Microsoft was my personal favorite, and it was yours too
Yesterday we summed up E3’s conference situation so far, and it was looking really good for Microsoft.
Towering over above the others with a 76.6% approval rating (for context, we provided polls at the end of every conference for readers to vote, and the approval rating combines the “loved it” and “enjoyed it” ratings for an overall “positive” metric), Microsoft was the clear king. It’s still the king even after Nintendo had their go, as the mostly-Smash concept fell flat for some viewers.
EA and Square Enix are the only events that really just did not resonate with people, with EA bottoming out at 3.6% and Square Enix hitting the relatively low 11.1%. PC Gaming Show did a bit better at 26.7%, and Sony’s myriad technical issues didn’t help them as they ended with 34.4%. Getting into the better conference tier Ubisoft did fine at 42.5%, and Bethesda hit 44.7%. Nintendo is the clear-cut silver medal at 60.1%.
Overall this was a pretty mellow E3. Leaks actually stole the show days or weeks before E3 proper, and as I’ve said several times it seems like publishers really have no clue how to actually do a conference anymore in this age of influencers and streamcasting. At least one company experimented with a “Direct” style trailer dump and didn’t pull it off. EA, as usual, tried to hype people up but it just ended up being awkward almost the entire time.
Will we see a move to more Directs in the future? It’s easily a possibility as Sony’s very strange “venue to venue” concept really didn’t land with both the attendees I spoke to and the viewers, who had to wait for an intermission after just one trailer. E3! There’s still madness to be had, but Microsoft and Nintendo won by far, at least according to our readership.
For reference, here’s a final approval rating breakdown for E3 2018 from highest to lowest (“loved” and “enjoyed” ratings recorded at the time of publishing):
- Microsoft: 76.6%
- Nintendo: 60.1%
- Bethesda: 44.7%
- Ubisoft: 42.5%
- Sony: 34.4%
- PC Gaming Show: 26.7%
- Square Enix: 11.1%
- EA: 3.6%
[Image source: ITofSMITIA via A Luigi Fanatic]
