In brief: Instead of hassling with he chaos of events like E3 and GDC, Sony has announced it will be initiating a Nintendo Direct-like way of announcing new games and updates. It will be called State of Play and the first episode will be streamed live this Monday.
Sony revealed on Friday that it would be hosting a "State of Play" livestream next week. The show will have trailers, gameplay footage, and announcements for upcoming titles.
Sid Shuman, Sony's director of social media, did not reveal any hints on what games to expect, but if I had to guess I would say news on The Last of Us Part II, Ghost of Tsushima, and Death Stranding is likely. Of course, it is bound to have some surprises in there as well.
We already reported that Sony would be skipping E3 this year. At the time it was vague as to its reasons other than saying it wanted to try other avenues of communication.
"We are exploring new and familiar ways to engage our community in 2019 and can't wait to share our plans with you," the company had said in a statement.
The State of Play looks to be those plans.
The livestream will take place on Monday, March 25 at 2:00pm on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Alternatively, you can just come back to this article and watch it right here (above). If you miss it, Sony will post the VOD edition shortly after the broadcast concludes.
Interestingly, this Monday's show will only be the first of several.
"And this is just the beginning!" said Shuman. "State of Play will return throughout the year with more updates and announcements."
We'll have to see where Sony's new communication strategy goes. Skipping major gaming events like E3 in favor of sporadic announcements throughout the year could go either way for the console giant.
In a way, I like the idea as long as it does State of Play events on a regular schedule. Sony should give players something to look forward to rather than leaving them guessing when the next one will be. We'll see what Sony has to say on Monday.