Sony's Chess Ad: Teases Of The Future Part 1 (RE4, Tekken, Infamous And More)

 

Hey all, sorry I've been a bit absent, I'm making five articles at once here! That Direct is imminent, and I'll be doing coverage for it once it's announced, don't worry, but for the next few articles, I wanted to focus on Sony's event where they revealed a buttload of information on their upcoming first and third party PS5 titles.

This will have to be a two parter due to the sheer number of franchises here:

https://youtu.be/t_6soqU9OJQ

Initially, I viewed this video as a dumb, unnecessary waste of time. Turns out, I was very, very wrong. Sony has been in the business of dropping hints for future games in their live action ads for quite a while now, so this is nothing new. But before we get into that, let's look into what teases they did in the past.

Back in 2014, Sony released an ad featuring Crash Bandicoot, a franchise that had laid dormant for around 6 years at that point. Sony Computer Entertainment and Crash had a partnership from the beginning of the marsupial's inception, to the point that many viewed the character as Sony's de facto mascot, an equivalent to Nintendo's Mario and SEGA's Sonic. 

The teasing would continue during the PlayStation Experience in 2015, when then SCEA President Shawn Layden came up on stage in Crash Bandicoot shirt for seemingly no reason. Many were either suspicious or puzzled.

Low and behold, 6 months later at E3 2016, Crash N-Sane Trilogy was announced and released a year later, and would go on to be a pretty huge success. In December of 2019, Sony would release an CG/live action ad celebrating 25 years of PlayStation, featuring many of the iconic characters that graced their systems. Crash was included, but with a twist. A strange mask that couldn't be identified was seen following the marsupial:

This turned out to be an extremely overt tease for Crash 4: It's About Time, which would be announced the following June. That very same mask would appear in the game as a major character/gameplay component.

For those who aren't aware what "Third Party Marketing Deals" are:

It's an agreement that console makers have with  third party publishers where companies exclusively announce and promote the third party game in question for them. Think of games such as Resident Evil, Yakuza, Metal Gear, Star Wars, Battlefield, etc. They aren't exclusives, but these deals treat them like they almost are. That's what's going on here, and it seems like Sony has put out serious money for all of these franchises.

With the history lesson out of the way, it appears Sony is doing the same thing once again, this time with a variety of iconic franchises. Let's take a look at what we have here. 

Credit for all of these findings go to the Gaming Leaks and Rumors Subreddit: 

https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/pmmba2/ps_showcase_symbols_megathread_ffxvi_re4_sly/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

Check them out.

First off the bat:

Resident Evil 4 Remake:

That symbol you see there is the insignia of "Las Plagas", the very virus that Resident Evil 4's plot is based around. This one is pretty obvious. Resident Evil 4 Remake is happening, it's been leaked by Capcom themselves, among others, and it's coming sooner rather than later. This is just further proof of that. RE4R is the industry's worst kept secret right now. Sony has had a history with Resident Evil from the very beginning, and they've announced the last four major Resident Evil releases at their shows. There's clearly a long term marketing deal here and that will continue with this upcoming remake of RE4.

Tekken:

This one is pretty blatant as well. That is the logo of the Mishima Zaibatsu, the corporation the entire Tekken franchise is centered around. Tekken has had a history with PlayStation from the very beginning of both of their inceptions, and with DLC for Tekken 7 finished, it's time for to look ahead to the next project. Bandai Banco currently has no in-house fighting games announced, and the Tekken game is all but inevitable. This is just a hint that we'll be seeing it sooner rather than later. Will it be Tekken 8? Or possibly a third Tekken Tag Tournament? Time will tell. 

Final Fantasy XVI:

Another pretty obvious one. "Valisthea" is the setting of the game, but what is more interesting here is the numbers that go with it:

"06:16"

June 16th? Could that be a release date for FFXIV? Would make sense given that Yoshi P's recent comments about the game nearly being complete. 

Sony already has this one locked up to themselves, console wise. Sony announced it on their show, as well as announced that it will be a PS5 console exclusive. Sony and Square have been famously tight since the release of Final Fantasy VII for PS1, seems like nothing has changed here. 

Wumpa League:

Sony is continuing the trend with teasing new developments in the Crash franchise. This time, a new Battle Royale title which has been extensively leaked, has been teased with a Wumpa Fruit logo of some sort in the ad. I'd imagine this will be announced soon, given that it's the marsupial's 25th anniversary.

Ace Combat: 

Bandai Namco and Sony are definitely in bed together if this ad is anything to go by. This is the second of there franchises I'll be covering. Ace Combat, for most of it's run, has been a PlayStation exclusive, and while it has made the jump to multiplatform in recent years, Sony has seemed to have gotten the marketing rights for the recently announced newest game in the franchise once again, going by this tease in the ad.

Horizon/Aloy in Fall Guys:

Horizon: Zero Dawn was one of the breakout new Ips for Sony last generation, and it's getting a pretty big push with it's sequel releasing fairly soon. That includes a custom in Fall Guys, which was found in the ad itself. A clever tease for something that will likely be announced very soon. 

Infamous: 

Sony/Sucker Punch's Infamous franchise has been dormant for quite a while, but rumors have suggested that it's slumber is coming to an end.

You can read up on that here:

https://www.screenrant.com/new-infamous-game-playstation-domain-update/amp/

Couple that with these teases, which feature crude drawings of the "Karma" logo on the left corner and "The Foundation" on the right, and things are lining up for a new Infamous game. Hopefully with Cole in tow.

Alan Wake and Deathloop were also featured in the ad, and are already announced, but those once again just add to massive list  of third party games Sony is marketing for their audience.

That's all for today. Tomorrow, we'll be going over the other franchises featured, including Castlevania, Sly Cooper, Sonic and a few more. See you then!