PlayStation fans have waited over 18 months for the platform to blow them away, and what they got was a soft breeze. There have been huge announcements like Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater remake, first gameplay footage from Alan Wake 2, Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Dragon’s Dogma 2, and some impressive set pieces from Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, but few of them have been there. Happy to be a PS5 owner.
As many pointed out after the showcase, the biggest reveals during the showcase are also coming to Xbox, and there seems to be a general sense of disappointment with first-party exclusives in the PlayStation community. This was made very clear via a Reddit post on the official PlayStation subreddit, with many fans discussing what was announced during the showcase.
u/kenni417 says. It’s a sentiment shared by quite a few people, as the PlayStation Showcase brand is synonymous with a massive reveal. State of Plays is usually reserved for third-party reveals and smaller announcements, and yesterday’s show exuded that kind of vibe.
Even its own product, driven home by u/SpideyStretch1998 who “completely disbelieved” that PlayStation decided to air a commercial for the upcoming Gran Turismo movie, didn’t quite impress PlayStation fans. It also didn’t help much that most of PlayStation’s first-party announcements were deceptively brief CG trailers with few details. 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 pull out a laundry list of titles they’ve been disappointed with. Bloodborne fans in particular hoped that their prayers would finally be answered after recent comments from God of War creator David Jaffe, and u/GluedToTheMirror said that previously announced titles like Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, The Last of Us Factions 2 or Stellar Blade were not working. I’m wondering where you are. Actually there is.
As much as gamers are disappointed when their favorite titles don’t show up, it’s possible to pass up as much, but it’s the first time in a long time that PlayStation has dropped a product that most people absolutely stink of showcase. This could be a result of increasingly long development times for polished first-party games like the PlayStation, and it could also be the beginning of a lull in the platform’s massive launch. Third-party studios seem to be doing a lot of work lately, and it looks like 2024 will be the same.