’t necessarily video games. — Phil Hornshaw

What KojiPro is up to

One of the things I enjoy most about Hideo Kojima–apart from the many excellent games he’s directed–is just how excited he gets about his upcoming projects. The level of enthusiasm he has for his projects is infectious, and personally I think it’s been far too long since we’ve seen that on full display. Since the release of Death Stranding back in 2019, Kojima Productions has focused on supporting the game, creating both a PC port and a Director’s Cut for the one-and-only “strand” game. While I would personally be down for the studio starting a completely new project, rumors are already swirling around that Death Stranding 2 is in the works, and really anything new from the mind behind the Metal Gear Solid series is a welcome sight. — Jessica Howard

Sony and Bungie’s joint projects

2022 has been a year of industry-shaking acquisitions, one of them being Sony’s recent purchase of Bungie. The news came as a bit of a surprise, especially considering just how much the studio celebrated its independence from Microsoft. However, Bungie has assured its fans that just because the studio is now owned by Sony, it doesn’t mean it’s now exclusive to the company. Destiny 2 will remain available across all consoles, according to Bungie, as well as other games the team currently has in development. This then raises the question of what exactly is coming from this big purchase. A new IP? A new venture unrelated to games? Right now we’re not sure, but more information could be revealed during the upcoming PlayStation conference. — Jessica Howard