Last Week In PlayStation #9 | Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Coming Next Winter, Rumoured PS5 Pro Controller, And Gran Turismo Movie Slated For August 2023 Release

Hello and welcome to the ninth edition of Last Week In PlayStation, the weekly PlayStation newsletter here on platyview.com. 

Publishing every Monday evening India time (early evening Central European time and late morning Pacific time), the series will round up all of last week's PlayStation news and other happenings into one single article. 

This edition will cover all PlayStation news from the 13th of June '2022 to the 19th of June '2022.

As we move into this odd part of the year - after the "big summer showcases" and before notable games start releasing again in August - the news market, especially when it comes to relevant PlayStation stuff, is rather dry. 

But there is hope. God of War Ragnarok's release date is rumoured to be announced at the end of this month, meaning this week, we may get an announcement of June's second State of Play. And if we dare to dream- PlayStation Showcase 2022. 

But this round-up series is about last week, so here is what went down in the world of PlayStation last week. 

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Is Remake Part 2, Coming To PS5 In Winter 2023

Source: Square Enix

Square Enix held their summer showcase last week. Out of it came the reveal of the follow-up to 2020's Final Fantasy VII Remake. 

The game is called Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and will launch exclusively on PS5. Rebirth is scheduled for a release in winter 2023, but as is the case with all upcoming games, a delay is entirely possible.  

Square Enix calls it 'the second game in the Final Fantasy VII remake project', and it is set to 'continue the story of Final Fantasy VII Remake, taking Cloud and the party out of Midgar into the wider world. 

We previously knew that 2020's remake would be the first part of a remake series set to span multiple games. We now know that, apart from this odd naming scheme, the remake series will feature three full games, with Rebirth set to be the second instalment in the trilogy. 

While Rebirth has so far only been announced for PS5, we can expect it to come to PC post-launch, following a similar timeline to its predecessor. Whether it makes its way to other platforms too is still to be seen, and any movement of 2020's remake to Xbox or Switch over the next year will likely indicate what happens to Rebirth. 

In other side news, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion was also revealed during this event. The game is a remaster of the 2013 PSP prequel spin-off title and is releasing this winter. What is notable, however, is that this game is coming to all platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and PC. 

What this does tell us is that all future mainline Final Fantasy games (FF XVI, Rebirth, and its sequel) will likely be exclusive to PlayStation platforms at launch, while spin-off titles will be multiplatform. 

Sony Rumoured To Be Working On A PS5 Pro Controller

Source: PlayStation

Serial leaker Tom Henderson is back at it again, this time with a report over on website TryHardGames that outlines Sony's plans for a "genuine professional controller" for the PS5. 

Henderson notes that the controller is codenamed "Hunt". Its features reportedly include 'removable analog sticks, trigger stops, and rear buttons'. These new analog sticks are dubbed "removable stick units" by Sony and will help counter stick drift issues that in the past would be needed repair or a whole new controller to solve.

Rear paddles, which were a feature on the PS4's back button attachment, will be a part of the PS5 pro controller. Such buttons have become commonplace on most "pro" controller options, and are a key driving point for purchases due to their benefits during competitive play. 

Images of a prototype viewed by Henderson are noted to have removable grips for holding the controller. The pro controller is also set to have 'significant software upgrades'. 

As to a reveal date, well that's up in the air: 

"It’s unclear when exactly the new controller will be revealed, with the source simply saying “it should be soon”. However, it is understood by several sources that Sony is set to unveil several new bits of hardware at the end of this month (not a new console), but it’s unclear whether or not the lineup will reveal this new controller."

If the end of the month stuff is true, then it coincides perfectly with the rumoured PlayStation event first reported by Jason Schreier concerning God of War Ragnarok. 

Pro controllers are cool and whatnot, but pricing will be key in predicting the controller's success. Let's wait and see.

Gran Turismo Movie Slated For August 2023 Release, Premise Outlined Too

Source: PlayStation

I feel as Sony continue to push more into film and television with their iconic PlayStation franchises, we are going to be seeing a lot more of website Deadline over here. They now report that Sony has settled on a release date for the film: August 11, 2023. 

Deadline also lists out some key figures on the film crew. As previously reported, the movie is being directed by Neill Blomkamp, who most recently directed 2021's Demonic. The movie is being co-produced by PlayStation Productions and Columbia Pictures.

The movie's screenplay is written by Jason Hall, who most famously wrote the screenplay for 2014's American Sniper. Producers include Doug Belgrad and Dana Brunetti, as well as PlayStation Productions' Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan. 

And if that wasn't enough, the movie's premise has been outlined too:

"Based on a true story, the film is the ultimate wish-fulfilment tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional race car driver."

That sounds pretty interesting. I am not sure how certain this release date is, but I am certainly looking forward to watching this movie. That reminds me, I should probably watch the Uncharted film first. 

Take-Two CEO Backs New PS Plus Model, With Game Catalogs Instead Of Day 1 Releases

Source: Fortune

GamesIndustry.biz reports that Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick 'agrees with PlayStation's stance' on not launching first-party games day and date on their subscription service. Zelnick notes that subscription services 'can be effective for catalog games'. However, 'economically speaking', 'making frontline console products available day and date with subscription' doesn't make sense. 

Zelnick goes on to reiterate the benefits of game catalogs, explaining that for games 'that have been in the market for a while and their price has been reduced', it can potentially 'make economic sense to offer those on a subscription basis'.

These comments come following Sony's resolute reluctance to launch its blockbuster first-party games day and date on its subscription service. Instead, PlayStation continues to sell them for full price - in a world where competitor Microsoft is offering all Xbox first-party games on Gamepass day 1 - citing the enormous budgets needed to make these games and the low returns a subscription model would generate. 

Zelnick's comments seem to confirm the fact that serious financial grunt is needed to make such a model work, something that Microsoft possesses but Take-Two doesn't. And in the case of Sony, it is debatable whether the company would be able to sustainably pull day 1 releases off. But what is for certain is that for now at least, Jim Ryan and his team prefer to take the traditional route.

Housemarque To Bring Unused Returnal Ideas Into Next Game

Source: PlayStation

PushSquare reports that Housemarque plans to use unused ideas and features from Returnal in their next game. Word comes by an interview over on VGC with Eevi Korhonen, a senior narrative designer at the Finnish studio. 

Korhonen notes Returnal was 'ambitious' and the team 'dreamt super big', meaning they 'still had to leave so much on the cutting room floor'- essentially drafting up new ideas and features that eventually never made their way into the final release. 

She goes on to explain:

"We didn’t quite have the handle on how big [Returnal] was going to be, building for a new platform on a new engine with a new team, all of those things require some learning. Now we have that team that has gone through the fire and learned how to build a game like Returnal. So now we get to start off stronger."

Since earlier this year, we have known Housemarque is working on a new IP following Returnal's launch in April 2021. Korhonen reiterates this during the interview, and then teases a possible return for Returnal, saying, "Of course, if we return to Selene’s story after that, remains to be seen." 

Other Bits And Pieces:

Source: The Gamer

• Following Kojima's announcement at the Xbox Bethesda Showcase that his studio was working on a game with the green team, there was an angry uproar from PlayStation fanboys across the internet. Well, to calm these crazy folks down, Kojima Productions has put out two statements on their Twitter account. They reiterate their independence and note that the studio 'will explore various possibilities with games, movies, and music'. They also reassure fans of their continued 'good partnership with PlayStation', citing questions about their 'collaboration with SIE' following the announcement of their partnership with Microsoft.
  
  
• Persona 5 Royal is one of PS4's best games, and now it looks like the game is coming to PS5 on October 21st. PushSquare reports that while there has been no direct word from Sega about the game getting a release, the official Japanese PlayStation Blog lists the game for PS5. This seems iron clad enough, and we should expect confirmation from Sega or Atlus soon about the game coming to PS5 alongside its Xbox and PC release later this year.
  
  
• Last year, Sony acquired Liverpool-based Firesprite Games. The studio is, in fact, the largest team under PlayStation Studios in terms of the number of employees. Now, the entire team is moving house, into a new 50,000 sq feet office in the city centre. VGC reports that Firesprite's previous office covered around 3,000 sq feet, meaning this new office is more than 15-times the size of the old one. With Firesprite's nearly 300 employees, ongoing work on one of PS VR2's key titles, and the potential for multiple projects to be developed simultaneously, it is clear why Sony is investing so much into this team. Keep an eye on Firesprite, they may surprise us more than once in the future.

And that is all for this week's edition of Last Week In PlayStation. Hopefully, we get news of the rumoured end-of-June event this week. Oh, and the new PS Plus is finally launching here in India this week. I can't wait. Thanks for reading.