Sony has announced that a new State of Play event will take place on March 9. This will be a Sony PlayStation livestream that is expected to run for twenty minutes and will mostly feature games from Japanese publishers, though there will be other content during the show. The new State of Play is hot on the heels of the release of two big PlayStation exclusives, as Gran Turismo 7 and Horizon Forbidden West are finally available on PS4 and PS5, so Sony needs to add some fresh games to its schedule, as well as offering hard release dates for games that were announced, like God of War Ragnarok.

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The most recent State of Play happened in October 2021 and it’s clear that Sony hasn’t quite managed to match the formula of the Nintendo Direct. The last State of Play mostly focused on smaller titles, which left fans wondering why the show was even made, as it had no big announcements for future PlayStation exclusives. The PS5 is currently ahead of the Xbox Series X/S in sales, but that could easily change, especially following the news of Microsoft’s planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The most recent Nintendo Direct was filled with announcements for exciting new games and the recent Pokémon Direct helped make the Switch’s 2022 schedule even more exciting, and Sony should be looking to inspire the same levels of hype in its show. The PS4 and PS5 have had a strong start in 2022, but the latter half of the year is dry, which is why fans are excited for the prospect of a new State of Play.

The next State of Play is almost here and it’s up to Sony to bring out the big guns. The fact that the show is featuring games from Japanese publishers suggests there will be some multi-platform content. unless Sony is planning on announcing some future acquisitions during the show. The State of Play will be the venue for Sony to show off its new PlayStation exclusives, and likely some timed exclusives as well. The pandemic resulted in a number of delays across the industry, but companies should now have a better idea of when games are coming out in 2022 and can settle on release dates. This isn’t a given, as Forspoken was recently delayed until October 2022, but there are a lot of games in development that should nearly be ready and can be featured during the State of Play.

When & Where To Watch The Sony State Of Play (March 2022)

The next State of Play event will be held on March 9 at 2 pm PT/5 PM ET/11 PM CET. The show will be broadcast on the official PlayStation YouTube channel and the official PlayStation Twitch channel. The streaming link for the YouTube version of the State of Play is live and people can use it to set a reminder for themselves so that they’ll receive a notification shortly before it begins. The video for the March 2022 State of Play can be viewed below, although it won’t be live until the event starts on March 9:

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What To Expect From The State Of Play

Sony has already confirmed something that definitely won’t be at the show. The recently unveiled PSVR 2 headset and games won’t be featured during the State of Play, so fans shouldn’t expect to learn more about Sony’s upcoming VR endeavors. That said, one game that will almost certainly appear is Ghostwire: Tokyo, as it’s a game developed by a Japanese studio and it’s coming to PC and PS5 on March 25, so Sony will likely spare some time to promote the game ahead of its launch. There have been leaks regarding the troubled development of Hogwarts Legacy, which has received few updates since it was officially announced in 2020. At this point in time, there have been far more content leaks regarding the game than actual announcements. A recent leak suggests that Hogwarts Legacy will be announced in a March PlayStation event, which lines up with the State of Play.

PlayStation Spartacus Might Finally Appear

It’s possible that Sony will finally unveil its PlayStation Spartacus service to the public during the State of Play. According to different leaks, PlayStation Spartacus is the internal codename for Sony’s answer to Xbox Game Pass, which will combine PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now into one service, while offering premium tiers for more content, which supposedly includes games from older PlayStation consoles. The most recent leak suggests that PlayStation Spartacus will be revealed soon and a State of Play event would be the perfect venue to officially announce the service.

Square Enix Could Bring FF16 To The State Of Play

Square Enix has been a big supporter of the State of Play events in the past, as the company is close with Sony, especially when it comes to the Final Fantasy franchise. The developers of FF16 were supposed to reveal more information about the game in 2021, but that didn’t happen. FF16 news was delayed by the pandemic and was pushed back to 2022.

There’s a good chance that this new information will be revealed during the State of Play, with a new gameplay trailer and maybe even a release window. The developers of the sequel to FF7 Remake have also hinted that new information about the game could be revealed in 2022 and it could happen at the State of Play. The Nvidia leak hinted at other Square Enix games that could be in development, with titles like a remaster of Final Fantasy Tactics and FF9 Remake also being possible candidates.

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It’s Time For A God Of War Ragnarok Release Date

The game that fans are expecting the most is God of War Ragnarok. The sequel to the highly-acclaimed God of War was originally meant to be one of Sony’s biggest titles in 2021. God of War Ragnarok was delayed to 2022 and it still lacks a solid release date. A full release date for God of War Ragnarok would be one of the biggest reveals of the State of Play and would really help bolster the PS4 and PS5’s schedule for 2022.

The State of Play will take place on March 9, 2022, at 2 pm PT/5 PM ET/11 PM CET.

Source: PlayStation/YouTube, PlayStation/Twitch

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Scott Baird
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Scott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz.
A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early ‘90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.

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