Sony's May 2023 PlayStation Showcase has disappointed fans despite the appearance of huge exclusives such as Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and Final Fantasy 16. The PlayStation Showcase announcement stated that it would focus on PS5 and PSVR 2 games in development from top studios from around the world, and while it did mention third-party partners and indie creators, many expected the focus to be on the exclusive titles that PlayStation has become known for.Unfortunately, a post-Showcase Twitter poll by The Game Awards and Summer Game Fest host Geoff Keighley, which asked viewers to grade the presentation, showed that people were largely not ecstatic about the showcase's quality as a whole. At the time of writing, there are around 140,000 votes giving the PlayStation Showcase a B or C grading average.

To add further injury, Xbox tweeted an image revealing that 12 of the titles shown during PlayStation's presentation are multiplatform, and will be launching on Xbox as well.

Fans Were Expecting More First-Party PlayStation Exclusives

Jin stands before a contrasting light and dark sky, looking at his Ghost mask in Ghost of Tsushima's official promotional image

In the lead-up to the PlayStation Showcase, speculation was rife about what titles would appear. Fans were hoping that they would receive an update on previously announced PlayStation-exclusive games such as Death Stranding 2 or the standalone The Last of Us multiplayer game. There was also speculation that the long-rumored Ghost of Tsushima sequel would be confirmed, despite this being debunked in the days prior to the Showcase.

Multi-Platform Titles Are Fine For A State Of Play, But Underwhelming For A PlayStation Showcase

Cover Art for the MGS3 Snake Eater remake

Multi-platform titles such as Assassin's Creed Mirage or the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater remake made an appearance at the PlayStation showcase. While the former was a well-established multi-platform title and confirmed it would be coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC when it was first revealed, there had been rumors surrounding the exclusivity of Snake Eater's remake prior to the event. Snake Eater's reveal trailer stated that the title would be coming to PS5, with no mention of Xbox.

More players getting access to the newest titles is never a bad thing. However, there is an argument to be made that a full PlayStation Showcase event should ideally be reserved for the console's exclusive first-party titles, and multi-platform ones such as these should have been saved for a smaller State of Play event instead. Although PlayStation fans do have plenty of titles to look forward to, it's understandable that they were disappointed due to their high expectations of what a full PlayStation Showcase had in store.

Sources: Geoff KeighleyTwitter, Xbox/Twitter