The PS5 is in for a great 2026

The now established tradition of a State of Play presentation at the end of every September is a smart marketing move: it’s happening before the Q4 barrage of new AAA games hits the market, it’s offering current PlayStation owners a sneak peek at what they can look forward to and it serves as an incentive for consumers not aboard the PlayStation train yet to get a new console come holiday season. Last night’s State of Play did all that and more, even managing to deliver a single surprise few people outside Sony’s HQ expected.

As promised during the announcement of this State of Play, Sony shared footage and extensive information about Saros, Housemarque’s next PS5-specific title originally announced back in February. This looks like another excellent action shooter from the developers of Returnal – still one of the best PS5 exclusives, one of the best PC ports of said exclusives too – which, maybe unsurprisingly, shares a lot with that title’s aesthetics and gameplay style overall. It does bring a number of its own unique features, though, and it does look even more impressive in motion. As one would expect, it will also be PS5 Pro-optimized. It will be out in March 2026.

Sony then proceeded to announce nine new PS5 games for next year, including Zero Parades, Chronoscript: The Endless End, Code Vein II, Crimson Desert, Deus Ex Remastered, Dynasty Warriors 3 Remastered, Halloween, Nioh 3 and The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin. These are not all PlayStation exclusives but they cover a wide range of categories and gameplay styles, ensuring that PS5 owners have plenty of options to choose from come 2026.

A couple of notable unveilings had to do with late-2025 PS5 releases. There was a closer look at the upcoming Battlefield 6 single-player mode, an extensive look at roguelike survival title Let It Die: Inferno (out in December), the announcement of Flight Simulator 2024 making its way to the PS5 in the same month (complete with all the additional content Asobo Studio has released in the meantime on Xbox and PC), as well as the announcement of Gran Turismo 7 Spec III, the largest content update Polyphony Digital has released for the title so far, available in early December too. Sadly, no news regarding a PC version of GT7 yet. Oh, well.

Wolverine sharpening his claws for fall 2026

The great surprise this particular State of Play had in store for PlayStation fans, though, was Marvel’s Wolverine, the next big Insomniac Games title after the release of no less than three different Spider-man games for PS5, PS4 and PC. We knew it was coming at some point because of the unfortunate ransomware hack and data breach the development team suffered in November 2023 – leading to extensive leaks of internal and confidential information – so Sony had kept understandably silent about the whole thing ever since.

Well, last night was finally the right time to reveal Marvel’s Wolverine, as well as it’s release window: it will be out in about a year (“fall 2026”), following the pattern set by Insomniac for its Spider-man games. Wolverine is an entirely different beast, though (pun intended): based on this first gameplay trailer it will be a way more grounded, way more bloody affair, less concerned with exploration or traversal – since Wolverine is nothing like Spider-man – and more focused on combat and expertly directed set pieces.

Since this approach was not a given, it’s good to see that Sony and Insomniac are going for authenticity with Marvel’s Wolverine, even if it means that the game will get an 18+ rating: the voice-over is grumpy and aggressive, the visual style is gritty and the action is surprisingly violent and graphic, even excessively so at times.

This is not a kids’ game but, then again, the Wolverine many of us remember from the early X-Men comics is not a kids’ super hero either (or even a super hero at all in his own words). This alone would make Insomniac’s new title one to watch even if it was not one of the most decorated developers around we’re talking about here. Which it is. Fall 2026 can’t come fast enough.

A turning point for the PS5… finally

Last night’s State of Play worked in the same way the September 2021 and September 2024 ones did, setting things in motion for the release of a new AAA story-driven PlayStation exclusive – after those presentations did the same with Spider-man 2 and Ghost of Yotei – but it also did something else: it marked a true turning point for the PlayStation5 in terms of software. Every single game shown during this latest Sony stream was PS5-only, which means that the PS4 era is finally, officially over.

It’s fair to say that the PlayStation4 was a great system but one that had overstayed its welcome, holding the PlayStation5 back for way too long. Now PS5 owners can look forward to many more titles built specifically for their system, which may not guarantee their overall quality but can only be a good thing. Most importantly: it now feels that this PlayStation hardware generation is coming into its own, after a number of cross-gen years that left a lot to be desired in terms of PS5 exclusives.

Talking of which: at a time when discussions about the point of games publishers releasing exclusive titles for one console only are held on the Web almost daily, Sony and its partners seemingly beg to differ. Both will be offering consumers a true avalanche of AAA PS5-exclusive games all through 2026: Nioh 3 is coming on February 6th, Saros is coming on March 20th, Wolverine is coming in the fall and Capcom’s Pragmata is coming in 2026, as is S-Game’s Phantom Blade Zero and ArcSys’s Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls. Sony’s own Marathon and Fairgame$ are also widely expected in 2026, despite their recent delays.

The PS5 being the current market leader by a large margin means that Sony’s system is also getting every other major 2026 release confirmed so far, from Resident Evil: Requiem and 007: First Light to Crimson Desert, Code Vein II and Lords of the Fallen II (along with all the yearly franchises like EA’s FC or Activision’s Call of Duty).

Most importantly: if there’s truth to the rumor that Sony already has a co-promotion deal in place with Take2 for Grand Theft Auto VI – in exchange for PS5-specific bonuses or even some exclusive content – then 2026 may prove to be one of the most exciting years ever for PlayStation gamers. About time, too!