Sony had a curious 2023. The PlayStation 5 had blockbuster console exclusives, such as the superb Spider-Man 2 and the flashy Final Fantasy 16. It also saw the release of the PlayStation VR 2, an impressive piece of virtual reality tech but one barely supported by a games library. Long-term PlayStation man and current CEO Jim Ryan also stepped down, with his full-time replacement yet to be named. So, what will 2024 have in store? There are plenty of exciting games to look forward to, as well as a good deal of mystery. Let’s take a look at what we know is coming next year, as well as theorize as best as we can about what surprises might be in store.
The Games We Know Are Coming
Ah, nothing like two dozen hours of emotional turmoil to wash those winter blues away. January may well signal the start of a new year, but Sony is doing its best to make us question exactly what year it is with yet another The Last of Us re-release. The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered is the PS5 version of the critically acclaimed sequel that comes with graphical improvements, previously cut “lost levels”, and a whole new roguelike mode titled No Return. It’s not necessarily a huge splash to kick the year off with, but there’s set to be enough new stuff in there for The Last of Us fans (like me) to enjoy when it arrives on January 19. (See all PS Plus games annoucned for January 2024).
From remaster to remake/reimagining(?) now with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. The second instalment of Square Enix’s return to Cloud’s adventure is scheduled to land on February 29. Taking us outside the walls of Midgar, Rebirth promises another helping of stellar RPG action that’s set to honour the original’s beloved cast of characters and unique locations, yet tease us with the different turns it may take on the journey.
Just before that, though, is console-exclusive Helldivers 2, which is coming on February 8. A third-person squad-based shooter, cooperation will be key as you look to blast away monstrous alien threats from every corner of the galaxy.
Pacific Drive is set to skid onto our screens on February 22. An atmospheric survival game with a twist, it’s a first-person driving game that takes you around an eerie Pacific Northwest as you aim to dodge the metal monsters that lurk in its woods and escape for good.
Rise of the Ronin swiftly follows a bumper February when it launches on March 22. Team Ninja brings its Ninja Gaiden and Nioh action heritage to this stylish sword-slashing RPG that takes place during one of the darkest parts of Japanese history.
Believe it or not, that’s actually all of the PlayStation console exclusives we have release dates locked in for. But that’s not to say there aren’t others coming in 2024. Among them is the eagerly anticipated Silent Hill 2 Remake being developed by Bloober Team. Hopefully, it won’t be too long until we see Pyramid Head and the gang again soon.
Then there’s Stellar Blade, which was meant to have been released in 2023. Seemingly taking cues from the likes of Nier Automata and Bayonetta, this Korean open-world action RPG is set to offer ferociously fast combat in a sci-fi setting.
Concord is a PS5 console exclusive from Sony’s newly acquired Firewalk Studios. Very little is known about this multiplayer shooter apart from a colourful teaser shown off in the summer, but with Bungie pedigree at the studio, it’s one to definitely keep on your radar
Square Enix’s Foamstars is exclusive to both PS4 and PS5 and looks set to give Sony their very own rival to Splatoon. The team-based bubble-shooter looks set to be a good time, with enough interesting tweaks to make it stand out from its squid-like cousin.
If the colourful chaos of Foamstars looks like too much fun to you, then why not check out the excruciating-looking Baby Steps (I mean this in the best way possible.) From the creative minds behind indie darlings Ape Out and Getting Over It, the physics-based gameplay looks hilariously frustrating as we help one man in a romper suit across a terrain desperate to trip him up at every step.
Of course, there will also be a steady stream of non-exclusive games scheduled to head the PS5’s way in 2024 as well. These include Dragon’s Dogma 2, Star Wars Outlaws, Black Myth Wukong, Tekken 8, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II to name but a few. We certainly won’t be running out of things to play next year.
Hopes and Dreams
After Insomniac brightened our October with the wonderful Spider-Man 2, many of us were hoping that 2024 would give us our first proper look at the studio’s upcoming Wolverine game. Sadly, Logan’s PS5 adventure has already been partially spoiled by an extensive hacking scheme, which also revealed Insomniac’s major Marvel plans for the next decade. It suggests that Wolverine may be further away than we originally thought, but – if plans haven’t been totally destroyed by the theft of so much data – there’s a chance we may see the developer’s next game in its Spider-Verse, reportedly featuring Venom as the protagonist, sometime next year.
But what about the games we aren’t so sure about? Ones that haven’t leaked, or those that don’t have a release date currently penciled in? How about the ones yet to even be revealed by the studios making them. Let’s have some fun, take a look into the crystal ball, and speculate like wild.
We know Death Stranding 2, or just DS2 as it is currently named, is on the way. Will it come out in 2024? Who knows. What we do know is that Hideo Kojima’s attention will be split between the post-apocalyptic sequel and his freshly revealed OD. But seeing as DS2 got a much more developed trailer a year prior to the Xbox exclusive, we can infer that it could be out ahead of it.
However long until DS2, it certainly won’t be as long a wait as fans of the 1994 shooter Marathon have endured. Bungie’s first team-up with Sony since their $3.7 billion acquisition is to revive Marathon’s long-dormant sci-fi gunplay in the form of the currently fashionable PvP extraction shooter. Apart from knowing it’s set in the year 2850 and a glimpse at a beautifully designed trailer hinting at strong art direction, we really don’t know much else. It would be a huge surprise to see it in 2024, but we can dream.
Haven Studios, recently founded by Jade Raymond, announced their first game Fairgame$ in the summer of 2023. A co-operative heist shooter, it’s a PS5 console exclusive that we’d be surprised to see released next year.
Then there’s the Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic remake, which has suffered a tumultuous couple of years by all accounts. We’d be shocked beyond belief if this emerged next year, if indeed at all if rumours are to be believed, but we can always close our eyes, use the Force, and will it onto our screens. Who knows, it might work.
But what are all of the Sony first-party studios up to? I hear you ask. Well, there’s a long list of mystery projects to dig through in that regard. We don’t necessarily expect any of these developers to release new games in 2024, but we can expect some reveals dotted throughout the year. Let’s take a quick look:
We know that Naughty Dog has now canceled their multiplayer The Last of Us game, meaning something else must be in the pipeline. Will we see a new single-player entry into either TLOU or Uncharted series? Or maybe something completely new?
Sony Santa Monica treated fans to the free God of War Ragnarok Valhalla DLC at the very end of 2023, but what else does it have cooking up?
It’s been over three years since Ghost of Tsushima took us to feudal Japan. Will Sucker Punch return for a sequel or perhaps treat us to something new again?
What have Returnal developer, Housemarque, got up their arcade shooter sleeves next?
What next for Days Gone developer Sony Bend?
Will Bluepoint Games reveal another fantastic remake or surprise us with an original project?
What wonderfully creative place will the recently re-organised Media Molecule take us to?
Will Astro Bot finally be released from his shiny white-walled PS5 prison and be allowed to play with the rest of us? Give that little guy another platformer, please, Team Asobi.
On one hand, it’s frustrating to not know exactly what we’ll be playing for most of 2024, but on the other hand, it’s exciting, and I, for one, can’t wait to find out what adventures these PlayStation Studios and more, have waiting for us next.
Hardware and Tech
With the launch of the PS VR2, a new slimmed-down PS5 model, the PlayStation Portal, the DualSense Edge controller, and the PlayStation Access controller, it was certainly a busy tech-filled 12 months for Sony. That means we wouldn’t be surprised if 2024 was a quieter year when it comes to new hardware. But, that won’t stop us from speculating.
The PlayStation 4 Slim and Pro were released three years after the launch of the original PS4. We’ve just hit that point in the PS5’s lifetime, and have received the equivalent of the former of those redesigned consoles. That means it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to see a PS5 “Pro” pop up sometime next year.
Although we might not have seen the current model pushed to its limits just yet, we all know we watched that GTA 6 trailer and thought to ourselves “Rockstar is going to make my PS5 sound like a jet engine, isn’t it”. (In case you missed it, see 99 Details From the GTA 6 Trailer). With Rockstar’s latest slated for a 2025 release, perhaps a souped-up PlayStation 5 hitting store shelves towards the end of 2024 would make for logical timing.
Apart from that, it’s all pure guesswork. What new tech innovation or fresh piece of hardware would you like to see from Sony? I think a controller with a battery charge that lasts more than an hour or two would be fantastic.
Let us know in the comments what you think, as well as what games you’re most excited about playing on PlayStation in 2024.
Simon Cardy wishes you all a happy new year. Follow him on Twitter at @CardySimon.