Later this year Sony will release the highly anticipated Spider-Man 2. Sometime after that, we will see another sequel in the form of Death Stranding 2. Yet Sony’s long-term year-to-year pipeline of upcoming games remains completely unknown. Although we should learn more soon with the heavily rumored May event. In the meantime, we wanted to outline what to expect, as well as what’s next for PlayStation
Second-Party Games Lead Out of the Gate
I am certain we will find out more in regards to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Death Stranding 2, and the upcoming Silent Hill 2 Remake. While all three have yet to be tied to firm release dates, all three were announced in 2022 with trailers. For sure this summer all three will be updated, and I fully expect that to include release dates, none of them are far off.
As far as other second-party games we could see news on Stellar Blade, Firewall Ultra, Rise of the Ronin, Helldivers 2, and Sackboy should be expected. The unannounced Helldivers 2 must be very close as a trailer leaked last summer that has never been acknowledged.
Ghost of Tsushima Unannouced Sequel
My hot take is that I think Ghost of Tsushima 2 will come after Death Stranding 2. I believe Spider-Man 2 will take up the rest of 2023 for Sony. While Death Stranding 2 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth release in the late Winter of 2024 (February through March). That would leave an opening in the Summer of 2024 for a yet-to-be-titled Ghost of Tsushima 2, four years after its initial release date.
Untitled The Last of Us Multiplayer Game
While most think that The Last of Us Factions 2 will be the next game from Sony’s first-party studios, I am growing skeptical. Not only do I think it comes after Ghost of Tsushima 2, I do not even think it will have a Factions element in it. I believe this untitled game will not be called Factions 2 because it will be something entirely new.
I think it will be more like The Division due to the seemingly confirmed story elements in the game, as well as the open-concept art. This allows the new game to stay true to the 3rd-person narrative elements that The Last of Us fans expect and love. Plus, it will kick off Sony’s live service initiatives, getting the core audience comfortable with what is to come.
The Live Service Flood Gates Open
By this time many of the single-player-focused PlayStation Studios will have emptied the tank. Of course, Team Asobi and Housemarque could fit in here from late 2024 to early 2025. Although this is when we expect Sony to start delivering some of the live service games they committed to making last May.
Today, around half of all games in development at PlayStation are live-service games. The Last of Us should be the first of them but after that release, there should be a Twisted Metal reboot, as well as a Horizon multiplayer game. Both have transmedia adaptations from PlayStation Productions on the way. Plus both games have been included in leaks dating back to 2020. These are sure-fire bets to officially land on the PlayStation roadmap very soon.
That should carry PlayStation through 2025 with exceptions from Bluepoint Games, Firesprite, Bungie, and London Studio. Most likely all three will release something between 2024 and early 2026. Although at this time it is unclear how far along whatever it is they are working on.
If Sony does have an event this May, we could learn a lot more about what exactly is going on there. Especially given that they will showcase games at Summer Game Fest, Gamescom, and Tokyo Games Show this summer.
