PlayStation fans have been waiting for the platform for over 18 months, and what they got was a gentle breeze. Large-scale content such as the remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Alan Wake 2, first gameplay footage of Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Dragon’s Dogma 2, and memorable setpieces from Marvel Spider-Man 2. There were announcements, but very little to announce. Get excited about becoming a PS5 owner.
As many pointed out after the showcase, many of the biggest announcements made during the showcase will also be on Xbox, leading to widespread disappointment among the PlayStation community over first-party exclusives. And it seems. This was made very clear through a reddit post on the official PlayStation subreddit, with many fans discussing the announcement made during the showcase.
“The glorious state of indie play. Why am I getting excited about this shit anymore?” says u/kenni417. Since the PlayStation Showcase brand is rather synonymous with big first-party announcements, this is a sentiment shared by quite a few. State of Plays is usually reserved for third-party announcements and smaller announcements, and yesterday’s show gave off just such a vibe.
Even the first-party stuff didn’t impress PlayStation fans all that much. He was sent home by u/Spidey Stretch1998 who found it “totally unbelievable” that PlayStation had decided to air an ad for the next Gran Turismo movie. It also didn’t help much that most of PlayStation’s first-party announcements were incredibly short CG trailers with very little detail. It’s hard to get excited about a game if you know very little about it.
And of course, as with all disappointing showcases, fans build up a huge list of titles they were disappointed not to see. Bloodborne fans in particular were hoping their prayers would finally be answered following recent comments from God of War creator David Jaffe, while u/GluedToTheMirror said: One wonders where previously announced titles like Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, The Last of Us Faction 2, and Stella Blade will go. It actually is.
Much of this issue could be ignored, as gamers are disappointed that their favorite titles didn’t show up, but it’s hard for PlayStation to drop what most people consider an absolute stink of a showcase. It’s been a long time. This could be a result of increasingly long development times for sophisticated first-party games like PlayStation, and it’s also possible that big releases on this platform are starting to lull. There is also It seems like third-party studios are doing a lot of the heavy lifting these days, and that could be the case in 2024 as well.