E3 2018 Post-Mortem Part 3: Final Thoughts and Summary

E3 2018 was a step up over the somewhat lacklustre 2017 with far more games to go around and less talk of hardware overall. There wasn’t much in the way of big surprises, which is mostly down to the leaks and pre-show videos that gave away most of the finer details, but each of the companies still had their own focus that showed throughout the days.

Contrary to what some believed, the show wasn’t littered with battle royale modes across every section; in fact, we rarely saw much in the way of gameplay for this sub-genre across the press conferences. Many gamers were left frustrated that so many titles wanted to cash in on the PUBG and Fortnite craze, but this never overshadowed the other titles on display. Unlike previous years, franchises like Destiny and Call of Duty were nowhere to be found on stage, instead relegated to brief advertisements. Clearly the reputations of both properties have fallen as of late, but pushing them aside did leave room for other, better games to take their place.

The other interesting point I noticed in the press conferences was how you can break them into various categories and overall there was no real “winner” for me this year. You have…

A.     Quantity: Many games shown with brief trailers, discussion and gameplay (Microsoft, Ubisoft and the PC Gaming Show)

B.     Quality: Fewer games with more extended demos and more detailed gameplay (Sony, EA and Nintendo)

C.     Somewhere in-between:  A mixture of A and B (Bethesda)

Opinions on each of these presentation styles will vary depending on what you’re expecting from each company. I said in part one that I wasn’t so impressed with Microsoft’s conference; why? With the way the Xbox One is struggling along right now with exclusives; they needed to give more new franchises and in general a greater investment in new ideas. The quantity of games was on point, but what Microsoft needs to get audiences invested in Xbox again is experiences that require owning the console. They used to do this incredibly well with Halo, Gears of War and Forza but all three of these heavy hitters have grown tired; I talked about this in a previous post a while back:“The Problem with Xbox Today”. Simultaneously, others really enjoyed Microsoft’s effort for its variety and amount of world exclusive announcements and that’s fine as well.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have quality and the companies who went down this path wanted to concentrate more anticipation on a reduced scale. When talking about Sony, some loved their show for the detail of the gameplay demos, all of which being exclusive titles, but others were left baffled by the odd presentation and reduced number of games. Nintendo had a similar layout with their direct stream and ended up taking the prize for most detailed showing with Smash 5. Which do you prefer? A higher amount of games to choose from, or a lower number with more attention dedicated to them? Getting the balance right can be difficult though as mentioned above, Bethesda just about managed it, though not enough to put them on top of the pressers for this year.

As with last year, here are my own personal picks (And dubious honours) for the show…

Most improved of the big companies: Bethesda

Least progressive of the big companies: EA (Two years in a row)

Most Disappointing: Anthem at EA’s conference

Biggest Surprise: The return of Battletoads at Microsoft’s press conference

Most Awkward Moment: Respawn’s interview on Star Wars: Fallen Order at EA’s conference

Strongest Return: Devil May Cry 5

Missing in Action: Metroid Prime 4 and Rocksteady Studios’ next title

Game of the Show: Super Smash Bros Ultimate

Honourable Mentions: The Last of Us Part 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Death Stranding

That wraps up my thoughts on E3 2018; here’s to the games we have coming up and hopefully they improve things for next year’s show. To read my thoughts on the pressers, click here.

(Images used for the purposes of review and criticism under fair use)