After an 18-month wait, the latest PlayStation Showcase came and went, eliciting mixed responses that Microsoft might want to use to inform its approach to the upcoming Xbox Showcase. With the June 2023 Xbox event being just a few weeks away, it's possible that its contents are already set in stone, but that doesn't change the fact that Sony provided Microsoft with a clear blueprint for how to knock it out of the park next month.
While the PlayStation Showcase was in no way lacking in content, the social media reactions to the May 24 event were rather motley. Part of the reason for that ambivalent response stemmed from what was omitted from the broadcast, as fans who were hoping to learn more about Horizon, Death Stranding 2's sequel approach, Silent Hill 2, and Naughty Dog's next game were left disappointed. Meanwhile, others took issue with the actual contents of the hour-long event, which revealed surprisingly little about the actual games being shown.
Sony Hasn't Set the Showcase Bar Too High This Time
A lot of the trailers featured during the broadcast have mostly consisted of CGI cutscenes, without offering a lot—or anything—in the way of gameplay. Many studios hence used the PlayStation Showcase as merely a way to announce what's next in the pipeline, leaving fans to guess how their upcoming games are going to play. As for the titles that didn't follow that trend, by far the biggest chunk of the event was given to the gameplay reveal of Marvel's Spider-Man 2. While some labeled it a highlight of the event, others argued that everyone already knew how the third installment in Insomniac's Spider-Man series was going to play.
Besides the new Spider-Man game, the PlayStation Showcase offered little in the way of first-party exclusives. Even the surprise revival of the Marathon franchise, developed by Sony-owned Bungie, is coming to both PC and Xbox consoles. Granted, exclusives remain a somewhat polarizing topic among the fandom, with many gamers disliking the notion of platform-locked titles, so some would surely label this as a positive. Yet it's hard to deny that Sony's lineup of PS5 system sellers remains fairly scarce.
The most universal point of criticism levied against the new PlayStation Showcase had to do with its lack of availability information. Out of some three dozen trailers and teasers featured during the event, only six had concrete release dates attached to them. Half of those were already known beforehand, with the gameplay reveal of Assassin's Creed Mirage ending with the show's only AAA launch date announcement.
Microsoft's Blueprint for a Successful Xbox Showcase is Clear
A portion of the fandom consequently likened Sony's latest broadcast to a glorified State of Play stream unworthy of the PlayStation Showcase label. Though it remains to be seen whether Microsoft's approach to this year's Xbox Showcase is going to be different, its blueprint for success seems clear, not least because the bar has been set fairly low this time around.
For starters, with Microsoft already revealing which PlayStation Showcase games are coming to Xbox, its June event shouldn't waste a lot of time on retreading that ground -- unless there's more gameplay to be shown. Microsoft would also do well to focus on first-party games that could convince consumers to buy into its ecosystem or reaffirm their previous choice to do so.
Finally, the broadcast would really knock it out of the park if it also placed near-future releases front and center, starting with the still-missing games from last year's Xbox Showcase. Though even just attaching release dates to a bigger proportion of its lineup relative to the PlayStation Showcase could be enough for Microsoft to outdo the event. Whether it actually manages to do so is another matter, but after Sony's polarizing showing, it's clear that the Xbox Showcase needs to seize the moment.