Keeping with tradition, Sony will hold its press conference smack dab in the middle of E3 2018, when audiences are warmed up and ready for a good show -- something Sony is pretty good at delivering. Exclusive titles have been good business for the PlayStation, so expect those to be pushed especially hard. Spider-Man, Death Stranding, Last of Us: Part II, and Ghost of Tsushima are the focuses of this year's conference, and are all PlayStation exclusives, but Sony will likely trickle in a few surprises here and there, if a supposed leak of the conference schedule is to be believed.
Those wanting to tune in can watch the Sony E3 2018 press conference livestream below, which begins at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET.
Zombies and Ghosts and Spiders -- Oh my!
This year, audiences are expected to get a much better look at Last of Us: Part II. Developer Naughty Dog has managed to keep many of the game's details quiet, releasing only two teaser trailers over the years since it was announced. The first one led to mass speculation on the fate of lead character Joel, while the other turned a lot of heads (and stomachs) with its gratuitous violence. Neither did very much to inform audiences on what to expect from the game. Additionally, both were cinematic trailers and not a fraction of its gameplay has been shown yet. This year's conference is hopefully the moment for that.
In stark contrast, Insomniac have been generous with previews of its PlayStation exclusive Spider-Man title. There have been plenty of gameplay trailers and interviews since its announcement that have given audiences a clear idea of what kind of game they will be playing. This year's conference will likely show off another trailer or present a live gameplay demo, either of which will show off new gadgets and possibly new villains.
Easily the weirdest game in the lineup is Kojima's Death Stranding, which so far has offered only confusing -- but alluring -- trailers, with no gameplay to speak of. This would be the right time for Kojima to show audiences just what the heck he has been cooking up. We can all appreciate a little mystery, but it is time to finally see how this bizarre title will play.
Last up on the official lineup is Ghost of Tsushima, a Samurai-themed open-world title being developed by Super Punch Productions, the studio behind Sly Cooper and the inFamous games. There was a cinematic announcement trailer released last year, but there has been little information on the title since, other than that players will take on the role of a katana-wielding character named Jin. We can confidently expect a demo this year.
Odds and Ends, Surprises and Hopes
Outside of the headlining games, there are a few titles that will likely have a presence at the conference in some way or another. It is a safe bet that Destiny 2 will be one of those games. While the upcoming expansion, Forsaken, was already announced through a Bungie livestream last week, Destiny 2 will almost certainly be at the conference. Because Destiny and PlayStation have a history of collaboration, we can assume that content exclusive to the console will be shown.
Originally, it was expected that Kingdom Hearts 3 would premiere something at the Sony event, but Xbox had that honor, showing off a new trailer at its conference yesterday. If the game does make an appearance, it will probably just be more of the same, as it was at the Square Enix press conference earlier today. In another surprising move, Square Enix did not present anything from the Final Fantasy 7 remake during its livestream, suggesting a new trailer, or even new gameplay, might be reserved for the Sony event, since it is a PlayStation 4 exclusive title.
Horror fanatics are champing at the bit for Bloodborne 2 to be announced at the show, but developer From Software already has its hands full with Shadows Die Twice, and the company has made no mention of the game being in development. Despite this, fans of the series remain ever hopeful. Speaking of horror titles, Capcom might take this opportunity to offer audiences an update on the progress of the long-awaited Resident Evil 2 remake, ideally with at least a modicum of gameplay.
As for other miscellaneous games, throughout the conference Sony will liberally sprinkle trailers here and there to fill in the gaps between big ticket titles. We are expecting trailers from the Spyro: Reignited Trilogy, Medievil, and possibly even Shenmue 3, though some new IPs might also have their moment.
It is not difficult to notice the theme for this year's press conference, as Sony is flexing hard with its lineup of exclusive titles -- and rightly so! These are some fantastic games in development, and all are forcing Nintendo and Xbox to really step it up to compete this year. If the conference is half as exciting as we are expecting it to be, we are in for quite the show.
Sony‘s E3 2018 press conference begins on June 11, 2017 at 6:00 PM PT / 9:00 PM ET.
