Hi everyone! The dog days of summer are coming up, but it’s also the perfect time to discover and play a great new game or four. Over the past six years, PlayStation Store’s PLAY campaign has brought you some incredible games, including Journey on PS4, Counter-Strike: GO, Rogue Legacy, and more. On behalf of the PlayStation Store and 1st and 3rd Party Games Teams, I’m thrilled to announce the lineup for PLAY 2016 — Headlander, ABZÛ, Brut@l, and Bound.
All four games are available for pre-order starting today, making their console-first digital debuts on PS4. To celebrate the launch of these titles, PlayStation Plus members will save 20% on pre-orders for PLAY 2016 games. As an added bonus, each game in the PLAY 2016 lineup comes with an exclusive PS4 theme when pre-ordered. But that’s not all, anyone (PS Plus member or not) who purchases two or more PLAY 2016 titles by August 23 will receive a coupon for 20% off their entire cart purchase at PlayStation Store.* For those of you bargain hunters out there, don’t worry — you can take advantage of both offers at the same time.
Let’s take a closer look at the games in PLAY 2016 lineup:
| Launch Date | Title | Plus Pre-order Price | Regular Price | Pre-order Theme |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7/26/2016 | Headlander | $15.99 | $19.99 | Static |
| 8/2/2016 | ABZÛ | $15.99 | $19.99 | Static |
| 8/9/2016 | Brut@l | $11.99 | $14.99 | Static |
| 8/16/2016 | Bound | $15.99 | $19.99 | Dynamic |
Headlander
Adult Swim Games and acclaimed studio Double Fine team up to bring you Headlander, a ’70s-sci-fi-inspired platformer. Play as a disembodied human head that takes over bizarre robot bodies in a retro-futuristic “utopia” ruled by a deranged computer.
ABZÛ
ABZÛ is a beautiful, dreamy underwater adventure. Immerse yourself in a vibrant, hidden world that’s bursting with life but beware as you swim deeper – dangers lurk in the mysterious depths.
Brut@l
Choose your hero – Ranger, Mage, Warrior, or Amazon – then descend into a dangerous world constructed entirely from ASCII characters. Weapon crafting, potion brewing, and local 2P multiplayer will help you survive the onslaught of enemies in these unique dungeons.
Bound
Developed exclusively for PlayStation 4 by Plastic, the team behind innovative titles like Linger In Shadows and Datura, Bound is a 3D platformer that combines a unique visual style with a powerful story and gameplay mechanics infused with modern dance.
Damn it PlayStation, just put it all on my tab. Such a great selection.
The games do look good. I got some credit on my PSN from redeeming a voucher from Sony Rewards so… just gotta figure out which games to use to rebuild my points!
Hey Sony.
Can you start making 1Tb and 2Tb PS4s?
I know some special edition had 1Tb, but 500Gb just isn’t enough.
In fact if it were me, I would only make 1Tb and 2Tb model.
The bigger the HDD is the more game people are going to buy, either physical or digital.
When you have a bigger HDD, you can store more games on it and that would make a lot of profits for PlayStation and Sony.
Who doesn’t love profits. We can even go to a 4Tb model with a Samsung HDD.
I think it’s time to have options like the PS3 did when it was launched.
@ CommandingTiger
you can upgrade your PS4 HDD at any time.
https://support.us.playstation.com/articles/en_US/KC_Article/Upgrade-PS4-HDD/
Tiger, you can update the HDD in your system yourself. Very easy and doesn’t void its warranty. Probably also cheaper than buying a 1 or 2tb unit from Sony.
Your link at the bottom to the play 2016 page is a little wonky and doesnt take you where you had intended to send us.
And when i copy/pasted the text, that page doesnt go anywhere either. just an FYI.
Preordering Abzu and Bound for sure.
I’ll get Bound since that’s PS4 exclusive so it gets priority.
Should that matter? If a game launches on PC as well, it’s still exclusively on PlayStation anyways. Regardless of that, buying a PlayStation version supports PlayStation.
It’s called voting with your dollars. If companies that release exclusively on Playstation do better, more devs might look at Playstation.
It’s the carrot method.
Excellent! Been looking forward to Abzu and Bound. Thanks!
Incredible lineup! Excited to get my hands on each of these titles.
“a dangerous world constructed entirely from ASCII characters” – what the hell is ASCII?
Also, I wish there were less platformers and more genre diversity represented. Indie platformers are hugely oversaturated
Great looking games but disappointed that fewer and fewer of the bigger indie games rarely come to Vita anymore where I think they fit better 90% of the time.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ASCII
You must be pretty young.
http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/a/ascii.htm
It is the standard character set used by computers each assigned to a specific value in an 8bit binary sequence. So basically things made of up characters on a keyboard are ASCII characters.
You’ve probably seen ASCII art.
simple example of ASCII art:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/ASCII_Panzer_unt_Sattelzug.png
ASCII is the american standard code for information interchange. Basically, its the us version of letters, numbers and symbols seen on a keyboard, and a few other characters not commonly included but still used in our character set. Hope that clears that up for you :)
It stands for American Standard Code for Information oh my God I’m old.
………. I feel so old :/
ASCII ( i/ˈæski/ ASS-kee), :6 abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard (the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) prefers the name US-ASCII). ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices.
At first I was like “Oh I miss getting the 3, 5, 10, back from buying games…
Then I realized I was going to pre-order The Fractured But Whole from Amazon to get 20% off, and if I use that 20% off coupon on the store instead I can replay the Stick of Truth asap, get it for the same price, and pre-load it…
Plus I can grab all manner of other stuff. I’ll probably end up grabbing $200 of stuff for $160 and get back more than what I spent on the other stuff.
Heck might even find a nice sale right around that time and REALLY bank. Since Fractured But Whole is coming out in early December I don’t even run the risk of a Black Friday sale right away. Just gotta play it before it gets on too good a sale. lol
Link at the bottom is broken but I’m guessing you can’t use that coupon on preorders. That’s how it was last time they gave out an “x% off entire purchase” coupon
Just an FYI,
The 20% Off code will only work on items you add to your cart. You cannot add pre-order items to your cart therefore you can’t use the code on a pre-order such as The Fractured But Whole.
Also, the max you can purchase at a time in your cart is $150, so at the most you could only save $30, you would not be able to add $200 worth of items to your cart.
Most I’ve ever spent at one time is $80.
Usually would get the PSN cards on discount buy a bunch of them, and then buy games on sale. I knew there was a $200 limit for how much money can be on your PSN but not a $150 purchase limit. Odd.
Bound , Abzu and Brutal for me.
Link at the bottom is busted, can I use that coupon on preorders?
Most likely you cannot. It says you will get 20% off your cart, and pre-orders cannot be added to your cart, they are purchased separately, so they are probably excluded from the coupon as usual.
Really strong lineup this year. Already planned on picking up Headlander, Abzu, and Bound.
Your “Superhero Sale” is obviiously happening today, too. Except the sale page is up with zero content. Why is your store such a piece of crap, Sony? I should’nt be able to see what you’re doing before you do it. And to clarify: my “hack” was loading up store.playstation.com, clicking on the “Superhero Sale” banner at the top, and seeing nothing listed.
Been checking every couple of days to see if Abzu was available for preorder and if there was a theme available… just googled it this morning during breakfast! Add on 20% off at launch? Sold! Any chance the soundtrack will be available for download as well? (Just assuming it’s going to be great!)
…and because of the buy 2 get coupon promotion I quickly researched the other games (which I hadnt heard of) and will now be picking up Bound as well! My fiancée works at Boston Ballet and although she is not a gamer, I think I might convince her to check this out with me!
Nice! Four games that all seem very diverse, but I’ve been very interested in as well. ABZU and Bound in particular have captivated me for awhile. That 20% off coupon will be mine! What wonderful news for my birthday :-D
(The full rules for the coupon don’t seem to be live yet – anyone know if there is a cart limit, or timeframe restriction when it can be used?)
Happy Birthday Paul! This is a great lineup and perfect games to play for people that don’t have as much time to sink 30-50 hours in a game. Love these experiences.
I would guess it’s the same as always. From the wording it says “Take 20% off your entire cart.” Pre-orders cannot be added to your cart, so as always, I assume they are excluded. Also, there is a $150 purchase limit per transaction, so the max you can save is $30 with the coupon.
A code (“Code”) will be delivered to the email account associated with Eligible Person’s PSN Sign-in ID by September 6, 2016 11:59PM (Pacific Time). Each Code is good for one qualifying PSN account to redeem the 20% off in-cart discount via PlayStation®Store. Code must be redeemed at checkout and discounted transaction completed by October 4, 2016 at 11:59pm PT. Redeemable only on PS3™, PS4™, and online store. Does not apply to PlayStation®Store transactions made on PlayStation®Vita, PlayStation®TV, PSP®, or in-game. Some exclusions apply, including but not limited to pre-orders, PlayStation Plus memberships, Spotify subscription on PlayStation Music, PlayStation®Now content, rental and certain other video content. https://www.playstation.com/en-ca/legal/play-2016-terms-and-conditions/
it is great news and be nice early birthday gift for me from me my birthdays to more so i get 2 games for free or atlease 1 for free azru and bond for me too i dont understand the other 2
*In Joseph Joestar’s voice* OH MY GOD!
Dear Sony how many of these games will come with a platinum?
It’s not up to Sony lol it’s up to the developers.
Great lineup. Abzu and Bound were already on my ‘must-buy’ list but I’d forgotten Brutal so now I’ll end up with 3 of the 4.
BUT, why does the PS Blog always jump the gun. I went to the store (via the web) and there’s a big Play 2016 splashscreen that doesn’t seem to go anywhere. So I’ll give it a few days and try again.
I’m so excited for Brutal. We need more couch co-op games!!
Also, the Tuesday update isn’t until around 3pm eastern time, so that is why you usually can’t find anything until later in the day.
Can somebody please explain to me how do the coupon plus pre-order work? It would be my first time using either. Will I get 40% off if I pre-order two and use the coupon? I’m really lost. Please, help
The article says, “for those of you bargain hunters out there, don’t worry — you can take advantage of both offers at the same time,” which I suppose means you can get 40% off when you pre-order two games. The wording is very unclear as to how this will work though.
I’m pretty sure when it says you can take advantage of both offers at the same time that they are referring to you being able to get the 20% off, and be eligible to receive the coupon, instead of only getting 20% off or only getting the coupon.
I don’t believe you can stack the coupon with the 20% off preorder price.
“A code (“Code”) will be delivered to the email account associated with Eligible Person’s PSN Sign-in ID by September 6, 2016 11:59PM (Pacific Time). Each Code is good for one qualifying PSN account to redeem the 20% off in-cart discount via PlayStation®Store. Code must be redeemed at checkout and discounted transaction completed by October 4, 2016 at 11:59pm PT. Redeemable only on PS3™, PS4™, and online store. Does not apply to PlayStation®Store transactions made on PlayStation®Vita, PlayStation®TV, PSP®, or in-game. Some exclusions apply, including but not limited to pre-orders, PlayStation Plus memberships, Spotify subscription on PlayStation Music, PlayStation®Now content, rental and certain other video content.” https://www.playstation.com/en-ca/legal/play-2016-terms-and-conditions/
Hi Andy, could you tell us which of these titles have platinum trophies? Its kinda of big deal. Thanx! Play on Playas.
I’m echoing Bastions reply to a comment near the top. Vita is my favorite place to play indie games, and I really wish more/all of them would be playable on it!
I was gonna get Bound and Abzu no matter what, but now that they´re part of the Play line-up it´s even better. Really great deals to encourage people pre-ordering. Thanks!
These all look fantastic. Great lineup :)
So are all of these Vita as well? No platforms listed
lol.
Dang, that’s one heck of a lineup this year. Of course…I’m trying to budget my spending too, but at the very least I need to pick up Abzu and Brutal now with the pre-order discount available. The other 2 titles look amazing though as well and I know have been hotly anticipated. Bravo again for the lineup selection.
Great minds think alike! Brutal and Abzu will be the first two I purchase as well.
It’s a shame only Bound got a dynamic theme. These games all have great aesthetics.
The line up looks good. However, we know from past experience that all of these games will go on sale dirt cheap, and/or they will be included in Plus. So, no offense, but I’m going to wait for that. I’m a patient man.
Agreed ^^^
I’m feeling this way too. Besides, Sony already loaded me with games from all of their other sales since early June lol.
Pre-ordered Bound and ABZÛ ^_^
Terms are up and for those confused, the 20% off coupon will come after the fact (by Sept 6th) so no, you can’t stack the 20% off deal and the coupon. You’ll have to use the coupon for a future order, but it expires in early Oct:
A code (“Code”) will be delivered to the email account associated with Eligible Person’s PSN Sign-in ID by September 6, 2016 11:59PM (Pacific Time). Each Code is good for one qualifying PSN account to redeem the 20% off in-cart discount via PlayStation®Store. Code must be redeemed at checkout and discounted transaction completed by October 4, 2016 at 11:59pm PT.
I said this too on two occasions here, but it’s awaiting moderation. Must be because I also put a link for proof. But now I’m really confused how it’s being claimed that you can do both.
Dear PlayStation… did my wallet ever done something wrong to you? Why do you treat it this way? So reckless.
Pre-orderign Abzu and Bound. Abzu i sa risk, but anything from Plastic is always weird and fantastic.
Checked store, and Abzu is not showing any pre-order PS+ discount and instead is listed at full price at $19.99 – the other three games are listed with the advertised PS+ pre-order discount.
If you go into the game page, it has the 20% off. For some reason Bound is 50% off lol.
I was looking at the game page and it listed it as $19.99, and Bound was and still is listed with the correct discount of 20% off at $15.99.
Since then they updated the store listing and now Abzu is correctly listed at $15.99 – but when I try and pre-order either of these games it keeps giving me the same error message:
“Your purchase may not be complete. Check your transaction history in your account settings.”
Followed immediately by the following error message:
“There was an error encountered and we were unable to show you your cart. If the problem persists, please contact Customer Support.”
My pre-orders are in! What an amazing lineup!
It says it on the blog, but when I look at Abzû on the PSN store, it is the only game that is marked at regular price at $19.99. Anyone else experienced this or have a solution? Thanks.
If you click on it though, it’s game page says 20% off.
Yeah. Right after I commented, I noticed it was changed lol
Abzu price is fixed on the web store anyway. It is not showing the discount.
Typo, that was supposed to say “It is NOW showing the discount.”
Sorry for confusion.
I only buy indie games for my PS Vita (my PS4 2TB HDD is already full). Are any of these cross-buy?
@CommandingTiger…You do know that all it takes is a screwdriver to replace your PS4 HDD with any size you want, right? You don’t even need to open up the console.
There is clearly something wrong with the PSN Store… first they had the pricing issue with both Abzu and Bound, now that it’s fixed, each time I try and pre-order either of them I get the following error messages:
“Your purchase may not be complete. Check your transaction history in your account settings.”
Followed immediately by the following error message:
“There was an error encountered and we were unable to show you your cart. If the problem persists, please contact Customer Support.”
Wow. The games on the PLAY list usually, inevitably all end up on my ignore list. This is the first time I’m looking forward to playing all four games. Good show gentlemen, good show.
These games look incredible! I especially can’t wait to dive into Abzu! I’ll be picking up all 4 for sure.
I usually wait for the review before buying games, will the games review out before the discount disappear?
I like spring fever 2015 promotions more, at least the discount stay for the whole week, it make me buy more game if the reviews are good, I remember buying half of the spring fever 2015 games because of the good review and 10% discount.
When do we receive the 20% discount codes?
Well… I guess I am Bound to order ABZU
Did you see it… what I did there?? Huh?
Question… If a person orders two games and then a month later orders another two games (or before the deadline), does he get two 20% off coupons?
Thinking to pre order abzu and bound they both look nice. Just think the price for both seems high at 15.99 each seems better to price it at 10 since both most likely will be games you beat and never touch again right ?
If you get ps VR in October than you will probably play bound all over again. If abzu becomes VR compatible same thing. Also I think abzu is played for the beauty and exploration. Not the plot. So abzu will probably be awesome for a long time. But bound will probably be played twice max.
I want ABZU
but it doesn’t release in Japan
release in Japan early!!
Ok so I got two games I was wondering. Will the coupon code only show up September 9th or will it come early enough to use with no mans sky???
So we get the 20% discount code emailed to us on Sept. 6th? If so why the wait?
I never got a code and pre-ordered both Abzu and Headlander… what was the email titled as?