This year’s E3 was one of ups and downs, with a few exciting announcements being made alongside a ton of underwhelming ones. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo didn’t really have hugely impressive line-ups for the expo this year, with a plethora of games being announced for a 2015 release, which means that in order to deduce the future of “The Big Three,” we must look deep into our crystal ball. Or, y’know, make some well-considered predictions.
This is where we think Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are/should be heading over the course of the next year and beyond.
Where should Sony go from here?
Sony has the easiest year ahead of them following E3, not because the games they showed during the expo were particularly outstanding, but because we are so frequently reminded that the PlayStation 4 is “winning” the “console war” that all the company has to do at this point is give us enough new releases so that we don’t begin to question the media narrative and come to the conclusion that maybe the Wii U has the brightest year ahead of it.
A recurring theme of this year’s E3 was that the majority of announced titles are penned for a 2015 release, with the PS4 games that are coming out in 2014 mostly being multi-platform titles. So if your biggest games of the year are also releasing on your competitors’ consoles, what do you do? Well, you secure exclusive content, that’s what.
At this juncture you could be forgiven for thinking that Destiny is a PS4 exclusive, given Sony’s huge championing of it. A special edition white PS4 bundle will be released alongside the game, its alpha and beta stages are solely accessible by PS4 owners and it even opened Sony’s press conference at E3. This is how Sony and Microsoft operate now: they put so much backing behind particular multi-platform titles that buying it on a rival console seems like it would be the inferior option.
However, while this tactic is inarguably frustrating for consumers, who are forced to watch exclusive content from some of their most highly anticipated games being shilled out to whichever company puts in the highest bid, there’s no denying that it works and that Sony’s love affair with Destiny will ensure that it enjoys much higher sales figures on the PS4 than on the Xbox One. Microsoft’s consistent yet somewhat underwhelming press conference at E3 also ensures that Sony can rest on its laurels for the time being, delivering those multi-plats and retaining a steady userbase before eventually unleashing the big guns. The PS4’s immediate future doesn’t look all that exciting, but after its largest competitor’s performance at E3, it unfortunately doesn’t need to be.
Where should Nintendo go from here?
Nintendo had the weirdest E3 out of all three console manufacturers. Again foregoing a press conference in favor of a “digital event,” the hour-long streamed broadcast featured a glimpse at a new The Legend of Zelda game, some more information regarding Super Smash Bros. for Wii U & 3DS, and concluded with the newly announced multiplayer shooter Splatoon, before Reggie Fils-Aime announced that the show was over but that there were still “more announcements to come.” The digital event was disappointing, and Reggie’s admission that Nintendo had more games to reveal outside of it felt like a hollow acceptance that the company didn’t have much up its sleeve… until it actually started making announcements, such as the unveiling of a brand new Star Fox game.
Why Nintendo treated E3 as a marathon rather than a sprint is anyone’s guess, but it didn’t really work. At a time when the company really needs to be capitalizing on the burst of popularity the Wii U has received following the release of Mario Kart 8, E3 would’ve been a great opportunity for them to do just that, but instead fans were feed new games via a drip feed throughout the duration of the expo, thus lessening the impact of their announcements.
Mario Kart 8 has pushed the Wii U back into relevance, with the console receiving a huge sales boost (666% in the UK) following the title’s release. Considering both Microsoft and Sony don’t have much planned in the way of exclusives for the duration of this year, and that what lies in store for both of them in 2015 remains a partial mystery, if Nintendo can keep steadily advertising the new Super Smash Bros. as much as they have been whilst building up anticipating for the new Zelda, they could be in for quite a good year, if they stop being so damn weird when it comes to marketing their products.
Where should Microsoft go from here?
E3 2014 was essentially an extended apology from Microsoft. With no focus put upon the Kinect, nor the Xbox One’s TV features, Microsoft instead showed off a multitude of games in an heartening, if somewhat underwhelming, press conference.
The problem with Microsoft’s press conference is that the stuff it had to show off didn’t exactly blow the roof off the Los Angeles Convention Center. While Halo: The Master Chief Collection, a remastered bundle of Halo’s 1, 2, 3 and 4, certainly looked great, it being Microsoft’s biggest “new” game of the show was a bit of a downer. It may well be the very best HD collection we’ve yet seen, but it’s still just a HD collection.
Until Microsoft begins to introduce new exclusive games for the Xbox One, the sales gap between it and the PS4 is destined to increase. While Sony didn’t exactly show anything that would make anyone want to pick up a PS4 in its press conference, its got the huge advantage of having the largest install base, meaning that it can afford to not fire on all cylinders until the Xbox One begins looking like a real threat. While Microsoft’s big showing of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare during its press conference was a relatively large coup for the company considering the popularity of the franchise, by now everyone acknowledges that Call of Duty is a multi-platform series and therefore they will not dupe the average consumer into believing that CoD is “better on Xbox” no matter how much they advertise the fact that the game’s DLC will be making its way to their console first. Call of Duty: Ghosts sold better on the PS4, and this trend will continue with Advanced Warfare.
Microsoft have said that they’re in this console generation for the long-haul and that some time spent trailing behind Sony won’t ultimately harm them, but they’re going to need to pull something out of the bag eventually if they don’t want to harm their brand image by being perceived as runners-up to the PS4. There’s still time for them to make some kind of comeback, but 2014 is a lost hope at this point. The best they can hope for is blowing us away with new releases in late 2015/2016, and given the lack of enthusiasm for the games they had to show at E3 2014, it’s likely that they’re hard at work trying to bring software to the platform that will tear the house down.
