PS4 Q1
Since the PS4’s inception back in 2013, the console’s slogan has been “This is for the players.” In adhering to that motto, manufacturer Sony sought to renew a focus on gaming in their next hardware iteration, making it a reality in the first-party support the company has provided to the system so far. The exclusives coming to the PS4 are arriving not just by way of Sony either, as plenty of third-party publishers like Square Enix and Bandai Namco are joining the party in 2018.
The first quarter of next year is clearly evident of that, as high profile titles from Sony-owned or Sony-funded studios can be found joining the ranks of admittedly niche Japanese software. God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, and Street Fighter V Arcade Edition, for instance, can be found alongside titles like Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, Ni no Kuni II, Harvest Moon, and Secret of Mana, just to name a few.
Fans of Japanese RPGs and anime-stylized games in general have a lot to look forward to throughout 2018’s first quarter too, as Dragon Ball FighterZ, Steins;Gate Elite, Attack on Titan 2, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet, and Valkyria Chronicles 4 are all slated to come out during this time. It’s the perfect occasion really, as the wintry weather lets us catch up on all the digital goodness the PS4 has to offer before we’re forced to go outside because our moms told us to.
Without further ado, check out all of PS4’s Q1 releases below:
- Street Fighter V Arcade Edition (1/16)
- Gintama Rumble (1/18)
- Death Mark (1/19)
- Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory (1/19)
- Lost Sphere (1/23)
- The Inpatient (1/23)
- Dragon Ball FighterZ (1/26)
- Monster Hunter World (1/26)
- Dissidia Final Fantasy NT (1/30)
- Past Cure (2/2)
- EA Sports UFC 3 (2/2)
- Shadow of the Colossus (2/6)
- The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia (2/9)
- Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] (2/9)
- Monster Energy Supercross: The Official Videogame (2/13)
- Dynasty Warriors 9 (2/15)
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance (2/15)
- Owlboy (2/15)
- Secret of Mana (2/15)
- Hokuto ga Gotoku (2/22)
- Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet (2/23)
- Girls und Panzer: Dream Tank Match (2/27)
- Gravel (2/27)
- Death end re;Quest (3/4)
- Bravo Team (3/6)
- Your Four Knight Princesses Training Story (3/8)
- Devil May Cry HD Collection (3/13)
- Golem (3/13)
- Steins;Gate Elite (3/15)
- Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram HD (3/15)
- Attack on Titan 2 (3/20)
- Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (3/20)
- Valkyria Chronicles 4 (3/21)
- A Way Out (3/23)
- Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (3/23)
- Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings (3/27)
- Far Cry 5 (3/27)
- MLB The Show 18 (3/27)
- Shining Resonance Refrain (3/29)
- Super Robot Wars X (3/29)
- Agony (3/30)
- Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion (Q1)
- Armored Warfare (Q1)
- Conarium (Q1)
- Fe (Q1)
- God of War (Q1)
- Harvest Moon: Light of Hope (Q1)
- Next Up Hero (Q1)
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 (Q1)
PS4 Q2
PS4 fans enter a bit more murky water when examining the console’s offerings for the second quarter of the year. The excitement is still there, notably in the form of Red Dead Redemption 2, Detroit: Become Human, and Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, but one can’t help but wonder what some third-party or indie publishers may have in store for release during this time. It’s also worth noting that because the aforementioned Red Dead sequel is expected to release in the second quarter of 2018, some publishers may be looking to avoid poor sales by clashing with the behemoth. There’s also the positive word-of-mouth of an E3 reveal to consider, as well as the gaming drought of summer to be wary of.
As in the prior quarter, however, niche titles are still expected to release for the system between April and June. Titles like Trails of Cold Steel II, Dragon Quest Builders 2, and the next Robotics;Notes may work well to satisfy that Japanese appetite fans have acclimated during the first portion of the year. It’s also worth noting that crowd-funded projects Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and the System Shock remake are projected to release here, hopefully to more positive acclaim than other fan-backed initiatives have garnered in the past.
Take a look at all the titles expected to release for PS4 in Q2 2018 for yourself below:
- We Happy Few (4/13)
- Trails of Cold Steel II: Kai (4/26)
- Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (TBA May)
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (Q2)
- Detroit: Become Human (Q2)
- Dragon Quest Builders 2 (Q2)
- Jurassic World Evolution (Q2)
- Onrush (Q2)
- Rainbow Skies (Q2)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Q2)
- Robotics;Notes DaSH (Q2)
- System Shock (Q2)
- The Crew 2 (Q2)
- Vampyr (Q2)
PS4 Q3/Q4
One may look at the list below and think something dire is going to happen to the gaming industry in 2017. Rest assured that that’s not the case, as titles slated for release in the later half of the year are usually given firm release dates at some point earlier in the same year. That means that titles like Code Vein, Darksiders III, and Days Gone could very well join this list in the future, though as it stands these games have no confirmation as to when exactly they’ll see the light of day.
This being said, there are some titles that are confirmed for release between summer and the end of 2018. Noteworthy in the bunch is the long-awaited Shenmue III, whose launch on eighth generation hardware can’t come some soon enough for longtime fans of the series. High profile third-party software like Ubisoft’s Skull & Bones and EA’s Anthem may be coming before the year is over too, no doubt with impressive visuals for players to drool over for days on end. There’s also the equally-as-pretty Metro Exodus and the fated sequel Mega Man 11 to consider as well, both of which are in the running to please diehard fans of each respective franchise.
See below for a short list of what we can expect in Q3 and Q4 for PS4 in 2018:
- Overkill’s The Walking Dead (Q3)
- Shenmue III (Q3/Q4)
- Skull & Bones (Q3/Q4)
- Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Q3/Q4)
- Anthem (Q4)
- Mega Man 11 (Q4)
- Metro Exodus (Q4)
PS4 TBA
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the PS4’s upcoming library of games going into 2018, and that’s perfectly okay. Some will undoubtedly be pushed back to 2019 or 2020 (I’m looking at you, Kingdom Hearts III), but that doesn’t mean that next year has a lot of potential to be great with the titles it has confirmed already. To be quite frank, 2017 had so many great games that they’ll probably last us a couple of years anyway.
When all is said and done, one still can’t help but wonder what the future holds in store. Titles that have yet to be given firm release dates or expected release quarters, like Dreams, Left Alive, Spider-Man, Concrete Genie, and Conan Exiles, are in the making to make waves in the gaming industry when they come out, if not in terms of sales then in terms of imaginative possibility. Dreams, for example, allows users to craft levels and even entire games from scratch, giving players the tools to create virtually anything and everything they can think of.
The future of gaming certainly seems bright. Hopefully microtransactions or other unforeseen controversies won’t sour anyone’s mood this time next year.
A list of titles yet to be announced for PS4 can be found below:
- Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (TBA)
- Biomutant (TBA)
- Black Clover: Project Knights (TBA)
- Call of Cthulhu (TBA)
- Code Vein (TBA)
- Conan Exiles (TBA)
- Concrete Genie (TBA)
- Darksiders III (TBA)
- Days Gone (TBA)
- Dreams (TBA)
- Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain (TBA)
- Extinction (TBA)
- Fear Effect Reinvented (TBA)
- Granblue Fantasy Project Re: Link (TBA)
- Greedfall (TBA)
- Immortal Unchained (TBA)
- Iron Harvest (TBA)
- Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (TBA)
- Kingdom Hearts III (TBA)
- Laser League (TBA)
- Left Alive (TBA)
- Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (TBA)
- Praey for the Gods (TBA)
- Project Phoenix (TBA)
- Spider-Man (TBA)
- Soulcalibur VI (TBA)
- Super Meat Boy Forever (TBA)
- Super Mega Baseball 2 (TBA)
- Surviving Mars (TBA)
- ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove (TBA)
- Tropico 6 (TBA)
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