Hideo Kojima took to the stage at SXSW today and – joined by some special guests – discussed new details about Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Those details included the reveal of the game’s release date: June 26, 2025. To mark the announcement – and pre-orders going live March 17* – attendees enjoyed a first look at a special Kojima-directed Pre-Order trailer, which you can watch in full below.

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Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will launch in a range of different versions. This includes a Collector’s Edition, which will be available to pre-order in select retailers worldwide. Please check with your local retailers (https://www.playstation.com/local/retailers/) for pre-order details and availability.

Details on the different versions you can find below. 

View and download image

Hideo Kojima took to the stage at SXSW today and – joined by some special guests – discussed new details about Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Those details included the reveal of the game’s release date: June 26, 2025. To mark the announcement – and pre-orders going live March 17* – attendees enjoyed a first look at a special Kojima-directed Pre-Order trailer, which you can watch in full below.

Play Video

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will launch in a range of different versions. This includes a Collector’s Edition, which will be available to pre-order directly from PlayStation and select retailers worldwide. 

Details on the different versions you can find below. 

View and download image

Last week, we asked you rewind back to the summer of 1995 and share moments from Lost Records: Bloom & Rage using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:

call_me_xavii shares Swann, Autumn, Nora, and Kat crossing a forest log in the setting sun

treeblazah shares Autumn and Kat blowing out dandelions.

Beat_Minerz shares Nora sitting on a picnic bench with a skateboard

sic.parvis.magna.sfd shares Kat with her concert makeup on

MrioMoreno5 shares a picture perfect moment of Swann’s cat gazing at a bird in the window

tlouphotographer shares a close up of Swann’s concert eye makeup

Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?

THEME: Monster Hunter Wilds
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on March 12, 2025 

Next week, head out into the wilds with your Palico in tow. Capture rapturous moments in Monster Hunter Wilds using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.

Magic, monsters, and… metalwork? Epic action-adventure comes in many fantastical forms, but MercurySteam’s forthcoming voyage into an all-new world of fantasy-based peril has a particularly unique approach. Yes, there’s the mysterious and slightly brooding protagonist – Aran de Lira – on a quest to defeat a brutal, army-wielding queen hell-bent on destruction.

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And yes, there’s a plucky squire – Adso – acting as Aran’s studious companion, documenting your journey to the Royal Palace, while helping solve puzzles and offering enemy-defeating strategies and quips. But also, shining within this rich quest promising anything between 60 to 80 hours of gameplay is something that gives Blades of Fire its edge: blacksmithing.

“We’ve been waiting for the opportunity to come back to the kind of fantasy [we explored in Blade of Darkness], a brutal, physical, tactical combat,” explains Enric Álvarez, CEO of MercurySteam, and Director of Blades of Fire. “When we created the premise where an evil witch queen is turning steel into stone, the hero has a problem. So you need to forge your own weapons. That simple thing is how we came up with the idea of the Forge.”

The Forge of the Gods Enric refers to is a dark, brooding realm where Aran is given a chance to design and craft the weapons he needs to fight his way through over 50 enemy types, from Queen Nerea’s orcish-looking armored soldiers and deadly water elementals to terrifying trolls. Nerea’s curse on steel has no effect in the Forge, so by picking between seven different weapon families, including claymores and polearms, you can craft a dizzying array of variations.

For example, a blade’s length can affect the damage it inflicts, while the type of steel changes the weapon’s laceration, defense, and durability. What type of cross-section will you choose for cutting power and resistance? A convex shape might give you more durability but less slashing damage, but a concave fuller might give you more penetration and speed. And what about the pommel, which affects the weapon’s balance?

During my time with the game, the Forge already required a range of decisions, with a clear number of locked options—but what prevented it from becoming overwhelming was the handy stats-driven sidebar, which told me what was c

Commemorate The Last of Us franchise with a brand-new controller; here’s a first look at the DualSense wireless controller – The Last of Us Limited Edition. Created in close collaboration with the creative team at Naughty Dog, this striking design features glossy trophy icons printed across the surface that call back to key moments, characters, and events from The Last of Us Part I and The Last of Us Part II.

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To share more about the controller’s design and inspiration, here’s Head of Studio and Head of Creative Neil Druckmann and Graphic Designer Megan Mehran from Naughty Dog:

“We were excited by the chance to memorialize The Last of Us franchise in a controller that fans and our own team would love. We wanted to ensure that both installments of The Last of Us are represented, via trophy icons printed in black gloss across the controller body. Among the trophies, three particular images will immediately stand out for TLOU fans: The firefly, moth, and wolf. Players will recognize the Fireflies’ iconic spray-painted logo that originated in Part I, while the moth and wolf represent the intertwining lives and duality between Ellie and Abby in Part II.“

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Assassin’s Creed Shadows is just two weeks away and in anticipation of its March 20 launch on PS5, we’ve released 20 minutes of new gameplay showing Naoe and Yasuke infiltrating Nijo Palace, the castle complex (also known as a tenshu) in Kyoto, a major city in the larger region of Yamashiro.

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Castles in Assassin’s Creed Shadows are strongholds, filled with hostile guards, valuable resources, and one precious loot chest. Conquering a tenshu means eliminating any Samurai Daisho on the premises, which unlocks the loot chest, giving you powerful gear. You can see the contents of these chests when you hover over the castle icon in the map. 

Castles are just one of many activities in Assassin’s Creed Shadows that you can complete to increase your Knowledge Rank, which gives you access to higher level abilities and upgrades. Completing them will also earn you experience and mastery points, which you can use to directly upgrade Naoe and Yasuke’s abilities. Additionally, Castles are full of resources that you can claim for your hideout. Smaller resource bundles can be picked up manually, while larger stockpiles can be tagged by Naoe and Yasuke to be picked up and delivered to your hideout by scouts at the changing of the seasons.

With Season 2 kicking off and the start of the Tekken World Tour right around the corner, 2025 looks like it’s going to be another amazing year for fans of Bandai Namco’s legendary Tekken series. As one of the earliest fighting games on the original PlayStation, Tekken has a unique link to the consoles, with the series evolving its gameplay and narrative alongside the platforms. Let’s take a look back at the saga of the Mishima family and all the havoc they’ve caused throughout the years for PlayStation players.

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Bloodline beginnings

The original Tekken was one of the first fighting games to debut on the original PlayStation, launching in early 1995 in Japan and in fall elsewhere. Besides introducing the diabolical Mishima family and  establishing many of the series’ base mechanics, such as the four-attack-button control scheme, Tekken also set a new high watermark for future home  ports. Up until this point, players were used to home  ports of arcade games compromising for weaker hardware with downgraded visuals and sound and missing content. However, since Tekken’s arcade release was on advanced hardware very similar to the PlayStation, the port was arcade perfect. But Namco went the extra mile and added content not in the original: Ending movies, playable sub-boss characters, even a hidden unlockable character who would play a very big role in future games–that you’d need to master Galaga as the game loaded to discover.

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The birdman returns in the next-gen remake of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4, coming to PS5 and PS4 on July 11. The legendary skateboarding series first launched on the original PlayStation in 1999, and the shred’s not dead. It’s back and better than ever.

Skate the original content rebuilt from the ground up joined by new skaters, parks, tricks, music, and more, including enhanced creation tools and New Game+ to keep the grind going.

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Here’s what’s coming down the halfpipe:

Prepare to shred

Skate through two challenge-filled tours in Career, chase high scores in Single Sessions and Speedruns, or take your time nailing tricks and exploring each park in Free Skate.

Bring your skate friends along, too. Cross-platform online multiplayer supports up to eight skaters at a time. Go head-to-head in competitive game modes or skate every surface together in multiplayer Free Skate. Whichever mode you play, the game’s smooth handling and simple-to-learn controls will have you grinding and landing tricks in no time.

Classic and new parks, New Game+

Skate the original parks from THPS3 and THPS4 remade in 4K resolution and given streamlined goals in the two-minute format along with some new parks to expand your skating options. Tackle dozens of challenges to earn in-game cash and unlock new gear including new skate decks, grip tapes, wheels for your board, and extra apparel for your skater.

Shred harder than ever in New Game+, retaining your skater’s stat growth achieved in the first playthrough as you work toward true mastery over each of the parks.

Waterpark

In the new Waterpark map, skaters drop into the Mojave Desert in an abandoned theme park that’s seen better days, its slides rusted, graffiti on the walls, and a drained-out lazy river… creating the perfect skate obstacle for circling the park. Skip the line and head straight to the top of several huge water slides, testing your grind balance and vert abilities on the way down. 

New skaters, tricks, songs

Hit up the park with new skaters joining the original lineup or create your

Over the years, many of you have participated in various beta programs across Sony Interactive, which has helped us deliver the best possible gaming experiences to gamers around the world. And we’re truly grateful for your participation.

That’s why I’m pleased to introduce the Beta Program at PlayStation initiative. It’s an easier, more consolidated way for gamers to sign up to participate in future PlayStation betas across a wide range of PlayStation experiences. 

The Beta Program at PlayStation will create an easy, centralized place for you to register your interest in a range of future PlayStation betas. A single registration for Beta Program at PlayStation will allow you to express interest in gaining beta access to test participating games for the PS5 console and PC, new PS5 console features, PlayStation App features, and even user experience features on PlayStation.com. You only need to sign up once to express interest in these various betas, and if you receive an invitation to a specific beta, it’s up to you to decide whether you’d like to participate or not.

Here are the requirements:

• Players must have a valid account for PlayStation Network in good standing with a current email address. Accounts with restrictions or violations may not be eligible for participation.
• Players must live in the region where Beta Program at PlayStation is available.
• Players must meet the legal age requirement for their region.

It’s free to join and registration will begin to open up globally starting today at playstation.com/beta-program-at-playstation/. Please check back later if the page is not yet available in your region. 

Additionally, while we try to include as many players as possible in our beta programs, sometimes we may get more interest than we can accommodate. By joining this program, it enables you to be considered for beta participation, but it doesn’t guarantee selection for a beta test. Just something to remember!

And again, a big thanks to those of you who have participated in all of the betas we’ve offered across Sony Interactive over the years. It’s about to get easier and more convenient. 

Last month was a time of love for video games. What game from last month’s lineup won over your heart? Some of the big new releases included Lost Records: Bloom & Rage – Tape 1, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. 

How does it work? At the end of every month, PlayStation Blog will open a poll where you can vote for the best new game released that month. After the polls close we will tally your votes, and announce the winner on our social channels and PlayStation.Blog. 

What is the voting criteria? That’s up to you! If you were only able to recommend one new release to a friend that month, which would it be? Note: re-released games don’t qualify, but remakes do. We define remakes as ambitious, larger-scale rebuilds such as Resident Evil 4 (2023) and Final Fantasy VII Remake.

How are nominees decided? The PlayStation Blog editorial team will gather a list of that month’s most noteworthy releases and use it to seed the poll.