E3 2019 Review
Another year, another E3. The press conferences wrapped up the other day, and the final day of the show floor is upon us – And as promised, here’s my follow-up to my previous post.
First off, we had Microsoft’s Press Conference which I felt was positive in many aspects; lots of games shown, lots of different options to play. The Xbox Game Pass (which they offered in most games) is an undeniably good bargain for those who play their games on both Xbox One and PC. It seems like a very consumer-friendly way to play games in the style of a Netflix-esque subscription. They didn’t have any big surprises up their sleeve, bar the “Keanu Reeves Cyberpunk reveal” – And no Banjo Remake/Smash trailer as I hoped. In my opinion, it was an above-average conference – not amazing, but I can commend the non-stop reveals.
A few hours later, we had the Bethesda Press Conference which was… interesting. Fallout 76 got a free trial, which is similar to what I predicted previously – we also got some game announcements. There was a heavy focus on mobile games and trying to make amends for poorly made games that should’ve been fixed before they were launched. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I think it’s gonna be a while before Bethesda regains the faith from fans that they once had.
The next day we had the PC Gaming Show, which went as expected. We saw some new indie titles, some of which were on Steam and not Epic Store exclusive – which was surprising. I predicted there’d be some “boos” from the crowd when an epic store exclusive was announced. It didn’t happen, but we got the next best thing. Awkward pauses for applause and all.
I failed to mention the Ubisoft press conference previously, partly because I don’t have much interest in their games. The previously leaked Watch Dogs: Legion appeared to be very ambitious which surprised me. Being able to “play as anyone” sounds good on paper, and looked good in the demo, but because of Ubisoft’s history of downgrading the final product, I’m cautiously optimistic.
Square Enix’s press conference played out exactly as I thought it would. Final Fantasy VII was shown off extensively at the beginning, looking very flashy too. The rest of the conference was information regarding existing titles, with a small snippet of Avengers gameplay at the end. I wasn’t too impressed with what was shown of The Avengers, but I’ll need to see more before I can judge it properly.
Lastly, we have the Nintendo Direct, and as predicted Erdrick (among others) was revealed straight away. At this point, some of the people I was watching it with were pretty gutted to not see the fan-favourite Banjo appear, but I never gave up hope. Throughout the Direct, we saw more Luigi’s Mansion 3, Animal Crossing, and the “debut” of the new CEO of Nintendo America, Doug Bowser. Just as it looked like it was wrapping up, Banjo was revealed for Smash – despite all odds. Incredible – But oh, wait. One more thing was revealed, the Zelda sequel that everyone was waiting for. No release date (or year) given, although it looks promising already with a different tone from the previous game. An impressive presentation.
E3 2019 was a different one from previous years with Sony’s absence – It felt like something was missing because of that. The best presentations tend to be the ones that focus on the reveals, gameplay, and none of the marketing “shpiel” in-between – which Sony excels in. The majority of titles from all companies were given a 2020 release date – Although 2019 seems to be a slow year for gaming overall (in terms of releases), at least we have next year to look forward to, which is already filled with top-tier games in the first half. For now though, that’s a wrap for E3 2019.