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PlayStation PlayStation Showcase announced (May 24th, 1 PM PDT / 9 PM BST)

1st party has never been Sony’s bread and butter to the same degree as Nintendo. They’ve always been able to use their 1st party releases as complimentary to their 3rd party exclusives which they have always had an outstanding ability to secure, dating all the way back to PS1.

But looking at Project Q, and the lack of PSVR2 support in this showcase, I really think they deserve the same skepticism for their non-home console hardware the same way Nintendo gets for their non-handheld consoles.

Project Q is gonna require a constant internet connection with no OLED screen making it weird sell, and PSVR2 is outstanding hardware but doesn’t look to be getting the attention one would expect, a familiar story with their non-home consoles.
 
Being honest though, after how so many people in 2018 and 2020 were basically going all super critical because Nintendo only had 1 big game alongside some medium/smaller games, remakes and ports, I feel Sony should get just as much criticism if not more for their lack of first party games this year, like Spiderman is huge but that also is just one big game, alongisde just a few other stuff here and there.
 
Being honest though, after how so many people in 2018 and 2020 were basically going all super critical because Nintendo only had 1 big game alongside some medium/smaller games, remakes and ports, I feel Sony should get just as much criticism if not more for their lack of first party games this year, like Spiderman is huge but that also is just one big game, alongisde just a few other stuff here and there.
They absolutely are being criticized by people. The difference has always been that for many, Sony gets all the 3rd party AAA games effectively exclusive. Even if Spiderman 2 got delayed till 2024, for some people Sony/PS5 will offer them Street Fighter 6, Final Fantasy 16, Assassin's Creed Mirage, etc.
 
Being honest though, after how so many people in 2018 and 2020 were basically going all super critical because Nintendo only had 1 big game alongside some medium/smaller games, remakes and ports, I feel Sony should get just as much criticism if not more for their lack of first party games this year, like Spiderman is huge but that also is just one big game, alongisde just a few other stuff here and there.
I mean that's been the case for a while. Nintendo's 1st party output is usually 2-3 times bigger than Sony's annually partially because their games are smaller and have shorter development times. That's where a lot of the third party support for Sony (and Xbox as well) fills in. And it works for them all.
 
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They absolutely are being criticized by people. The difference has always been that for many, Sony gets all the 3rd party AAA games effectively exclusive. Even if Spiderman 2 got delayed till 2024, for some people Sony/PS5 will offer them Street Fighter 6, Final Fantasy 16, Assassin's Creed Mirage, etc.
Yup. It's notable that they don't even have that anymore, with most of these game's day 1 Xbox and pc.
 
I know it was very likely an amusing coincidence that both teams probably didn’t know about when they were each conceived, but I do think it was very funny Square Enix, publisher of PowerWash Simulator, is making another game with foam lol.
 
It’s been said a bunch but I want to reiterate as a State of Play this would have been serviceable. But as a Showcase this was mind boggling to me. We got maybe three solid release dates in an hour, a boat load of CGI trailers or trailers that showed nothing about a game, barely any exclusives, a movie spot, some niche peripherals, and Spider-Man 2.

Also, Phantom Blade 0 looked great but have any of these Chinese studios released a game shown at any of these Sony events yet? Whatever happened to that Wukong game? It feels like these are just showcases for investors and then they never come out.

All in all, this event was an unmitigated disaster.
 
Unlike Namco and Sega, Konami has no incentive to leave out Nintendo. I wholeheartedly believe both MGS Delta and Silent Hill remake will be on the successor. They don't do the "but the audience is not there!!!" shit.
I guess, however I must say I don't get why they never brought their football games to the Switch, at least like a version with less features. Those games had PSP versions until like, 2014.
 
Not me seeing people complain about Spider Man 2 reusing animations
I never got those kinds of complaints, same for asset reuse. If it looks good, who cares? It's not like Insomniac is just phoning it in. And frankly the more ways we can reduce crunch in this industry, the better.

I feel Sony should get just as much criticism if not more for their lack of first party games this year
Sony's been steadily building up their first party portfolio but by and large it's the third party games that really sell on their console. They'll be fine on the back of FFXVI and SF6.

Yup. It's notable that they don't even have that anymore, with most of these game's day 1 Xbox and pc.
I suppose that's part of their reason why they've been pivoting to nurturing their own intellectual properties. Third parties are just finding it more profitable to go multiplat.

a boat load of CGI trailers or trailers that showed nothing about a game
Regardless of whether it's a showcase or SoP, I really wish we could do away with no-gameplay trailers.
 
I didn't watch the showcase, but watched the MGS3 trailer, it's fine for a CG trailer but ultimately I got the same mileage out of it that seeing it on a upcoming releases list would've. Probably shouldn't have expected more considering Sony's well known for their CG trailers, but with how long that MGS3 remake's been in the pipeline I was honestly actually expecting to see at least a bit of proper gameplay. I do like that they're still going to rerelease the older games, including the OG version of MGS3, that pleases the preservationist side of my brain. And as someone who has a decent rig I also like that the remake's coming to PC, not uncommon these days of course but I was still kind of thinking it might be PS exclusive for a while or something like that.
But looking at Project Q, and the lack of PSVR2 support in this showcase, I really think they deserve the same skepticism for their non-home console hardware the same way Nintendo gets for their non-handheld consoles.
The one positive point about Project Q over other non-console ventures is that it's not something they need to actively develop software for. So I wouldn't be as worried about the long term support of it as many other Sony gaming projects even if it does bomb, which is something.

Still, I do wonder how broad the appeal is gonna be for that when you can stream to any device. Most casual players I'd think would be happy packing their controller and using their phone, tablet, or laptop in a pinch. Meanwhile the core group of players that want something more specialist I think would rather invest into Steam Deck or some other proper gaming PC, so you have a dedicated handheld, and can stream to it if you want to boot. There's a narrow group in between I see wanting some cheap middle ground like the Q, but lord knows how large that group actually is.
 
Watching the Kinda Funny guys drag Sony for this showcase is pretty telling. I will say some of the reactions are woof. Spider man 2 looks like a PS3 game apparently.

But also, do we need Spider Man 2 to look, um, perfect I guess is the word? There's a lot going on in that game. I feel like some graphical set backs for technical upkeep is a good trade. This chasing graphics nonsense really takes me out of gaming sometimes. Might be the Nintendo fanboy in me I guess where I abide by the gameplay > graphics rule more than anything.
sony brought it on to themselves with their graphics over everything else strategy. same deal with xbox. you spend all that time going on and on about horsepower and reflections and graphical prowess dont be surprised when the people you trained to value that turn on you for the slightest imperfection.
 
sony brought it on to themselves with their graphics over everything else strategy. same deal with xbox. you spend all that time going on and on about horsepower and reflections and graphical prowess dont be surprised when the people you trained to value that turn on you for the slightest imperfection.
Agreed. And it puts them in a bind from a developmental standpoint when they marketed themselves to the degree they have with graphics. They’ve conditioned their core audience to only correlate premium with cutting edge visuals, limiting what they can sell as legitimate 1st party IP. They have to rely more than ever on 3rd parties filling the gaps bc the type of games they’ve identified themselves with are so expensive, their release schedule would be barren if it depended primarily on them.
 
I didn't watch the showcase, but watched the MGS3 trailer, it's fine for a CG trailer but ultimately I got the same mileage out of it that seeing it on a upcoming releases list would've. Probably shouldn't have expected more considering Sony's well known for their CG trailers, but with how long that MGS3 remake's been in the pipeline I was honestly actually expecting to see at least a bit of proper gameplay. I do like that they're still going to rerelease the older games, including the OG version of MGS3, that pleases the preservationist side of my brain. And as someone who has a decent rig I also like that the remake's coming to PC, not uncommon these days of course but I was still kind of thinking it might be PS exclusive for a while or something like that.

The one positive point about Project Q over other non-console ventures is that it's not something they need to actively develop software for. So I wouldn't be as worried about the long term support of it as many other Sony gaming projects even if it does bomb, which is something.

Still, I do wonder how broad the appeal is gonna be for that when you can stream to any device. Most casual players I'd think would be happy packing their controller and using their phone, tablet, or laptop in a pinch. Meanwhile the core group of players that want something more specialist I think would rather invest into Steam Deck or some other proper gaming PC, so you have a dedicated handheld, and can stream to it if you want to boot. There's a narrow group in between I see wanting some cheap middle ground like the Q, but lord knows how large that group actually is.
I’d rather they made a PS3 powered handheld that can play all the PlayStation classics up through PS3 and remote play with PS5 for $150.
 
I never got those kinds of complaints, same for asset reuse. If it looks good, who cares? It's not like Insomniac is just phoning it in. And frankly the more ways we can reduce crunch in this industry, the better.
I agree. Considering we got Majora’s Mask, Galaxy 2, and Tears of the Kingdom basically reusing assets whole cloth, I think we will be fine with the gameplay changes. Hell. Almost the entirety of the 3DS end of life was reused assets and there were lots of good games.
 
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I’d rather they made a PS3 powered handheld that can play all the PlayStation classics up through PS3 and remote play with PS5 for $150.
Honestly, a “PS Plus Premium” handheld would be a compelling offering for me. That’s the main reason I got a Vita in the first place. To play the PS Classics handheld.
 
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PS3 powered handheld that can play all the PlayStation classics up through PS3
PS3 Mini would be sick, not gonna lie. Will probably also be a licensing nightmare though.

Considering we got Majora’s Mask, Galaxy 2, and Tears of the Kingdom basically rescuing assets whole cloth, I think we will be fine with the gameplay changes
Yeah frankly I'm way more interested in changes to mechanics, level design, gameplay loops etc. than assets. Spider-Man 2 has shown a lot of cool new stuff, I just find it silly to rake the devs over the coals for "reusing assets".
 
Agreed. And it puts them in a bind from a developmental standpoint when they marketed themselves to the degree they have with graphics. They’ve conditioned their core audience to only correlate premium with cutting edge visuals, limiting what they can sell as legitimate 1st party IP. They have to rely more than ever on 3rd parties filling the gaps bc the type of games they’ve identified themselves with are so expensive, their release schedule would be barren if it depended primarily on them.
engineer $200
artist $150
chief executive officer $800
perfect puddle shadows and textures $3,600
quality assurance $150
someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my game development pipeline is dying
 
I never got those kinds of complaints, same for asset reuse. If it looks good, who cares? It's not like Insomniac is just phoning it in. And frankly the more ways we can reduce crunch in this industry, the better.
I don't know man. I think these people want 5-7 year dev cycles lmao. Like people are even taking issue with manhattan looking similar like....jfc. People trashing Insomniac are dumb tbh. I wish I could be nicer about it but they are one of the premier devs that put out games at a pace not many AAA devs do tbh. Maybe I'm biased towards them so I'm just taken aback more than I should lmao.
 
It's unbelievable to me that Sony has been two years missing. Not even Nintendo on the last years of the WiiU offered as little support to their hardware.
 
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Happy to have not seen any Castlevania, i really want it to be a 2D Metroidvenia, something Sony will never pay for
 
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The more I think back to it the more stunned I am at how bleak things look for the PSVR2 after that. We've had a State of Play and now this showcase since its launch where games have been announced for it and there were a grand total of... 0 first party games in both..? Like oh my god it literally couldn't be more obvious where this thing is headed. Only one game from Sony at launch too for that matter. If Sony don't care about VR which they clearly don't now it's fair to say, why should I or anyone else care?
 
I went in with pretty low expectations but still came out underwhelmed. I don't think Sony are doomed or anything, or that this is some huge unrectifiable misstep, but I was expecting Sony themselves to come out with a bit more than CGI trailers for two unproven IP (even if one is from a proven dev) to go alongside their two already announced 2023 games (Helldivers 2 and Spiderman). The lack of anything first party for PSVR2 was very noticeable as well, doesn't bode well for device support going forward.

I don't necessarily have a problem with CGI trailers but I really think they need to be about a known quantity, otherwise you're pretty much left just as much in the dark as you were before - whereas if you got one of those for a theoretical Uncharted 5 (not saying it should've been there or whatever) there's more to look forward to. Going back to VR, I feel like Astro Bot would have been a perfect CGI trailer to announce if one is being made as it's a known quantity and it shows Sony are supporting the headset - but then maybe we just all think a new Astrobot is happening and Asobi are working on something else.

But away from that, the first half had some things that interested me - Sword of the Sea looks great, and great to see more of The Plucky Squire. As a puzzlegamehead, Talos Principle II also stood out, while games like Teardown and Towers of Aghasba looked really intriguing. Also nice to see a sequel or at least a spiritual/thematic successor to Night in the Woods 2

Nothing else really grabbed me, and the announcement for Project Q was just a big old shrug.
 
I was hyped as hell when I saw Marathon. But when I learned it was another PvP extraction shooter game... urgh, seriously, why another flippin' one ?!

Now I'm curious about the Sam Lake character in Alan Wake 2. Is it Max Payne ?

EDIT :
Dear PS5 owners, I might get one around July or August, so I have a question about PS1 games : can you still buy them or is it like the Switch NSO and you must be part of the PS+ to play any PS1 game they added to their catalog ?
 
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I was hyped as hell when I saw Marathon. But when I learned it was another PvP extraction shooter game... urgh, seriously, why another flippin' one ?!

Now I'm curious about the Sam Lake character in Alan Wake 2. Is it Max Payne ?

EDIT :
Dear PS5 owners, I might get one around July or August, so I have a question about PS1 games : can you still buy them or is it like the Switch NSO and you must be part of the PS+ to play any PS1 game they added to their catalog ?
You can buy them thankfully. And if you had them on PS3, you even get them for free (I know because I had Wild Arms and it was available instantly to download and I didn’t have plus at the time). Some of the games are more than the old $6 US price point most of these games were though (not sure what the equivalent was in other regions).
 
You can buy them thankfully. And if you had them on PS3, you even get them for free (I know because I had Wild Arms and it was available instantly to download and I didn’t have plus at the time). Some of the games are more than the old $6 US price point most of these games were though (not sure what the equivalent was in other regions).

Some you can buy, some you can't
Thank you !

I did buy quite a lot of PS1 games on the Store when I had my PSP ^^;
 
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I was hyped as hell when I saw Marathon. But when I learned it was another PvP extraction shooter game... urgh, seriously, why another flippin' one ?!

Now I'm curious about the Sam Lake character in Alan Wake 2. Is it Max Payne ?

EDIT :
Dear PS5 owners, I might get one around July or August, so I have a question about PS1 games : can you still buy them or is it like the Switch NSO and you must be part of the PS+ to play any PS1 game they added to their catalog ?
The majority yes, but then you have Namco titles like Tekken 2 and Ridge Racer Type 4 where you can only access them with the sub even if you bought it on PS Classics on PS3/Vita
 
I still do not have a PS5 and the showcase didn't give me any rush getting one either now. There ware some great indie games in there and some of the anime games look outstanding.

That said, maybe I am just too used to Nintendo Directs, but the amount of CGI and generic release dates (a year or a season) doesn't hype me up as much. Thus this wasn't a great showing from Playstation in my opinion.
 
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After a half nights sleep on it (i need to sleep more...), i'm really feeling that Sony should kiss Itsuno's hand that the DD2 dev team provided that trailer for the showcase.

Personal opinion and all.

Can we call it the PS5 U?

PS5 Mee TU?
 
The majority yes, but then you have Namco titles like Tekken 2 and Ridge Racer Type 4 where you can only access them with the sub even if you bought it on PS Classics on PS3/Vita
Argh, off course RR Type 4 is in this situation. I loved this game -the only Ridge Racer I liked- back then.
 
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I saw Nate post on Era that he thinks Sony didn't really feel the urgency to do a blowout given how well the PS5 is doing right now, and I'm inclined to agree with him on this occasion. PS5 is selling like $500 hot cakes, and even though Sony only have 1 major first party game coming for the rest of this year in Spidey, third parties more than make up the shortfall on this occasion. They can afford to hold back for the next 9-12 months.

Honestly, this felt like it targeted investors as much as gamers, the CGI teasers with little to no gameplay seemed more to highlight 'hey look at what all our new acquisitions are getting up to.' It also highlights just how much Sony are jumping on the GAAS multiplayer train. Like, they're going all in on it seemingly.
 
To build off my previous post - which was positive about the wide variety of games on show and in the pipeline, but less enthused about the showing itself - I think it does leave the door open for a decent 2024 ad beyond.

If release dates and rumours pan out, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, GTA6 and Tekken 8 supplemented by the likes of Factions and another first party or two could be a strong offering next year. Sony didn't reveal or really show anything significant from their biggest studios.

But I'll say it again -

Where was Naughty Dog? Last game: TLoU2 in 2020. Factions is in the works, but so is something else, according to chatter online.
Santa Monica Studios? Last game: Ragnarok in 2022. We know Cory Barlog is working on a new game.
Sucker Punch? Last game: Ghost of Tsushima in 2020. A sequel is likely in the works.
Housemarque? Last game: Returnal in 2021. No idea what's next and it probably was a little early for them to show anything.
Bend Studio? Last Game: Days Gone in 2019. What are they up to?

There's more studios of course - Guerilla for example are supposedly working on a Horizon sequel, as well as a MP game, but they did just launch something last year and bolstered it with a huge piece of DLC.

Another Uncharted game has been heavily spoken about for years, I'd be shocked if it didn't exist - particularly given how popular the IP is.

I have no issue with Sony's new studios investing in live service games, that's totally fine. It's what their tentpole studios are up to that I'm interested in.

Despite leaning on CGI a bit too much for my tastes, I think Sony were quite restrained. They showed very little... which after a couple of years felt disappointing but I do think Sony are in a really good spot.

2023 will be a great year overall and I expect the coming years to be strong - even if Sony aren't quite carrying the system on their back like in the PS3 era, or to a lesser extent, in the PS4 period.

Sony announced a lot of PS4 games super early and then they hung around for years. It feels like they're a little more content to drip-feed titles this time around.

As said above, Sony have made PlayStation the de facto destination for big triple-A exclusive games and cutting edge first party offerings. And it feels like this showing - buoyed by fantastic console sales - leaned into that, with Ryan and co knowing they don't need to show a lot.

Even if that frustrates us.
 
I saw Nate post on Era that he thinks Sony didn't really feel the urgency to do a blowout given how well the PS5 is doing right now, and I'm inclined to agree with him on this occasion. PS5 is selling like $500 hot cakes, and even though Sony only have 1 major first party game coming for the rest of this year in Spidey, third parties more than make up the shortfall on this occasion. They can afford to hold back for the next 9-12 months.

Honestly, this felt like it targeted investors as much as gamers, the CGI teasers with little to no gameplay seemed more to highlight 'hey look at what all our new acquisitions are getting up to.' It also highlights just how much Sony are jumping on the GAAS multiplayer train. Like, they're going all in on it seemingly.
it definitely felt like an investor targeted - see our commitment to hot MP live service games - presentation - i expect as i've said before, that single player games from Sony will most likely slow to a drip feed of one every year or two, and there will be a partner game (DS2, ROTR, FF etc...) to have some single player games while most of their studios go in hard on MP stuff with the core few studios making single player event games every few years (next Guerilla and ND games are MP for example which will push out Horizon 3, next ND single player games further in the schedule) - no studio expansion or acquisition has been made to create more single player content.
 
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The fact that they revealed Q Lize and Earbuds basically confirms that PS5 Pro will be released in Holiday 2024, as Henderson also reported.
 
One thing I’m happy about despite yesterday’s weak showing, at least this year there’s been some good games I’ve been interested in at a steady pace. February was Like A Dragon Ishin and while I haven’t played it just yet I was happy to pick up Star Wars in April. From here we have both Street Fighter VI and Final Fantasy XVI in June (the latter is my most anticipated game), July is Trails Into Reverie, August is Armored Core VI, September is allegedly Spider-Man 2, and October is Alan Wake 2. If we can just get a solid November game I’ll be very content personally with PS5 this year. There’s some decent possibilities floating out there despite not showing up here so I’m not too worried.
 
The show was... ok-ish I guess, saved by (some) third parties and indies. This and the last Indie World (I think?) really made me think that sequelitis is an incredible thing though. II - 2 - 二, could be the name of some game.

Surprised that GB Relink actually showed up ahah, and that Sony really tried to prove wrong my "SP games are still coming" comment, though that would be ignoring partner titles such as Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin, which are very much still happening, and in general thinking that what they've showed today is everything that they've got coming. A CG trailer for GoT 2 or SSM's new IP (that's happening right?) could have been there instead of Concord and the optics would have been different. Not the heart of the matter though, which is that their first party stuff is years away.

That said my biggest take away is that... I'm having buyer's remorse lmao, and I suspect it will only get worse come MS's show. I really should have stuck to my idea of getting into PC gaming, but why does it have to be such a PITA. Seriously PC, hurry up and keep on growing so by some miracle we can get console PCs and I don't have to fear a getting a headache just to leave behind this console hellscape of premium pricing and walled gardens.

Edit: I know minipcs and prebuilts are a thing, but it's not what I'm talking about. I need something "better" (for lack of a more fitting shorthand descriptor). Maybe I should just buy a gaming laptop and deal with the inconveniences of hooking it up -> disconnecting it to a tv/monitor every time.
 


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