The hotly anticipated and much-awaited PlayStation Showcase 2023 is happening today at 1PM PT / 4PM ET / 9PM GMT / 10PM CET on Twitch and YouTube. We've not had a major PlayStation Showcase since September 2021, so it's more than overdue and we can't wait to see what upcoming PS5 games await us at today's event.
Here's how to watch the PlayStation Showcase
According to PlayStation, it's going to be "a little over an hour" and focus on "PS5 and PSVR 2 games in development from top studios around the world". Unlike PlayStation State of Play events, Showcases are always much bigger, more tentpole affairs where we should expect some major announcements. After all, the blog post announcing the event literally states that we will get "a glimpse at several new creations from PlayStation Studios, as well as spellbinding games from our third-party partners and indie creators".
We'll be building up to the event and covering it live here at GamesRadar, so let's stroke our metaphorical (or physical) thinking beards, and think about what we could see and hope to see.
What time is the PlayStation Showcase?
1PM PT / 4PM ET / 9PM GMT / 10PM CET
Morning folks! You've got Sam here signing in from sunny UK to start revving the hype machine for tonight's PlayStation Showcase!
If there's a 100% guaranteed game to feature in today's PlayStation Showcase, surely - surely - it has to be Marvel's Spider-Man 2. With the game set to launch later this year, and rumors suggesting it's as soon as September, we're expecting to see some gameplay and get a release date for Insomniac's next title.
After all, we've not seen much of the game since it was first announced way back in 2021 at the last big PlayStation Showcase. All we really know is that both Peter Parker and Miles Morales are in it, and Venom is one of the villains you'll be facing.
Interestingly, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan says Marvel's Spider-Man 2 was made with "no compromises" as a PS5 exclusive, which suggests that the gameplay we should *hopefully* see could be seriously delicious - no loading screens, glorious raytracing, slick swinging... the list goes on.
In the Famitsu interview, Ryan talks up the visual of Insomniac's sequel as being "beautiful," and that the final result of their long development process is truly "impressive". Ho boy, we're in for a treat aren't we?
Outside of the inevitable Spidey, PlayStation itself has flagged that we'll be given a look at "several new creations from PlayStation Studios".
Now, those studios could include several whose projects have yet to be announced, such as Ben Studio, Santa Monica Studio, Firesprite, Media Molecule, and more.
Let's have a wander down memory lane shall we and recap some of the studios that PlayStation does have and what they could / are working on.
Take Bend Studios for example - which has brought us the Syphon Filter series and Days Gone. It's said that there won't be another Days Gone game (a big shame in my opinion), which means the studio must be working on something else.
It tweeted as such earlier this year, and last year there was a PlayStation Blog post that detailed a new IP. It stated:
"We are currently working on a new IP that includes multiplayer and builds upon the open-world systems of Days Gone, but brings you a whole new world that we are extremely excited to craft for you. We cannot wait to reveal it to you when the time is right."
Is today the right time? We hope so!
Then there's Bluepoint Games - which most recently gave us the Demon's Souls remake that dropped as part of the PS5 launch lineup. At the end of 2022, it dropped a Christmas card that everyone thought was a tease for a new game in development.
Each of the boxes have something that relates to its previous games (from left to right it's Demon's Souls, God of War, and Shadow of the Colossus), but there's one box that's unadorned...
Now, because it's sandwiched between other first-party PlayStation titles, everyone is hoping it's a Bloodborne remaster for PS5 and, eventually, PC. We don't know that's on the cards, but there have been so many rumors and requests over the years, it's definitely plausible.
Other studios that could reveal new games include Housemarque and Media Molecule. Housemarque has brought us games like Resogun and Returnal, and although we've had some chunky updates for the latter, we don't currently know what the next project is.
As for Media Molecule, the studio recently announced that it is discontinuing live support for Dreams as of September 1, 2023 "to shift our focus to an exciting new project". Now, it might be that it's too early for this to get a reveal today, but we'd take a teaser for anything this creative studio is tackling next.
There's also Polyphony Digital, which recently brought us Gran Turismo 7. It could be that there's some DLC revealed later, but we sincerely doubt it would be anything new.
However, there is at least a few rumblings about something new from Astro Bot creators Team Asobi. A new platformer perhaps? I still adore Astro's Playroom and all its fun tunes.
What about Sucker Punch though? The studio has brought us a variety of IPs over the years, from Sly Cooper and Infamous, to Ghost of Tsushima. Now, I'd take a new take on any of those games, but the rumors are pointing to it being Ghost of Tsushima 2. However, according to Jeff Grubb, it's unlikely to be at tonight's showcase...
Guerrilla Games is an interesting one because it has just put out Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores, but has also been teasing what's to come in Horizon 3 - or whatever it's ultimately called.
As a die-hard Aloy fan, obviously, that's high up my list of wants to get any kind of teaser for, but purely because of the proximity to Burning Shores' release, it feels too early to see anything quite yet for a Horizon Forbidden West sequel.
I'm going to take a little break to get a sandwich, but there are plenty more speculations to be had so stay tuned!
Well hello there! I'm back, and it's really really warm out there folks. Wear sunscreen!
Right, where were we... PlayStation Studios!
So, we've talked about plenty so far, but what about Santa Monica. Well, November saw the release of God of War Ragnarok, which isn't looking like it'll get any DLC.
Game Director Eric Williams said on Kinda Funny Games that the team "put everything we had into it, so I wouldn't count on it."
But, Cory Barlog teased that he was working on a sci-fi project way back in 2019. It's not officially been announced or revealed, so that feels prime for an unveiling today.
Now, Naughty Dog is an entirely different proposition because thanks to Summer Game Fest last year, we know exactly what it's working on.
The Last of Us is getting a massive standalone multiplayer game set in San Francisco, and according to Neil Druckmann we'll hear "much more" about it this year.
"It's an interesting experience for me because it's the first Last of Us game where I'm not the primary writer, I'm not the primary director," Druckmann said on the HBO Spoilercast for The Last of Us TV Show.
"What the team has put together is so cool. It's very different from what I would do but that's part of the exciting thing about it, with other people playing in this world," Druckmann continued.
It's apparently just "as big as one of our single-player games".
PlayStation just dropped the YouTube link for the showcase, so bookmark it now friends.
So that's the core PlayStation Studios then, so what else could we see later?
PlayStation also states it'll include games from "third-party partners and indie creators", so the potential remit of this PlayStation Showcase is huge. You can fit a surprising amount of reveals and updates into an "a little over an hour" showcase time!
PlayStation has also said it'll focus on "PSVR 2 games in development from top studios around the world".
Now, PSVR 2 is a fantastic machine - I've played a lot behind the mask in the last few months - but it is lacking some big system sellers. Of course, Horizon: Call of the Mountain is fantastic, but otherwise we're mainly looking at re-releases of old games and some other new releases that aren't quite justifying the chunky price tag.
The one that could be interesting in that space is Firesprite. Acquired by Sony last year, Firesprite has made some excellent VR titles, and co-developed Horizon: Call of the Mountain. Could the British studio have something solo up its sleeves?
What time is the PlayStation Showcase in my timezone?
- 1PM PT
- 2PM MDT
- 3PM CDT
- 4PM ET
- 9PM GMT
- 10PM CET
- 11PM EEST
- 5AM JST (May 25)
- 4AM AWST (May 25)
- 6AM AEST (May 25)
