A month from today, gamers up and down the land will be boarding hype trains and getting their press conference bingo cards ready, as E3 2015 begins to usher forth a whole new wave of announcements and news. We have covered Microsoft’s list of things it needs to do and we have talked about what to expect from Nintendo, so let’s see our sights on Sony. They are still managing to keep ahead of the Xbox One, thanks to the recent success of Bloodborne but there seems to be a big old gulf in the exclusives up until Spring 2016, due to some recent announcements. What can Sony do to keep up its diminishing lead this E3?

Well, the main thing seems to be that they need to tell us what they actually have in store for PS4 owners during the Christmas period. With Uncharted 4 and the Ratchet and Clank remake being pushed back to 2016, Sony seems to have a fat lot of nothing to go up against Microsoft’s growing arsenal of games. While Tearaway is coming to the PS4, which will please the 25 people who bought the Vita version, and there are promises that No Man’s Sky will finally have a release date revealed at E3, that’s only two games compared to Microsoft’s stockpile.

They’ve got Rise of the Tomb Raider, Forza 6, Halo 5: Guardians, Fable Legends definitely coming and with the long awaited Gears of War remaster along with whatever Rare have been cooking up for ages coming out around Christmas. It seems that Sony is resting on their laurels somewhat, having run away with the audience during the opening of this generation before slowing down to the eventual crawl it has reached now. Microsoft however, have been slowly gaining steam and now have a lineup which can easily rival Sony’s.

Remember Sony, this isn’t actually a 1st party title. We need others.

It didn’t help that Sony’s conference last year was disappointing. They spent most of the time patting themselves on the back rather than announcing new games, while Microsoft did nothing but announce stuff. Sony may have indies locked down, with No Man’s Sky being the huge one along with loads of smaller titles like Enter the Gungeon, it no longer has any massive exclusives to make those units fly off the shelves during the winter period. Again, they still have the market cornered with RPGs, with Disgaea and Persona 5 probably getting a Western release date at E3, while the majority of the FGC will jump ship as soon as Street Fighter V is released but this is all 2016 stuff. The fact of the matter is that even though Sony have said they aren’t worried about their holiday lineup, they haven’t shown the public enough at this stage to ensure Playstation owners have their wallets primed for Christmas.

So, what do they need to do? Well, as the pre-amble has made very clear, they need to announce some games for autumn and winter. A smattering of good indies, one mid level 2nd party title and a 1st party one will do them just fine. I know they’ve got Until Dawn on the way but again, that seems a little too niche of a game to really get people pumped up. A legacy revival could do it, something like the return of an old PS1 classic. They’ve already got Ratchet and Clank on the way but the return of a favourite PS1 title could help swing the pendulum back in their favour. Maybe a new WipeOut? Or even the long rumoured Crash revival? I think anything could work at this point.

They need to focus on the games and less on TV shows. That was the momentum killer for last E3, when Sony dropped everything to talk about Powers and basically brag about their sales figures. A constant stream of titles is what fans want to see, especially seeing as the console seems to be going through an exclusives dry spell. Also, just give us Vita fans something. I’m talking one big title so you can shoot it in the head and leave the handheld market be. Oh, and don’t let 3rd parties create mass amounts of hype, just to dash everyone’s hopes by the end of their timeslot. People still haven’t forgiven Square Enix after that FF7 tease.

Sony need to make sure they are not tempted to show Morpheus off to the world during E3 2015. Keep that one on one.

Great for showing off 1 on 1, terrible for press conferences.

Morpheus needs to be shown off as little as possible. VR never works well at a press conference and seeing as it is a technology that relies so heavily on a user’s individual experience, that devoting 20 minutes to talk about a demo that none of the audience can get a real feel for until they put the headset on is pretty much wasted time. Stick to on stage demos and trailers. Also, make sure you are supporting those exclusives that you have already secured. I want to see the announcement of some Bloodborne DLC, along with a continued effort to make sure that PS+ is better than Games for Gold. Again, that is a major reason why so many people stick with the PS4, as its premium service actually worth the asking price so make sure you are keeping up its value for money.

Finally, the press conference needs a big finish. I don’t think any of the E3 conferences have had a knockout ending since the infamous E3 2004 Zelda reveal so give the audience something mind blowing to make sure we are continually talking about your conference, even while other ones are going on. I mean, just a teaser for the Last Guardian would send the Internet into spasm.

So, those are our thoughts. What do you think Sony needs to do to blow everyone’s brains out E3 2015? Tell us in the comments below.