At the end of last year Sony She dumbfounded the entire industry, saying that she would not come to E3 2019 – for the first time in the history of the exhibition. Moreover, the head of the gaming unit Sony, Shon Leiden directly stated that the E3 format in the current form is no longer interesting for his company. Following in a similar vein spoke and Electronic Arts: They will come to come, but they will not hold a traditional conference either.
Already from these news it seems that E3 this year will be some kind of inferior, short and uninteresting. But is it really so?
PC Gaming Show. PC Gaming Show never changes
E3 is not the same
Previously, the format Electronic Entertainment Expo was closer to the format of some GDC or the same Cree-except with direct broadcasts. It was a relatively closed event at which developers and publishers showed journalists and representatives of gaming stores their future projects. The conference came to work: sellers made business plans for the implementation of new games, concluded trading agreements and made new acquaintances, the press received information about all the most important projects for the next year or two and talked about them to the world.
The record of visiting the exhibition has not been updated since 2005: 70,000 people. It was then that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were announced with this conceptual gamepad
And both were much more convenient to look at one exhibition, where all the main studios of the world gathered than to spend money on each of them separately. Without accreditation, it was impossible to get to Electronic Entertainment Expo, although not only industry workers, but also bloggers and other people who were not connected professionally with games or computer technologies (except 2007 and 2008, when the organizers tried to make the exhibition completely could get access. highly specialized).
But since 2017, E3 opened doors for everyone. The working event sharply changed the format to a much more entertaining one, in fact, turning into another Gamescom. Conferences and working moments did not disappear, but more fried and cosplayers were added to them, and the queues for demostenses grew to completely indecent sizes. In the first year, the organizers accepted fifteen thousand players, although the tickets were expensive.
According to Kanobu estimates, a visitor from Russia had to pay at least 75 thousand rubles if he planned a trip for a few months, and up to 180 thousand, if he did everything at the last moment and bought an entrance ticket on the spot (taking into account visas, flights and other things). The next year, the guests of the exhibition became even more, and, apparently, the organizers are going to develop E3 in this direction. So, publishers and studios should prepare for it differently: take more employees, bring more equipment and attract additional speakers, since we also have to speak more. There, Jeff Kili (organizer The Game Awards ) Now every year is held by E3 Coliseum – a show on the main stage of the exhibition, in which he and his colleagues take interviews from developers and publishers. Three days for six to seven hours of direct broadcasts with minimal breaks.
Coliseum is not only exclusive interviews with developers, but also a way to escape from the crowd that filled the rest of the exhibition
On the one hand, these changes mean that after E3 we now have even more news about new games than before. On the other hand, the more open the exhibition becomes, the more important the element of the show is for it. Conferences-only with WAU effect, announcements-the larger the better. That is why the same Sony refused to participate in E3 this year: why promise the “show” with one of its presence, if now, at the end of the generation, there is nothing to show? Appear the Japanese at the exhibition, they would only disappoint the players.
E3 is not one
Another trend is planned: large publishers and studios do not go to E3, but organize their own events. One of the first was Blizzard : She has been snapping the exhibition in Los Angeles for thirteen years, making sure that her own BlizzCon She is quite enough. Sony appeared PlayStation Experience , u Bethesda – QuakeCon , And they all hold important announcements to reveal them not on a general bunch, but at their own conferences. Yes, and Electronic Arts with its EA Play formally "saved" from E3.
Moreover, many companies came to the conclusion that it is not enough to report to the audience only once a year. Nintendo For eight years has been releasing various variations of the show Nintendo Direct – And since they moved to this format, they even abandoned full -fledged presentations on E3. Apparently, the broadcasts of “Directs” were no less effective for 20-50 minutes than one and a half hour show on stage; In addition, creating them is much easier and cheaper, and the risk of technical errors is excluded in principle. Square Enix And Devolver Digital Soon they followed the example of Nintendo: their presentations also turned out to be pre -recorded rollers, and this year, apparently, there will be the same. Appreciated the idea in Microsoft – Now the company holds broadcasts monthly Inside Xbox , where it talks about the latest achievements and the most important new products of the near future. And Sony has recently launched her show State of Play, which takes place in the same format as Nintendo Direct.
The central announcement of the March Xbox Inside turned out to be the long -awaited port Halo: Master Chief Collection On a PC – this news would disrupt the stormy applause at the presentation of Microsoft on E3
The question is, why do live presentations in front of a full hall, and even not at your event,? Pay the organizers for participation, rehearse speeches, hope that the microphone will not grind and will not bury the director's computer, like Gearbox? Poor Randy Pitchford could not normally announce Borderlands 3 on Pax East (and it also turned out that he is an unimportant magician). Why all these nerves and expenses, if you can calmly show the same audience a pre -recorded video? And spend the money saved, for example, on organizing a stand in the consumer zone E3: add a couple of dozen consoles with demo versions, reduce the queues, arrange some kind of rally … or do not go to E3 at all and arrange your own event.
Wheezing microphones, 10FPS trailers, a 14-minute failed focus card-this is only part of the problems that fell on Randy Pitchford on Pax East 2019 on the air. At the end of the presentation, he looked like this. More details – in clips by link
E3 is still cool
Despite all of the above, E3 has not yet lost its significance or relevance. This is still the largest game exhibition on the planet and the largest platform for all industry representatives who want to be heard. At least this year, it will still be able to generate enough information farms. After all, E3 is not exhausted by the presentations of large companies – they only precede the exhibition itself. This year we will simply have one such performance (and that is https://20bet-casino.co.uk/ not a fact: perhaps someone else will take a Sony slot).
What to expect from E3 this year? First, the new Microsoft console. Commenting on the announcement of Google Stadia, Phil Spencer directly stated that in Los Angeles the Xbox with pomp will respond to a new competitor.
Phil Spencer is perhaps one of the best speakers in the E3 of recent years. And his t -shirts are cool!
Secondly, for once we can wait for an pleasant performance by Electronic Arts.
Official announcement Electronic Arts: Everything will begin on the evening of June 7 with a completely new event on EA Play. This year we decided to abandon the press conference and organize the numerous direct broadcasts in the first two days of events instead. So you will get what you asked for a long time: more demonstrations of the gameplay and communication with developers.
Thirdly, Bethesda has already accurately confirmed their participation, Ubisoft , Nintendo and Devolver Digital – everyone, like last year, will have their own presentations. CD Projekt Red The second year in a row will bring Cyberpunk 2077 (most likely, again for the presentation of Microsoft). Together with her, one way or another at the exhibition will appear Activision , Capcom , Epic Games , Konami , Square Enix, Take-Two And Warner Bros. – far from the latest companies in the market. And they all will come to E3 obviously not to just say hello to colleagues.
Fourthly, e3 coliseum also nobody canceled. This time, the show will be designed for twenty -four hours of broadcasting, divided into three exhibition days. This is a lot of guests and new information.
Well, fifthly, Sony, of course, will not hold her own presentation, but this does not mean that her studios will have nothing to share. Who knows, maybe one of them will appear on the same Coliseum at Jeff Kili.
The E3 format is unequivocally outdated – the organizers are time to decide how to change the exhibition in order to attract not only players, but also publishers. And yet, she will probably last a year without problems. But next summer it is worth waiting for something new, especially since the occasion will be excellent: in 2020, the Electronic Entertainment Expo will turn twenty-five years old.
All with E3 2019!