I know E3 is still upon us, but with all the conferences out of the way, and likely all the major titles announced I wanted to give my thoughts on E3 2019 as a whole as well as rank all the conferences from worst to best.
This was a very strange E3 in that there were a lot of bad conferences with a game or two that really made a huge impression. I truly believe the reason for this was because many of the big publishers are gearing up for next gen, which will likely kick off holiday season 2020. With the exception of Nintendo since the Switch is still pretty new and will see support for the next 3 or 4 years, all the other big publishers were obviously holding a lot back this year since their big, next gen projects will likely be revealed at next year's E3, and probably during the rest of the time leading up to next gen actually starting. As a result, there were a lot of underwhelming conferences, with most of the highlights being games getting release dates that have been hyped for years now. Despite this, there were still some stellar conferences, mainly from Square and Nintendo, and in many ways this was the best E3 since 2015.
Speaking of E3 2015, E3 2019 more than any other year felt like the fulfillment of that legendary E3 4-years ago. Many of the most insane revealed from 2015 like FFVII Remake and Shenmue 3 are finally getting released soon, and it felt like this year was the end of that chapter in gaming. In a way this makes me sad, however there will be a golden opportunity next year for all the publishers and devs at E3 2020 to pull out all the stops and give us amazing games to be hyped about for years and years, just like E3 2015 did.
As mentioned, most of the conferences were fairly forgettable aside from one or two major announcements within them. The only outright terrible conference was EAs this year, with Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order being the most noteworthy game shown off. Microsoft had a better conference, however it was mostly uneventful minus the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer and of course Keanu Reaves lol. Some might argue that the Project Scarlet teaser was noteworthy, however I'd disagree since it really only outlined the obvious that MS is working on a next gen console. Until we get actual specifics this news is about as meaningful if they never said anything at all about it. Bethesda's conference was also fairly underwhelming as they mostly showed off their two main games that are coming out, Doom Eternal and Wolfenstein Youngblood. Other than that we were showered with half an hour of failed Fallout 76 revival, mobile games, and ESO expansions. There was the reveal of Ghostwire which I'm excited about, but it did little to make the conference more than average at best. Ubisoft's conference was the definition of mediocre, but at least they have games on the horizon that some might really want. I watched the LRG and PC Game show, and both were actually pretty good! LRG definitely had the better showing off the two with some amazing titles that will get physical releases soon, but the PC Gaming show was no slouch either, with some very cool titles shown off, however a good mix of crap was also shown too. And then as if saving the best for last, Square-Enix and Nintendo both absolutely crushed E3 this year, by flooring us with so many great announcements and reveals it was hard to calm down during either presentation! While I think both presentations were outstanding and embodied what you'd want every E3 conference to be like, I'd have to pick Square as this year's winner; not only did they deliver on FFVII Remake and then some, they also revealed so many incredible looking titles that have me genuinely excited about their IPs again. It's been easily 15-years since I was last really into Final Fantasy, however FFVII Remake has me wondering if that game might once again revolutionize the JRPG genre once again just like it did in 1997. However, Nintendo is a very, very close second place, with Breath of the Wild 2, Banjo Kazooie in Smash, and many of their other games slated for 2019 and 2020 releases getting me ultra hyped! In summary of this enormous paragraph, here is my rank of all the E3 conferences/presentations this year.
1. Square Enix
2. Nintendo
3. Limited Run Games
4. PC Gaming Show
5. Ubisoft
6. Microsoft
7. Bethesda
8. EA
Sadly I wish Sony was included in this list as their conference is typically the one I get the most excited for every year, but even without them this was one of the best E3s I've ever seen! God, I am so excited about the next year of gaming, and I have reason to be even more excited beyond that with next generation dropping the end of 2020, and undoubtedly a ton of excellent games on the horizon for it. Now, excuse me while I drop a small fortune in preorders at Gamestop lol.
