Jim Ryan must be watching the Bizzaro World PlayStation Showcase (Picture: Getty Images)



Jim Ryan champions a ‘varied’ PS5 showcase, despite all the new first party games shown being online multiplayer shooters.



This week’s PlayStation showcase saw something of a mixed reception from fans. You’ll find no shortage of people excited for titles like Spider-Man 2, Metal Gear Solid Delta, and Alan Wake 2, but many others think the whole thing was a bust .



For something that insiders described as the beginning of the second phase of the PlayStation 5 , there were disappointingly few first party exclusives and almost all of Sony’s biggest studios, such as Naughty Dog and Santa Monica, were completely absent.



PlayStation boss Jim Ryan, however, seems to think the showcase was a success (not that he’d say otherwise) and believes it showed the company’s commitment to providing fans the ‘best and most varied catalogue of games possible.’



‘Our fans expect and deserve a steady cadence of amazing content,’ said Ryan, despite the fact the only games Sony has released in the last 12 months are God Of Ragnarök, remake The Last Of Us Part 1, MLB The Show 23, and Horizon VR: Call Of The Mountain.



‘Today’s presentation demonstrates our unwavering commitment to offering them the best and most varied catalogue of games possible.’



He continues, ‘We’re investing heavily in the future with innovative best-in-class hardware like PlayStation VR2 and the newly revealed Project Q , and our expansion into PC, mobile, and live service gaming is transforming how and where our content can be enjoyed.’



Sony announced no new PC or mobile games during the showcase and has not announced a single new first party VR game since the PlayStation VR2 headset launched in February.



We’re also not sure what showcase Ryan was watching, because ‘varied’ is certainly not a word we’d use to describe the showcase.



Of the four first party titles shown off, three of them are online shooters and, very probably, live service games: Fairgame$, Concord, and Helldivers 2 (developed by a third party but published by Sony).



That’s not including Square Enix’s Splatoon clone Foamstars and Bungie’s Marathon – a PvP extraction shooter that is technically a first party game but also on Xbox .



Marathon – Sony got to announce games like Marathon but Xbox owners don’t need to jump ship just to play them (Picture: Bungie)



As for Project Q, it isn’t exactly enjoying a warm reception. Many have either mocked the design (with plenty of unfavourable comparisons to the Wii U) or aren’t thrilled with it being a cloud streaming device, meaning the thing’s just a paperweight without an internet connection.



There are obviously many more PlayStation projects in the works that Ryan is aware of, including major first party games like The Last Of Us’ multiplayer spin-off and others that haven’t been announced.



However, those aren’t what he’s referring to with his statement, as he’s only talking about the showcase.



If anything, the showcase seemed to run contradictory to Sony’s own business plans that it shared with investors, where it talked about better diversifying its portfolio and branching out into other major genres.



Sony has been criticised for relying too much on cinematic story driven single-player games, but the showcase suggests it’s swung too far the other way, with nothing but online multiplayer shooters.



Microsoft’s own showcase is scheduled for a couple of weeks’ time, on June 12, and given how underwhelming Sony’s proved to be, it won’t take much for the Xbox company to be crowned the ‘winner’ of this year’s not-E3 period.



Xbox has a shining opportunity catch up after so many troubling months (pic: Microsoft)



Email  [email protected] , leave a comment below,  follow us on Twitter , and  sign-up to our newsletter .





MORE : PlayStation Showcase was Sony at its worst and a major disappointment for PS5







MORE : Spider-Man 2 PS5 gameplay trailer has Bully Maguire homage and Kraven







MORE : PS Plus membership bounces back with over 14,000,000 subs in first 12 months





Follow Metro Gaming on  Twitter  and email us at  [email protected]



To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our  Submit Stuff page here .



For more stories like this,  check our Gaming page .
Sign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they're seen on the site. Sign up Privacy Policy »