It’s very interesting that it’s been over a month since E3 2018 and yet people are still talking about the event. This is likely due to the fact that this one was a bit more divisive than last years event, as there was no clear “winner”. Microsoft showed off a lot of games, but few of them were exclusive to the console. Nintendo showed off Smash Bros and Pokemon Let’s Go, as well as many 3rd party games, but that was it. As for Sony, they focused on four core titles in their upcoming lineup and then let players play the games.
While that may seem like a winning combination for Sony, those who attended the event were happy with how it was structured, or where it was located. And Sony’s Simon Rutter talked with The Guardian and noted that the event had issues:
“The reception I think has been mixed,” he explained. “People have really enjoyed the games themselves, and appreciated the quality of what we showed. There was also some appreciation of what we were trying to do with the construction of the event, with some criticism as to how that actually flowed, the pacing and the logistics. For the last three years, we’ve been trying to inject a bit of drama and theatrics into the proceedings, to make it more than a simple presentation. We tried to evoke the spirit of the games.”
And to be fair, between Death Stranding, Spider-Man from Insomniac, Ghosts of Tsushima and Last of Us Part II, they did invoke some feelings, and yet, they didn’t really announce anything new:
“Some of the coverage this year has been a bit critical of the lack of new stuff, probably a consequence of people announcing things when they are early in production. Some of that is to do with the fear of leaks, of not being able to present the title in the way that the creator wants it to be presented. But the desire [for new announcements] is met with the reality of the production timescale: how long it actually takes you to release a game.”
Regardless, the event is over now, and you can bet that Sony is going to learn from this.
