A ranking of the summer game showcases – from Nintendo Direct to Summer Game Fest

In theory, this means that the whole process of revealing new games, and the first images of the games that were previously only mentioned by name, should still be the same. But it really isn’t.

The strange malaise that has taken over gaming over the past two years, as companies awkwardly respond to the rising costs of making games and slowing growth in console sales, has led to increasingly disappointing showcases, with the number of new reveals dwindling and the lack of excitement and energy has become truly depressing.

However, that doesn’t mean that all showcases are now duds, just that they are much more variable in quality than they used to be.

That’s why we took a look at the five events from the past few weeks, scored them and ranked them from worst to best. Let us know if you agree and if this summer’s showcases have made you more or less optimistic for the future…

5. State of affairs – May 30

You knew Sony’s summer event was going to be a disappointment as soon as they called it a normal state of affairs, instead of a bigger showcase. It was barely 30 minutes long and the only real points of interest were Concord at the beginning and Astro Bot at the end. Astro Bot looked very good, and exactly the kind of fun and imaginative game the PlayStation 5 needs right now. However, Concord was very disappointing in terms of overall presentation and gameplay. And especially because it’s the first in a seemingly long line of new live service titles to come from Sony’s first party studios.

Even with Astro Bot, the entire presentation reeked of something Sony didn’t really want to do, but felt obligated to do. It’s hard to imagine they were surprised when Concord’s trailer was downvoted so many times and for once, it’s not hard to sympathize with the fans’ dissatisfaction. Taken out of context, the event wasn’t that bad, but as the main summer reveal event of the best-selling console of the generation, it was pathetic stuff.

Score: 3/10

4. Summer Game Festival – June 7

The most concerted effort to fill the vacuum left by E3 is this two-hour showcase from the creator of The Game Awards. It follows a very similar format, with endless trailers interspersed with short on-stage appearances from developers. To its credit, this was the only event that attempted to address the current crisis in the gaming sector and the endless job losses, even though the topic was not addressed. Unfortunately, the showcase itself was largely unexciting, although it’s hard to know who to really blame for that.

There were a lot of promising looking indie titles, but these aren’t the kind of games that are well suited to these types of events. But there weren’t many blockbusters either, just things like a second look at Monster Hunter Wilds and reveals of Lego Horizon Adventures and Civilization 7 – both of which were spoiled by leaks.

The debut of the new Blumhouse Games label was perhaps the most interesting announcement, but while a lot of time was spent on the console version of Valorant and DLC for Alan Wake 2, neither created the kind of buzz that E3 events normally used to. would yield. .

Score: 4/10

3. Ubisoft Forward – June 10

While this didn’t necessarily happen every year, many third-party publishers hosted their own events during E3, including EA, Square Enix, and Capcom. This year, Ubisoft was the only one to do so and that was only because they had just announced Assassin’s Creed Shadows and were eager to show off its gameplay for the first time, as well as that of the upcoming Star Wars Outlaws.

The visuals in Outlaws were exceptional, but other than that it was all exactly what you’d expect, with Shadows looking like any recent Assassin’s Creed, combined with every possible cliché of samurai-themed video games. It was all very well, and there was a certain amount of time spent on other franchises such as Prince Of Persia, but once again the event itself was difficult to get excited about. Although at least it didn’t last forever.

Rating: 5/10

2. Nintendo Direct – June 18

It’s ironic that the only showcase that would have gotten a free pass because the Switch was in its final months was one of only two this year that was actually worth it. It was also the one with the most surprises, as the new Mario & Luigi game had never been leaked before. There were hints of Super Mario Party Jamboree and Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom (starring Zelda herself) beforehand, but the final reveals still managed to be more interesting than expected.

The event ended with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which may or may not have run on Switch 2 hardware. But if it wasn’t, it would clearly be one of the best looking Switch games ever. Nintendo has had busier showcases before, but you’d never have thought this was the last one before the introduction of a new console, which is the most welcome surprise of all.

Score: 8/10

1. Xbox Games Showcase – June 9

When E3 was still running, Microsoft was never very good at showcases, partly because they didn’t have enough interesting games and partly because their presenters liked the sound of their own voices too much. However, in the past two years they have managed to redress the balance on both counts, and this was an even better showcase than last year.

They even managed to make the 30 minutes dedicated to Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 relatively interesting, but the real highlights were Doom: The Dark Ages, South Of Midnight, Fable, Perfect Dark and Gears Of War: E-Day . There was even time for some notable third-party reveals, including a gameplay trailer for Metal Gear Solid Delta and the reveal of Life Is Strange: Double Exposure.

The only downside to the event was that almost everything was leaked in advance, multiple times, but Microsoft has never been good at keeping secrets. However, they are now very good at preview showcases and despite essentially copying Sony’s format, they are now offering exactly what PlayStation refuses to do, in terms of a comprehensive roadmap of future first party titles to look forward to.

Score: 9/10