PlayStation Wows With The First 2026 State Of Play

Now that 2026 is in full swing, PlayStation has arrived with the first State of Play for the year, and it might be one of their best in quite a while. Jam-packed at over 70 minutes long, Sony showcased over two dozen projects from both first- and third-party studios. Best of all? The majority of them are scheduled for release this year rather than being scheduled in the distant horizon.

Here’s a handful of highlights from the show:

The show kicked off by confirming Ember Labs is back with a sequel to the beloved Kena: Bridge of Spirits. The new game, Kena: Scars of Kosmora, takes Kena to an entirely new land of Kosmora. Ember Labs has acknowledged that their new partnership with PlayStation Studios has allowed them to create an even bigger world than before, with more regions, more characters, and tighter combat.

Easily the biggest shock, though, is that the game is planning to launch in 2026 for both PlayStation 5 and PC.

3D fighters in the fighting game world have been missing some of their biggest titles lately, but that all changes, thanks to Koei-Tecmo, later this year. In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the franchise, Koei-Tecmo is releasing Dead or Alive 6: Last Round later this year. Last Round will include all the characters from the original game and its DLC, a new photo mode, and an update for the game to run better on current-gen hardware.

Koei-Tecmo also promises a free-to-play version that will include four characters for players to test the game out, along with new updates that will bring additional characters and costumes. Yet most important of all, they’ve confirmed a new Dead or Alive title is now in development.

The developers at Krafton Montreal Studio offered a glimpse at their upcoming game, Project Windless. It is an open-world action RPG set in the world of The Bird That Drinks Tears, a popular Korean fantasy RPG. Set over a thousand years before the books, players will get to shape a world as a Rekon, a member of a race of giant humanoid birds.

Is it a little ridiculous to be playing as a giant chicken? Yes. Is this trailer still incredibly hype? Also yes.

Somehow, a game about a giant chicken wasn’t the coolest action game revealed during the State of Play. The developers at Saber Interactive announced a new action game set in the world of John Wick. There’s not a ton of information out about this project at the moment, save that it takes place during a specific time period in the John Wick universe and that it’s being worked on in collaboration with John Wick director Chad Stahelski and Lionsgate. While we got a glimpse of gameplay, we’re not even sure what genre this title is, so we’re a long way off from getting this game in hand.

The developers over at Arc System Works finally got their chance to do another showcase for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. This time, they revealed three new characters: Magik, Wolverine, and Danger. They will go along with Storm to form “The Unbreakable X-Men”.

Along with the new character reveals, they also announced the new “Episode Mode”, which aims to combine American comics and Japanese manga and create a new storytelling style specifically for Marvel Tokon. The story will be told through a series of motion comics, as players battle against the major threat of the main story mode.

Of course, the big announcement to end the show was Sony Santa Monica confirming the original Kratos is returning, in more ways than one. Original Kratos voice actor, TC Carlson, is coming back to voice the character in an upcoming God of War Trilogy Remake. From the sounds of things, it’s a title very early in its development, but doubtlessly one that God of War fans will be eagerly waiting for.

All-in-all, this was one of the best State of Play events in years, and one that sets a new standard for everyone else when it comes to gaming events for the rest of 2026.