Topic: Showcase 2023 Predictions & Rumours

It's funny, because I think the presentation would have been largely positively received if it had been a short SoP. Start with MGS3 reveal (I'm sorry: it's Metal Gear Solid Delta now, isn't it? lmao), transition into a few of the better looking showcase games (Dragon's Dogma 2; Phantom Blade Zero; maybe that Journey-esque game for people who like that sort of thing; etc.), a short VR interlude that teases RE4R VR, then end with Spider-Man.

Short, sweet, and high-quality. Nothing that'd particularly excite me, but I'm also not really a Playstation fan anymore.

tbh I've noticed people tend to judge showcases more by the number of games they're not interested in. Like that one Nintendo Direct that had several more notable announcements like Pikmin, Fire Emblem, Octopath, etc., but people ended up ripping on it because it also happened to show off a few indie farming sims.

Otherwise, while their pacing is good, I think Sony needs to learn to do two things with these presentations:

• The first game you see sets the tone for the presentation. It needs to be something notable, even if you save the more exciting thing for the end. As in my example, they should have opened with MGS Triangle.
• I don't know how much influence Sony has over how these publishers structure their trailers, but they NEED to emphasize that at least some gameplay needs to be shown if it's to be featured.

Managing expectations is a huge part of it. It's the reason why everyone hates the Geoff Keighley thing every year. He hypes it up and then you watch it and they announce a new hat for Destiny 2 and everyone is annoyed. But even Geoff Keighley has sussed this out and has been telling people what to expect from his shows in recent years.

If this was a Spider-Man State of Play, trimmed down a little to get rid of the parade of identically generic multiplayer shooters, there'd be no drama here. Instead they called it a showcase. At the last showcase they announced Final Fantasy XVI and God of War Ragnorok. At the one before it was Miles Morales, Forbidden West, Resident Evil 8, and more. At this one it was a bunch of games that are probably going to have their servers shut down a year after launch, some indie titles, and things we already knew about.

I mean, when the most exciting new first party announcement is some earbuds you know you've messed up.

While I agree with that, the worst thing is that the poor PSVR2 showing was probably still better than that of the PS5 pancake 🤣

Lmao, Marathon is multiplat. Are Bungie actually working on anything at all that justifies the purchase?

I think the show was better than most are giving it credit for. Obviously there are some concerns being levied that are legitimate, like where’s Factions 2, Stellar Blade, Bloodborne, Twisted Metal, etc.? But I think it’s a trifle hyperbolic to say that we know nothing more than we did a week ago about what’s coming for PS5. I feel like I know a little more, but I don’t necessarily feel excited for most of it. 😅 So it’s fair to be disappointed on that front, for sure.

I have a slightly different perspective because I watched most of the trailers several hours after the show and didn’t experience the show live. Perhaps I’d feel differently if I had been following it live; I had the benefit of cherry-picking only the content I wanted to see and watch them in the order of personal hype.

My main concern remains the shortsighted overemphasis on live-service. And perhaps I’m off-base and harbor too much prejudice, so it would be good to see what some of the casual and younger gamers think about 3-4 forthcoming multiplayer shooters that come across as all the same basic gameplay just set in a slightly different world.

And to be fair, even that last statement by me is an ignorant one. We really shouldn’t draw too many conclusions from a 2 minute CGI trailer. That said, if this was supposed to amp me up for Fairgame$, Concord, Marathon, or Foamstars, it failed miserably. (I did like what I saw of Helldivers 2 slightly more and my curiosity for it is piqued at least. I probably won’t dig the gameplay, but at least it’s humor showed well). Now, I realize I’m not the target audience, so there’s that. But to say we know nothing about these projects is now slightly disingenuous. We know basics about the setting and style of these games, that they are indeed multiplayer, shooter-based, etc. The only one that seems to maybe have a innovative curveball coming is hopefully Fairgame$ because of the added heist component, but that still doesn’t excite me and it still gives me an overall ‘meh’ feeling.

But I was never going to care about their stable of online shooters coming up. In a way, I’m glad they’re being made though, since it’s a common criticism that Sony lacks its own online MP shooter prowess. The thing is, surely there’s a traditional COD style military shooter in the works too as a backup for the potential loss of COD down the road. I think I see rumors of SOCOM or Killzone making a return. This hypothetical Sony military shooter was what I was expecting to hear about but obviously it’s not ready to reveal yet.

Shifting to the games that are more ‘up my alley’, there was a lot to like:

• Dragon’s Dogma 2 is likely to get my attention day 1. I loved seeing the little shrine from the first game where you call up pawns, indicating that the pawn system is sure to return.
• MGS3 remake is pretty exciting to see, although many questions persist about how much it will be changed (FF7 remake territory or simpler Dead Space/The Last of Us remake territory?). I suspect it will be the latter — mostly a graphical update and quality of life improvements on controls and options, whilst keeping the game design and its narrative intact.
• FF16 and Spider-Man 2 didn’t need to show more but alas, both still look great. I didn’t need to be sold on them any further. Although I think if anything, the FF16 trailer tempered my hype slightly because the story does seem to come across as a convoluted mess. Perhaps I was influenced by Sammy’s recent preview which highlighted the weirdness of the story. Honestly, the FF games don’t necessarily have my favorite narratives and yet I still love the series, so it’s fine.

And then we have all the projects that I have exceedingly low interest in like SF6, Catquest, FNaF, Talos Principle, Granblue, Plucky Squire, Ultros, Immortals of Aveum, some VR stuff, etc. And then those games that I have small curiosity like Alan Wake 2, AC Mirage, Phantom Blade, indies like Sword of the Sea, Neva, Revenant Hill, Ghostrunner II…
(By the way, why do so many Sci Fi games now have characters that look like they were ripped right out of Destiny or Warframe?)

There’s even some games I missed. I think there’s close to 30 games covered in this presentation. That’s a ton of updates, even if it’s either not very much information (Concord) or too much (FF16). I haven’t even looked at the hardware reveals yet.

So, I think we’re selling the showcase a little short. It wasn’t great but I do think it was better than nothing. 6.5 out of 10.

@nessisonett I believe Sony announced that Bungie's games were going to be multiplat after acquiring them, so no surprise there. The point of the acquisition is that Sony is clearly very smitten with the success of games like Fortnite, and wants that sweet, sweet live-service cash.

@Th3solution I dunno, man, "it's better than nothing" is pretty damning as far as praise goes.

Bungie is helping PlayStation get the live service games working. I think that was the #1 reason they bought them. I'm not going to say that justifies the purchase though, since I don't think Sony should be making live service games at all.

@nessisonett yeah the fact that Bunjie games would remain multiplat was explained pretty much as the acquisition was announced. I’m pretty sure Bunjie don’t actually count as a first party dev either, I seem to remember some different, very distinct language used when referring to where under the Sony umbrella they would factor.

Haha! Yes, it is. But I did see some comments that were saying the show was so horrible it shouldn’t have even existed. Like it didn’t tell us anything. Perhaps those comments were comedic hyperbole.

I do think you’re onto something though when you said the inclusion of large numbers of smaller niche titles has a way of diluting out the good stuff. If this was just SM2, MGS3, AW2, AC Mirage, SF6, and maybe just one of those GaaS like Fairgames then it probably would have been better received, ironically.

In fact the whole event would have gotten an extra bump in perception if they would have just excluded Foamstars. 😂 8/10 without Foamstars.

@Th3solution Careful there now, not sure we are allowed to be positive about PlayStation round here. You know, a PlayStation fane site.

If you had slagged off Jim Ryan, I would have let this pass though.

I do agree with you in the main, I think the reaction by some has been a bit OTT.

My mate who doesn't own a PS5 thought it was fine, but he is not in the eco system so did not have any expectations. I always go into these things with low expectations anyway, as I've been left disappointed so many times.

But even if they showed wall to wall AAA first party bangers, there would people moaning about there being no indie games.

@colonelkilgore I think the bare minimum we could do with is a Marvel-esque roadmap jpeg for a few first party titles in development, just to ramp up a little excitement. Other than that I’m not too arsed as like has previously been said there’s so many games to be getting on with.

Ironically, The Plucky Squire was probably the best game in that presentation for me. But we've already seen it before.

@Th3solution I'd rather have Foamstars than Fairgames (I refuse to put the $ in that title). At least the former is a pale shadow of a series I do actually enjoy, whereas the latter is offensive down to its marrow.

I do think, in the context of what Sony has said (or, in this case, hasn't said) for the last year or more, it was pretty bad, though. It really does feel like the future of the PS5 is Spider-Man, Wolverine, and then a ton of boorish live service titles. While I think Sony launched this generation better than they did with the PS4, I shouldn't be walking away from a nearly mid-gen presentation feeling that way.

@AgentCooper I do get you… I’m just one of those people that really enjoy looking forward to stuff I’m excited about (it helps me plan my schedule too 🤫). I’ve honestly watched some of those Sony E3 shows many times (2016 & 2017 in particular) still gets me all jazzed! 😅

@Ralizah I never played Splatoon so maybe I’d love it, who knows. I actually haven’t played PayDay or whatever that heist game is. None of these MP games are my jam, but I’m clearly becoming the minority (although in the majority on these forums). The world is moving toward this social gaming, co-op, PvP cesspool. It’s apparent that Sony are chasing the trends, but it appears that they risk losing their identity in the process. I wish they would have dipped their toe into the GaaS and online shooter pool rather than jump all in.

☝️ THIS!

@Th3solution I don't think anyone would begrudge Sony for having A live-service title that it tries out for a while, but they do seem to be going whole hog, don't they?

The lack of identity in the titles is also an issue. Something like Splatoon FEELS like a Nintendo game. I can't say the same for the titles Sony showcased apart from Spider-Man.

Multiplayer games have their place, but companies like Sony and Nintendo are where they are because of their single-player offerings, primarily. It'd do the Playstation execs well to remember that.

I was a bit surprised to read so much negativity after watching the showcase last night. I thought it was great! They showed off tons of compelling games, both AAA and indie titles. I'm also really interested in Project Q because I love Remote Play on Vita but that obviously doesn't work on PS5. This would give me a huge reason to retire my PS4 completely. Not to mention that the device is based on a DualSense so you'll be able to play any PS5 game without limitations compared to the Vita and its lack of triggers. Furthermore, this would also give me a reason to choose the PS5 versions of games over the Series X versions. As long as it costs at most €300, I'll be getting it.

@LtSarge It's always awkward when you watch a presentation, think: "Hey, I really liked that! I'm going to go see how excited everyone else is," and then go online to discover that other people had an entirely different, immensely negative sort of experience.

@LtSarge I have similar experiences with different showcases, Directs and games too. You should not second guess yourself for liking it.

I wasn't a fan of the showcase, but I can envision many gamers actually getting a lot of great things out of this. I saw a colleague of mine watching trailers of the showcase in the office during a break today.

I mentioned I watched the showcase. They were surprised and then asked: "what did you think?" And I answered truthfully, fully expecting them to be letdown as well. They actually loved the showcase, like really loved it, and explained why. And I got it. They hadn't expected a MGS3 remake and loved it, they were blown away by Spider-Man, etc. It made a lot of sense, so who am I?

By the way, I didn't like the presentation, but stuff like that doesn't worry me aside for m having wasted some time. This year alone I've had so many great gaming experiences, and I have no doubt that will continue into the next few years.

Never really like the extreme doom and gloom the gaming discourse is sometimes known for!