The spirit of E3 could be felt in LA – now let's bring it back | Opinion

gamesindustry.biz:

The last week in LA was pretty good.

I enjoyed it, at least. This past week, whatever you call it – Summer Games Fest or Not-E3 or E3 lite or the ghost of E3 (oh I like that, something that's still here but also not really) – had some strong announcements, some games you could actually play, and a bunch of nicely put together showcases.

Ultimately, we're all beholden to the line-up. Geoff Keighley's Summer Games Fest showcase was well done this year, with good pacing, a strong opening message, decent variety, and diversity. But even Geoff can't make games appear out of nowhere. It was well done, but it's not going to go down in history as an all-timer.

PlayStation is clearly going through a lull with its line-up. Over the last two weeks, it's announced and showcased its 2024 first-party slate, which primarily consists of Astro Bot, Concord and LEGO Horizon Adventures. Now these games hold a lot of promise and look lovely, but they're hardly God of War or Spider-Man. Nevertheless, PlayStation was in LA this week, with a physical presence. The media could meet developers and play Sony's line-up during this period for the first time since 2018. That for me feels significant.

Xbox had undoubtedly the biggest show by far, with a string of blockbuster reveals. You can certainly see what $80 billion buys you, with blockbuster brands, impressive new IP and returning fan favourites during a relentless 90 minute broadcast. It was an exciting show. It perhaps lacked a little variety, I felt it was crying out for a family game, but then Microsoft knows its crowd. It was a shame it was a pre-recorded video and not a live show, because I felt the audience would have reacted very strongly. But perhaps one for next year.

To all those events organisers, it's worth remembering this week doesn't belong to you. E3's death was, in part, a failure of consensus. The industry couldn't agree with what it wanted

Ubisoft had an event, too. This was another company that focused its immediate