PlayStation’s State Of Play Was Light On First-Party Games, Heavy On Everything Else

With very little time for fans to speculate, Sony announced a new State of Play this past Tuesday, and aired it the following Wednesday afternoon. These days, PlayStation State of Plays have been a mixed bag. As to how good this State of Play was, that’s going to depend on what people attend State of Plays for.

If someone watched looking to win the console war with tons of exclusives, they likely walked away disappointed. It’s not that they had no exclusives — on the contrary, PlayStation announced one of the coolest exclusives ever at the show in their collaboration with Arc System Works’ Marvel Toukon: Fighting Souls, a spiritual successor to Marvel vs. Capcom. The 4v4 fighter represents the next step in the partnership between Marvel and Sony — one that finally gives Sony a foothold in the fighting game genre.

Aside from that however, the most fans got from the show was a one-minute teaser of Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Yotei, with a promise of a full State of Play next month. Again, for viewers who want their shows filled with nothing but exclusives, that had to be disappointing. For everyone else, however, the State of Play seemed designed to show off tons of new titles to fill out a previously empty 2026.

To begin with, Capcom returned with the first look at Pragmata in several years and promised a 2026 release date. This effectively saves the game form becoming this generation’s Deep Down. Currently, Pragmata gives off vibes of Vanquish combined with Lost Planet as the game asks players to control both the astronaut Hugh and the android Diana to make their way out of an empty research station on the moon.

Next, Grasshopper Manufacture and Suda51 made their return with the “ultra-violent science fiction” title Romeo is a Dead Man. As Romeo Stargazer, players  are forced to travel across universes to hunt down the most dangerous fugitives in all of space-time. Fortunately, they have a variety of powerful guns and swords to call on to battle against their enemies. It’s a Suda51 project, so just expect it to be weird and messy.

Sea of Remnants is a true mystery of a project. It comes from Netease Games and Joker Studio, and is a free to play “oceanic adventure RPG.” Players become a puppet sailor where they travel across the sea, meeting hundreds of characters and discovering the secrets of the ocean while restoring their memories. With both land and sea combat — and a focus on characters and narratives — this game sounds like what everyone wanted from Skull & Bones. However, if its truly a free to play game then the question of how is it monetized comes into play. Is it a gacha game, meaning endless “story content” and constantly pushing new characters in updates?  Or does it rely on a more traditional microtransaction model like costumes and weapon skins?

ArtPlay made a return with Koji Igarashi‘s Castlevania spiritual successor, Bloodstained. The new title, Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement, features a new gimmick of having two characters, Leo and Alex, working together at once with the player tackling the mythical castle of Demon Lord Elias with the help of the two soldiers. Looking to be an improvement over the original in every way, its nice that Bloodstained continues to be one of the more successful Kickstarter spiritual successors.

Final Fantasy Tactics gets a remaster through Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. As a huge Final Fantasy Tactics fan, this one feels a little harder to get excited over. It looks like a massive improvement over the original for all of twenty seconds, before going back to looking like a touched-up version of the PS1 game. Well, at least it’s fully voiced.

Koei-Tecmo has decided to bring back the NiOh franchise, this time placing the game in an open world. There will be more options to get through the game than ever, with players being able to swap between “Samurai” and “Ninja” style to take down their enemies. Meanwhile, for those who need a bit of help, they’ve also implemented online multiplayer. Similar to From Software’s games, players will basically be able to summon visitors to their world to help them in battle.

Next, IO Interactive finally gave prospective fans a first look at 007: First Light, their James Bond game. The teaser begins with Bond recently entering the Double O program and being asked to stop a rogue agent. There’s not much to say about this, as the creators of Hitman working on a James Bond title sounds like the most logical gaming decision ever. Players can expect more from this in the IO Interactive Showcase today. Perhaps a release date?

Last, of course, was Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, a project between Arc System Works and Marvel that brings players a new fighting game, this time boasting 4v4 action. Even people who don’t love fighting games have to be excited for this one, as its the coolest interpretation of superhero characters in years. That this is scheduled for 2026 doesn’t feel real.

All in all, its hard not to be excited about 2026 when this many incredible games are on the horizon.