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[Power Pro]

Just been something on my mind every time the "E3" month of June comes around. The days of E3 were pretty exciting for us not just because we knew what was gonna be happening the following fall, but what the future of gaming might actually be.

Now I really hate how the game industry does things now with announcements. Like, why can't we know the date and time for such an event ahead of time? We know a Nintendo direct is likely to happen this month, but why must it always be revealed a day or two before hand? Tell us a fucking date and time. Just tired of the endless speculating on EVERY THING, even things as simple as when something is going to happen. We know there's a new Switch...oh, but we're not talking about that yet....we know there's a direct this month...oh, but we're not gonna tell you when.

PS3 and Wii released in 2006, but we knew by E3 2005 plenty of information to go off, and speculate what the consoles might be like. We knew over a year in advance that the Wii was coming when it still called Revolution, or we knew about the Wii U and the gamepad over a year before it released. Just give us something to work with instead of always having to deal with assholes spreading rumors, which may or may not be true. That's the real frustration, instead of having reliable information, we have to rely on leaks, and that's ridiculous that we should have to get information that way. Things were always close to the chest on some things in the game industry, but it's gotten to ridiculous levels in recent years.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

At this point I'm convinced a lot of "leaks" are fabricated.

The amount of leaks nowadays is insane, and if it is this bad then they should start revealing things earlier. Except when that's exactly what they want.

 

[Sushi_Combo]

As much as people ripped into E3, there was at least something we looked forward to every year. Nowadays, It's like pulling teeth trying to at least know a date when these companies plan a showing.

 

[WitchHunter]

Yeah, but you need to muddle the waters, otherwise the idiots with lots of mony who only copy things, will, well, copy things. My favorite quote from the Departed: "Feed them shit, keep them in the dark."

 

[EverydayBeast]

E3 was significant, other conferences do what they can but frankly they aren’t E3.

 

[baphomet]

The last thing we need is multiple years between announcement and release.

 

[Power Pro]

The last thing we need is multiple years between announcement and release.

I don't think a year is unreasonable for some announcements, especially when it comes to hardware where they want people to spend hundreds of dollars on a product.

And in the case of games, maybe multiple years is frustrating, but man...I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the trailers up to release for Metal Gear games. They don't make em like that anymore. Not even Kojima does.

 

[Moriarty1889]

E3 was a spectacle no doubt. It drew interest and anticipation. It was an exciting time and gave gamers something to look forward to. The industry was a lot better with it imho.

 

[Unknown?]

People complained of games barely in preproduction being announced.

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

I think its actually the quite the opposite.

Back years ago, when the internet was in its infancy, and all we had was E3 and Tokyo Game Show, etc., there was more mystery to this thing of ours, where every tidbit of news meant more.

Now, we're too connected and too much in the know...leakers, socials, the press.

I honestly think companies shadow drop events because that's all they really can do at this point to keep any of the mystique around the thing.

We're at information overload and this is the best they can do to keep up.

 

[Paltheos]

I think its actually the quite the opposite.

Back years ago, when the internet was in its infancy, and all we had was E3 and Tokyo Game Show, etc., there was more mystery to this thing of ours, where every tidbit of news meant more.

Now, we're too connected and too much in the know...leakers, socials, the press.

I honestly think companies shadow drop events because that's all they really can do at this point to keep any of the mystique around the thing.

We're at information overload and this is the best they can do to keep up.

Agreed on all counts except companies shadow dropping events to preserve mystique. I don't know why they do it but I generally believe just about everyone in the industry believes in being as loud as they can all the time in the vain hope their voice gets through the cacophony. Except Nintendo because they don't have to.

 

[Topher]

Corporations talk to stockholders. Not gamers.

 

[Robb]

I don’t really mind announcements shortly beforehand personally. Not really sure how having an exact date would lower speculation for the event either. I don’t think that matters.

For me personally I think changing these big shows to carefully curated pre-recorded videos has made things kind of boring. Watching a “gameplay walkthrough” in the current format is just watching an ad. You know any potential mistakes have been edited in post etc. It’ll never be the same as a live performance. It all just feels very “fake”.

 

[IAmRei]

Well, it is still like that. Although not grouped in one go. We have to dig them outselves via forum, social media, videos, rumor, etc. I'm missing magazine era thought.. it gives me different feeling rather than easy to forget web tab style...

 

[bitbydeath]

Sony can’t even announce an event in a reasonable timeframe these days, let alone their games.

We’ve heard nothing on Venom despite it being leaked for next year, and Astro Bot was only just announced, which comes out in a few months.

 

[Represent.]

Its a huge joke. Its like they want no one to be excited about anything.

 

[Fenix34]

Nostalgia became annoying every thread about this

 

[Punished Miku]

I'm not even going to say it.

 

[ProtoByte]

Sony can’t even announce an event in a reasonable timeframe these days, let alone their games.

We’ve heard nothing on Venom despite it being leaked for next year, and Astro Bot was only just announced, which comes out in a few months.

Isn't Venom '27?

 

[bitbydeath]

Isn't Venom '27?

‘25

 

[Hypereides]

At this point I'm convinced a lot of "leaks" are fabricated.

The amount of leaks nowadays is insane, and if it is this bad then they should start revealing things earlier. Except when that's exactly what they want.

The annual Assassin's creed leaks definitely seem fabricated and come off as a deliberate marketing campaign. You would think Ubisoft had enforced stricter information disclosure policies by now to prevent those from consistently happening each year.

 

[LavitzSlambert]

I like the shift in focus to announcements about games within the next year or two, as opposed to some of the far-off announcements in the past. Especially considering how much longer it takes to develop games now. We saw what happens when things don't go well with the Metroid Prime 4 debacle.

But I do agree I enjoyed a bit more notice regarding when to expect the announcements, rather than "Hey check out Youtube tomorrow!" There is something about an agreed upon date you can expect to look forward to every year, and E3 for all it's shortcomings, was still a nice event to rally around. Christmas in June for video game fans. It feels like the past several years have shifted excitement toward "leaks" and other vague announcements, as if companies are chasing engagement metrics - everything needs to be things you aren't supposed to know! Maybe I'm just an old man, but I'd rather just have some news that doesn't need to be obtained through the grapevine.

 

[StereoVsn]

As much as people ripped into E3, there was at least something we looked forward to every year. Nowadays, It's like pulling teeth trying to at least know a date when these companies plan a showing.

And I think getting all the folks together from different game companies, media and so on made for a better atmosphere and produced better content.

Personally I am not a fan of these disjointed conferences and last minute reveals.

 

[TropicanaTwista]

We’ve heard nothing on Venom despite it being leaked for next year, and Astro Bot was only just announced, which comes out in a few months.

Not sure if you mean it this way, but why is this a bad thing? I don't need to hear nor care about things that are years away. I don't really even see who this benefits, between consumer and publisher.

Like Sony officially announced wolverine in 21 and per the Insomniac leaks, that's expected to be a 2026 game. They also announced that new Kojima game, which is gonna be awhile has he has at least 2 other projects that are gonna drop first. Why should I, in the middle of 2024, give a shit about those games atm? I much perform shorter timeframe between announcements and game releases.

To circle back to the OP, E3 was cool for the time but it's extremely dated nowadays. Much easier to just announce things whenever is best and not forced to do it at a set time.

 

[bitbydeath]

Not sure if you mean it this way, but why is this a bad thing? I don't need to hear nor care about things that are years away. I don't really even see who this benefits, between consumer and publisher.

Like Sony officially announced wolverine in 21 and per the Insomniac leaks, that's expected to be a 2026 game. They also announced that new Kojima game, which is gonna be awhile has he has at least 2 other projects that are gonna drop first. Why should I, in the middle of 2024, give a shit about those games atm? I much perform shorter timeframe between announcements and game releases.

To circle back to the OP, E3 was cool for the time but it's extremely dated nowadays. Much easier to just announce things whenever is best and not forced to do it at a set time.

In the spirit of this thread, most games used to be announced at E3 many years in advance, hence the hype.

I think announcing 2-3 years out is the sweet spot.

 

[semiconscious]

i miss when the game industry actually had things to tell us about...

 

[KungFucius]

The last thing we need is multiple years between announcement and release.

when E3 was relevant this was rarely more than 2 years. If they showed games like that now, most reveals would be 4+ years before launch. That said, there was a component of the show that focused on what would drop before the next show.

 

[ProtoByte]

In the spirit of this thread, most games used to be announced at E3 many years in advance, hence the hype.

I think announcing 2-3 years out is the sweet spot.

Tbf I don't think we need to hear about Venom more than 6 months before it's out. It's a midquel like Miles Morales.

And honestly, if it means more polishing and actual work done to the real game as opposed to vertical slices, I'm fine with games not being announced that far out. I don't think Santa Monica's new IP needs to be talked about more than 18 months before it comes, for example. Show the game in that period.

 

[Mowcno]

Announced shortly before release is much better.

Screw that Wolverine, and almost everything Xbox announces time frames.

 

[deriks]

‘25

Venon and then Wolverine?!

Doubt.jpg

 

[AV]

What are you gonna do if you know the date of the next Nintendo Direct right now, book the day off work..?

 

[Killjoy-NL]

I've got time.

Already got games to play on a daily basis, so announcements can come whenever.

 

[crackajack]

Companies never talked about totally unfinished products. Sure, bullshot trailers and Sony hamfisting PC support for their VR2 rn, but expecting Nintendo to talk about a new Switch when Switch is still selling would be dumb from them. That they work on new hw basically as soon as the current gen ships is clear, but today everyone wants to know everything yesterday, and all those insiders speculating about bs, driving some i am uninformed feeling. Removing E3 as the one glorious event each year reduces the hype a lot, but a lot of disappointment stems not only by insane dev times and just no new announcemnts by your fav dev but excepting everything to revolve around yourself, your taste and your expectations is a you problem too.

 

[Schmendrick]

I actually much prefer not knowing until something is actually tangible over getting an "it's coming... In xy years or whatever"
The E3 always had too many useless trailers and announcements for things that barely even existed at the time of the show.

The developers and platform holders being able to announce their stuff according to their actual production cycles instead of being forced to present something that may or may not be ready to be presented just because "it's that time of the year" is a good thing.

 

[FewRope]

Consume habits have change drastically since the glory E3 days, we are constantly bombarded with information every single second of the day. Back in the day I knew about E3 a month later in a gaming magazine, that time is never coming back

 

[RoboFu]

There is really nothing that exciting anymore. No proprietary hardware. No new game play concepts. The industry has budgeted themselves into stagnation.

 

[midnightAI]

At this point I'm convinced a lot of "leaks" are fabricated.

The amount of leaks nowadays is insane, and if it is this bad then they should start revealing things earlier. Except when that's exactly what they want.

Not a chance, I'd say very few are fabricated, leaks can do a lot of damage, for example I'm sure internally Insomniac will have been in a lot of trouble due to their leak even if it's not their fault.

I'm bringing up Sony because a lot of talk around nothing being shown is usually related to Playstation, but Sony allow their dev teams to release information when they like (I'm sure Sony ultimately will overturn that if the timing is way off though). But the simple fact is a lot of these teams would rather show something late into development and not too early otherwise it puts a lot of pressure on themselves.

The thing is I'd rather wait until the game is ready to be shown in the best light possible, no CG, no teaser, just show gameplay when ready and what we'll see in the final game. This is especially true when it's a new IP.

 

[midnightAI]

Venon and then Wolverine?!

Doubt.jpg

Yes, Venom then Wolverine, Venom is a smaller game like Miles Morales

 

[Xtib81]

You're not wrong OP. I have stopped expecting anything from this industry.

 

[Spyxos]

Without E3, it has become very boring. Yes, we have a lot of shows throughout the year, but most of them have nothing to show at all. The last 3-4 State of Play were just a waste of time for me. Better make a big show and show everything at once and not this crap where you have nothing at all and only have fillers.

 

[Woopah]

I like that we get shows more evenly spread throughout the year now, but yes it would be good if we got the State of Play and Direct dates in advance.

I don't mind that Nintendo announces most of their games less than a year from release. I quite like that.

 

[deriks]

Yes, Venom then Wolverine, Venom is a smaller game like Miles Morales

Oh, so it's a DLC. Now I believe

 

[Punished Miku]

Oh, so it's a DLC. Now I believe

Could have some cut elements from Spider Man 2 also. No one knows, but that would definitely help speed it up a bit.

 

[FunkMiller]

One of the (many) reasons E3 died is because there has been less and less exciting stuff to announce.

The stagnation the video games industry is due to corporate greed and bad management, and no amount of scheduled games events will change that.

 

[Osaka_Boss]

At this point I'm convinced a lot of "leaks" are fabricated.

The amount of leaks nowadays is insane, and if it is this bad then they should start revealing things earlier. Except when that's exactly what they want.

Summarized Midori and "her" code giveaways lol

 

[lughnasadh123]

Gamer's can be such obnoxious shits that I don't blame companies from shifting away to not saying much. Who wants to deal with the meltdowns from having to go back on previous announcements when plans change? When the chronically online can go back to acting like adults again maybe we'll start getting more transparency.

 

[Bond007]

Its funny cause the last few years of E3- gamers hated all the cringe, all the wasted time- blah blah.
How great it was to go the Nintendo Route and do directs etc. People were happy to move away from it via the convenience of streaming and a direct access for fans.


Now its missed- companies hardly reach out to us with these shows. Things are spread across years/big titles withheld- hardly what anyone anticipated. I personally always liked the E3 hype fest. Even if it meant a release date was a year or 2 later. Atleast, you knew it was coming and updates would be peppered in every few months.
Of all the hobbies i am part of- the gaming side is the worst. Negative things are always allowed in the name of convenience or percieved benefits.

 

[U n i o n 0015]

I do actually think that it's reduced the hype cycles quite a bit. In a way, having a single major event generated more hype and the "directs" didn't have to compete with one another.

Essentially what happens now is that a company does a direct, gamers get hyped for a game, then another direct comes along and takes some of the attention away from the prior direct.

 

[Lumpyoatmeal]

Just been something on my mind every time the "E3" month of June comes around. The days of E3 were pretty exciting for us not just because we knew what was gonna be happening the following fall, but what the future of gaming might actually be.

Now I really hate how the game industry does things now with announcements. Like, why can't we know the date and time for such an event ahead of time? We know a Nintendo direct is likely to happen this month, but why must it always be revealed a day or two before hand? Tell us a fucking date and time. Just tired of the endless speculating on EVERY THING, even things as simple as when something is going to happen. We know there's a new Switch...oh, but we're not talking about that yet....we know there's a direct this month...oh, but we're not gonna tell you when.

PS3 and Wii released in 2006, but we knew by E3 2005 plenty of information to go off, and speculate what the consoles might be like. We knew over a year in advance that the Wii was coming when it still called Revolution, or we knew about the Wii U and the gamepad over a year before it released. Just give us something to work with instead of always having to deal with assholes spreading rumors, which may or may not be true. That's the real frustration, instead of having reliable information, we have to rely on leaks, and that's ridiculous that we should have to get information that way. Things were always close to the chest on some things in the game industry, but it's gotten to ridiculous levels in recent years.

Why would companies spend money for an E3 show to generate excitement when you can instead put out rumors and leaks that cost literally nothing today? It’s a no brainer for a company to save some money, that’s why posters like Tiago Rodrigues is probably getting paid peanuts to work compared to an actual employee at SIE.

 

[midnightAI]

Oh, so it's a DLC. Now I believe

No, it's stand alone like Miles, you don't need SM2 to play it (you can call it DLC if you like, but it isn't)