This is a shame, as E3 has been like Christmas for many of us for a long time. I love the new, smaller individual shows (especially Nintendo directs and the new direction Xbox has taken with “_Direct”), but E3 was always monumental.
Now we’ll have to settle for Geoff’s mediocre and drawn ad fests, ahem, award show that the majority tune into mainly for the mini-E3 level of trailers and game reveals.
In a positive note, this new format for Microsoft must have been really successful and I’d love for there to be multiple “_Directs” throughout the year, from small Game Pass ones to individual blowouts (Starfield_Direct) to bigger shows that replace E3 for Xbox.
Does this actually change anything? E3 was straight up cancelled last year and we still had roughly the same experience with a week of multiple showcases (including Microsoft) during Summer games fest.
Makes sense. No one knows when the Activision/Blizzard/King acquisition will close so I don’t think Microsoft wants to commit to a date until there is more of a timetable on when it closes.
Also while E3 used to be fun it’s not really the best way to approach things. It’s better to have events when they have stuff to show and are closer to release rather than developers showing off games early just to show something even if it’s unfinished.
I think all three companies see the value in advertising directly to consumers, without E3 as an organization, or traditional games media getting in the way or ruining the script.
You don’t need E3 anymore to secure you a cable time slot, and the fidelity on games makes a live stream risky… Because the quality doesn’t come through.
So you pre-film something, likely reduce the risk of leaks since you aren’t in a conference hall, release it through social media and use your ecosystem and streaming to promote it. You can follow up with cloud based demos, deeper developer dives that don’t count on having to secure a good interviewer with a platform.
It’s so much easier.
It’s not great for E3 as a whole, or organizations like IGN/Gamespot et al. who more and more frequently find themselves unneeded.
It is probably a boon for devs though since they, theoretically anyway, no longer have to hit an arbitrary June deadline to promote a game. If it’s not ready it can slip to the next Developer Direct show in 3 months. No big deal.
But as the consumer I would much rather 2-4 Developer Direct format shows a year with a few surprises but the bulk of the lineup pre announced.
I read this and thought hell no…but is it any different than we’ve had for at least two years or so now?
Xbox will still have their show in June. And I’m sure the others will have their streams too. I do wonder if Xbox will be a stage show with live audience though, probably not.
Just to screw with Geoff Microsoft should host their show on June 2nd or 3rd that way he can’t claim anything as part of his show that hasn’t started. They should also try and keep it a secret (Jez and Grubb can be invited participate in some way to keep them from leaking anything) so that Geoff never sees it coming. Heck maybe they can coordinate with Nintendo and do back-to-back shows Microsoft on 2nd Nintendo on the 3rd./j
Put up a banner as the show starts, not part of summer game fest! and then again at the end. Of course, Geoff being Geoff will just laugh and say they were just joking and claim it as part of the game fest all along.
