Ranking All Summer Games Showcases From Worst to Best

In the past, the coming of the summer months has brought with it new announcements in the gaming world with the E3 games showcases, but those days are no more. E3 is no longer with us, however the show (or shows) must go on, and developers still held their own showcases to highlight their upcoming games releases. While some of these showcases were filled with reveals and surprises, some were filled with a little disappointment. Here are 2023’s summer games showcases, ranked worst to best.

10. Devolver Direct

The Devolver Direct was certainly one of the most unique of all the showcases this year, what with the introduction giving us a full documentary background for a game mascot that has never existed, only to introduce us to his robotic second version. While much of the presentation was focused around the skit, there were a few announcements of note on the gaming side of things.

There was an announcement and gameplay preview for Wizard with a Gun, The Talos Principle II got a gameplay preview, and we got to see a first glimpse of Baby Steps, a likely infuriating walking simulator from the devious mind of Bennett Foddy. All the games they previewed looked promising, but once Volv-E started oozing goop onto the stage, I started wondering if I couldn’t have read about the show afterwards.

Coming without any gameplay in its reveal was Human Fall Flat 2, which ready didn’t need much explanation for the fake crowd to go wild. Unfortunately, no release date was provided, but the revamped physics engine and graphics update are enough to get excited for if you’re a fan of the first game. Most of the Devolver Direct seemed to be focused on the (admittedly well-made) performance as opposed to the games, so it does land at the bottom of the list.

9. Access-Ability Summer Showcase

The Access-Ability Summer Showcase is one of the smaller, indie-game showcases, but that doesn’t make it any less significant. YouTuber LauraKBuzz organized the stream in order to allow disabled gamers the comfort of watching a games showcase and know that the games will be playable for them with plenty of accessibility features, as opposed to the other, larger shows where accessibility may not be in the forefront of people’s minds.

Many of the games that were featured during the showcase are smaller games from smaller developers, so they don’t garner as much attention as games like Final Fantasy or Spider-Man. Games like Mythwrecked, Skye Tales, and Stories of Blossom were announced, and there were conversations with developers on games like Sniper Elite 5, being highlighted for their pre-existing accessibility features. While the showcase is valuable to many disabled players, the small-scale of reveals ranks this showcase lower on the list.

8. Capcom Showcase

One of the shorter showcases of the year, Capcom only had a few major announcements at their event, also leaving it towards the bottom of this list. That being said, Capcom still brought some exciting reveals like some gameplay for Dragon’s Dogma 2 and a trailer for the fourth, fifth and sixth Ace Attorney games in a remastered trilogy, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney.

While Capcom excited fans with a new trailer for their dinosaur-hunting game Exoprimal, they balanced the hype with some disappointment with the news that they would be further delaying the release of Pragmata to an unknown year in the future. Unfortunately that disappointment knocked the showcase down further on this list.

7. Starfield Direct

Streaming directly behind Microsoft’s more all-encompassing Xbox Games Showcase, the Starfield Direct gave a much more in-depth look at Bethesda’s newest space-RPG. Fans got to see a deep dive into the travel mechanics, character creation and some of the world building along with plenty more.

Bethesda provided excited fans with a much broader look at the game than ever before, addressing the sheer size and technical spectacle of Starfield’s galaxy and showing off plenty of gameplay. There are over 1000 planets and moons to explore throughout the galaxy, and there will be 40 detailed preset character models to use as a starting point for your own character, and that’s still before you can customize anything from your piercings to your teeth.

Deeper gameplay mechanics like combat, ship customization and the skill trees were also broken down, and there was plenty to explain. It was nice to finally get such a clear look at the game, without too much of it being given away. Given that it only really focused on one game, the Starfield Direct is placed lower on the list, but that’s not indicative of the content announced.

6. Meta Quest Gaming Showcase

Meta’s 2023 showcase turned out to be a fruitful one, with the main event of the show being the announcement of the Meta Quest 3, the newest member of their lineup of VR headsets. The Quest 3 headset will drop later this year, but not before a price drop of the previous Meta Quest 2 models, also announced at the show.

Meta also revealed that they would be releasing an update to improve the GPU and CPU performance of the Quest 2 and Quest Pro. This comes to the benefit of the new games coming to Meta’s library like Stranger Things VR, Samba de Amigo and The Seventh Guest. They also gave the official title for the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, which was further expanded upon in the later Ubisoft Forward.

While the announcement of the Meta Quest 3 is certainly exciting, VR still doesn’t have the fan base and following that the other gaming platforms do, so Meta’s limited reach keeps it from landing higher on this list.

5. Xbox Showcase Extended

After the main Xbox Games Showcase which was followed by the Starfield Direct on June 11, Microsoft held another, smaller showcase on June 13 that went more in-depth with some of the games that were discussed in their main event. This included interviews with Keanu Reeves for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, an extended look at Avowed, a new update for Fallout 76, and more.

While some of these announcements were exciting such as Phasmophobia coming to consoles and a DLC for High on Life, there was a reason that these were saved for the Extended showcase and not shown in the main event. This event was much more focused and detail-oriented regarding the announcements, and because the big news was already shown at the main event, the Extended show goes farther down on the list.

4. Ubisoft Forward

The Ubisoft Forward was packed full of trailers and gameplay for excited fans, one of the biggest of which was the gameplay preview for Star Wars Outlaws. Ubisoft showed off 10 minutes of story gameplay for the open-world Star Wars game, and they still had room for multiple Assassin’s Creed announcements.

Ubisoft showed off some of the new Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, gave some in-depth gameplay for Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and announced the public test for their upcoming mobile game, Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade. These alongside announcements for games like The Crew: Motorfest, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, XDefiant, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora made the Ubisoft Forward a great showcase for 2023.

Alongside the gaming announcements this year, Ubisoft also brought a reveal for the anime fans out there. They debuted the first trailer for Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, an anime featuring a whole cast of characters from Ubisoft’s library, based on the Blood Dragon expansion for Far Cry 3. Between the breadth and diversity of the reveals at the Ubisoft Forward, it gets a higher spot on the list.

3. Xbox Games Showcase

Starting off with Fable was a strong choice on Microsoft’s part for their showcase. Stronger still was making the new Fable reboot a day one release on Game Pass, even if we don’t yet know when day one is going to be. We got to see the reveal of Star Wars Outlaws, which was expanded upon more in the Ubisoft Forward, and on top of that, Microsoft’s library of games continues to expand with other titles like South of Midnight, 33 Immortals and Forza Motorsport.

The showcase also revealed a few looks at games like Cities Skylines 2 for the architects, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth for the Yakuza fans and Payday 3, for the fans who have been waiting all too long to get back in the action. Persona fans got some confirmation on the rumors for Persona 3 Reload and Persona 5 Tactica, and Microsoft started the Starfield hype train early with a trailer for the game prior to the Starfield Direct.

If the games weren’t enough and you were looking for a little hardware, Microsoft also announced the 1 TB Xbox Series S. It doesn’t look like there are any other improvements over the previous Series S, although the color now matches that of the Series X. Microsoft certainly came to play this year for their showcase, giving it a comfortable position on this list.

2. Playstation Showcase

Sony hit the ground running this year with some big reveals at their 2023 Showcase. First off, while they made us wait a little bit longer for a release date until Summer Game Fest, we got an extended gameplay preview of Spider-Man 2, which finally gave players a glimpse of how the new black suit is going to play compared to the previous games, as well as some context for the story.

Sony announced some Metal Gear Solid news as well, revealing a remake for MGS: Snake Eater in in the works and a remaster of the first three games will be coming to PS5 this fall. They showed the reveal trailer for Dragon’s Dogma 2 and for Alan Wake 2, alongside new trailers for Final Fantasy XVI, Foamstars and Phantom Blade 0. Ghostrunner and Helldivers both were announced to be getting sequels, and there’s even going to be a new Five Nights at Freddy’s coming soon.

Say you were looking at all the new titles and thinking, “I wish I could play those games, but handheld,” you’re in luck. Sony announced their Project Q, which is a handheld gaming device that will be able to stream over WiFi any game from your PS5. It’s got a similar form factor to the Nintendo Switch, but its essentially got half a Dualsense controller on either side. Sony chose not to hold back for their showcase this year, and it certainly showed.

1. Summer Game Fest

This year’s Summer Game Fest finally brought Geoff Keighley to a live stage, and brought the announcements with him. If having previews for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Mortal Kombat 1 and Alan Wake 2 wasn’t enough, audiences were also greeted with a long-awaited October 20 release date for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and an appearance from Nicolas Cage himself.

For the fantasy fans out there, Warhammer Space Marine 2 got a preview for its new co-op campaign, and there was a sneak peek of some of the voice acting in Baldur’s Gate 3, with the announcement of Jason Isaacs on the cast. For the Final Fantasy fans out there, there was a Doordash ad, as well as the trailer for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and the announcement of the pre-registration for Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis.

Warzone players got a Season 4 preview and a trailer showcasing the new map, Vondel, Marvel Snap players received the new Conquest game mode, and Fortnite players got Chapter 4, Season 3: Wilds. The sheer volume of announcements and reveals at Summer Game Fest this year, on top of that massive Final Fantasy finale put it at the top of the list.

That’s all for the main summer gaming showcases for 2023. Each show brought with it tons of new games and announcements, and players have plenty to look forward to for the rest of the year and beyond.