The company's press conference is always full of surprises, so long as you're okay being years older when they're done.
I guess I’m in a different mind set but I look forward for whatever they show, whether it coming out this year or the next. However, I keep myself in check as things can happen, games get canned for one reason or another. I’ll truly be mad at Sony if they had nothing to show and not showing different games.
I think when It comes to E3 I generally have the mindset that what I’ll be seeing on stage is not actually a real thing and while I can get excited about a presentation it never really feels that real to me. I do think Patrick has a point though, promising the world to their fans and offering up what one could only call a nebulous timeframe has the potential to be a really nasty business practice, especially if it starts feeding into pre order culture and the like (Shenmue III is great example, IMO).
At the same time, though, I can also respect Sony taking the time needed to finish the game. Patrick mentions Fallout 4 in the article and I can’t help but wonder if that game wouldn’t have been better off by being delayed a bit just so they could iron out at least some part of the fuckery present in that game at launch.
I’m fine with the Sony conference being all far away stuff since I’d rather spend more time with my Switch right now, and Nintendo has a super good lineup for the year already that can only get better with E3 announcements. Ima just let Sony announce all their late 2018 and beyond releases, get real excited about them for a bit, let 'em drift from memory for a bit, then get real excited again around the time they all start actually happening.
I just hope Bloodborne doesn’t get a sequel. Nothing could ruin the point of that game more than expanding on it. I won’t complain in the slightest if it happens, but it will be a shame nonetheless.
Yeah, I didn’t realize that idea of presenting early stuff may lead to pre-order hype. Made me wonder why people rush out to do it and get burned at the end. I have always avoided pre-ordering unless I know the game is coming from a place I 100% trust. That said I’m not everyone and best I can do for others is recommend not to pre-order.
Not looking forward to watching them aggressively push Days Gone, a game I can’t find a single ounce of care for in my body. I’d almost rather have the bottled excitement for games that aren’t even close to existing yet, sometimes, than the standard trotting-out of the next big exclusive that’s on track to release.
So I’m actually going to run to Sony’s defense on this one, since I thought their last two pressers were some of the best I’ve ever seen.
I can’t argue that they don’t have at least some history of revealing games that won’t come out in the following year. However, I’m not sure if I’d define them by it. Like Patrick says in the article, they’re certainly not the only ones that do this– Microsoft’s 2014 press conference alone had Crackdown, Phantom Dust and Scalebound, among others. Ubisoft often announces games 2+ years before launch. The Fractured but Whole is coming up on its 3rd E3. Hell, EA is even willing to show conceptual footage just to fill time.
Additionally, lot of the games that he lists in the article were third party titles. Things like Final Fantasy VII Remake and the Shenmue III kickstarter would have been revealed elsewhere if Sony didn’t pick them up, so I can’t really blame them for deciding that they were better off adding these “hype-inducing” reveals to their lineup.
As for the first party titles– despite the games not releasing for over a year past their launch, Sony seems pretty reserved about this compared to other companies. Games like Uncharted 4, Infamous: Second Son, LittleBigPlanet 3, The Order: 1886, Ratchet & Clank, and Horizon: Zero Dawn all went through at most one more E3 after they were revealed before release. Hell, even The Last Guardian, despite a decade of development hell, released within a year and a half after being reintroduced.
And there are definitely exceptions. I thought showing off a concept trailer for Death Stranding just for the memorable Kojima reintroduction was probably a terrible idea in the long run. It wouldn’t surprise me if Dreams is going through development hell right now simply due to SIE not being entirely sure on how to sell it as a game. But again, I’m just not sure I’d agree that these kinds of too-early announcements are a trend to categorize Sony’s press conferences by.
But we’ll have to wait and see. It wouldn’t surprise me if God of War, Days Gone, Detroit, Spider-Man, and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy all release between fall 2017 and spring 2018. Even if they all don’t, at least they’re still selling a stacked lineup for their consoles– which… well, that’s basically all that matters.
Honestly, one of the main things I’m looking forward to for this conference is Marvel Infinite. I know the roster is a tire fire, but I at least want to see some more gameplay (even though I know full well I’m going to be disappointed). Spider-Man seems to be really promising and I’m crossing my fingers for some FromSoft stuff. I haven’t played TLoU so I’m not that invested into the series (though Ellie is very gay and I support her) and I’m not that into GoW but I’ll still look into the gameplay. Hope that we get more stuff from Squeenix but that’s a pipedream at this point.
I still remember Kingdom Hearts III getting announced at Sonys E3 conference in 2013 and there’s no sign of it. I kind of wish they’d stop doing stuff like this.
Someone on NeoGAF actually did the math and games announced at Sony’s E3 conferences actually release in less time on average than games those announced at Microsoft’s E3 presentation: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1373448
Honestly I’ve always thought it was a silly standard to track either way. I think the importance of E3 announcements are in giving owners and potentially owners the confidence that the platform will be well supported into the future, and not just for the next 12 months. I don’t consider it an advantage for Microsoft that we have no idea right now what could possibly be releasing in 2018 for Xbox One other than more Forza when there’s already a sure pipeline of PS4 exclusive to expect.
I still want to pick up Assasins Creed: The Pirates One now that we have a PS4 so I am pretty alright with waiting actually.
Considering the gigantic backlog of games I currently have, I’m fine with whetting my appetite with games that will come down the line.
Even still, I wish they’d temper the hype a bit regarding these in-development games a bit, especially if they’re years (plural) from release. It just leads fans along without actually producing anything.
I don’t disagree, but I also don’t necessarily see this as a negative. I know this mode of thought isn’t in vogue right now, but I’ve always seen E3 as a rare glimpse into the future of video games, sometimes years into the future. I’m totally down for the hype that some of these conferences promise. I think the key is to just not get too attached to the idea of these games coming out any time soon. I have plenty of games to play already while I wait.
