Microsoft owned the news head lines last week with numerous leaks that lead to the eventual reveal of both, the Xbox Series S, and the price of both of its next-generation systems.
While Halo Infinite’s delay has hurt the company’s next generation prospects, and Sony seems to be marching onwards to a Holiday sales victory (despite apparent manufacturing issues with the PS5’s Chip).
The Games
Still, Sony has yet to announce definitive launch lineup for its PlayStation 5 console, games like Demon Souls, and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart are sure killer apps, but they have been touted as “Launch Window” games.
“Launch Window” is a term used in reference to the subsequent months following a Console launch. However, if Sony wants to really bury the hatchet on Microsoft right from the get go, one of these exclusives titles should be announced today, as a launch title.
Sony has won console generations with pedestrian launch lineups before. The PS2 might have had the worst launch lineup in console history (at least in the last 25 years). But, the PS4 over the last 7 years built a staggering reputation for the PlayStation brand by showcasing an considerable amount of high quality exclusive AAA titles.
Sony wants to continue portraying the PlayStation Brand’s dominance as the place to be at if consumers want to play the best exclusive games on the market, and a few killer apps at launch would drive that point home, especially when Microsoft no longer has Halo Infinite to showcase at their own launch.
So yes, I expect some sort of line up to be announced for launch, and said lineup to include Demon Souls, and perhaps some other lesser known Sony exclusives.
The other important bullet point for Sony here, is to continue to build on the hype that it established in its earlier showcase by showing more footage of Horizon Forbidden West. Whether this comes in the form of more in game engine cuts, or (preferably) gameplay, doesn’t matter at this point. The idea is to show something that is next generation, that out performs anything that Microsoft has yet shown (as its Fable Reboot remains tightly under wraps).
Guerilla has been working on the new Horizon for a few years now, so they should have enough work done on the game to showcase in this particular event.
The Price
Microsoft drawing first blood, by announcing the Xbox Series S/X price points last week, has pretty much guaranteed us (barring a shocking surprise) the PS5’s price announcement today.
As we have stated before here the guess is that Sony will price its premium PS5 at $499 and its disc less, all digital brother at $399.
Rumors of a $449 price point for the premium system have been floating around the internet this week, but that number is highly doubtful (Sony is not in bad shape going into the holidays).
Epic?
Sony’s partnership with Epic remains a huge point of interest, especially since Microsoft secured a partnership with EA for their Game Pass service. Perhaps, another Unreal 5 engine demo, or even a game might be in the cards here.
Fortnite related exclusive deals wouldn’t surprise me either, a big part of the next generation of gaming, will take place in the online/social battlefield that games like Fortnite have dominated.
Tomorrow we will bring exclusive content covering Sony’s showcase (Sony goes live at 4 PM ET), stay tuned!