No, Microsoft Did Not ‘Win’ E3 2018 – Their Conference Was a Massive Let Down

"With no new IPs on the horizon, the PS4 will continue being the runaway success of the generation, and Microsoft will keep hemorrhaging its loyal fans until they can do something about it. So no, Microsoft have not ‘won’ E3 2018. Not by a very long stretch. Not when the same complaints that we’ve repeated for the past 4 years are still just as relevant now. Give us games – then we’ll talk." Ben Hutchings - Gamer Professionals.

[Majin-vegeta]

Touche *Sips tea*

[chrisx]

this writer says it as it is. nothing but the truth imo.

[RpgSama]

That's right, Ms E3 was a travesty, the same conference of every year, over again, anothet new Forza, another new Halo, 3 more Gears with Gears Pop, Gears Tactics & Gears 5, Ori 2 showed again, Crackdown 3 showed for the 6th time?, Sea of Thieves expansions for a game that is already dead + already released "exclusives" like Pubg yet again and we happy few again, a game that was released like 2 years ago on Xbox as an early access. Add to that a bunch of third party games that everyone will get, what's the point in getting world exclusive trailers I don't know, these games will be on the competition or already are (Nier).

For me the conference was a HUGE disappointment. The biggest purchase and surprise was Ninja Theory, Playground and Undead labs doesn't add anything to MS, they already were releasing games exclusively for Xbox, so they didn't gain nothing they didn't already have with those, that's it.

[-Foxtrot]

True but how many people will actually read the article to see his points...it's just going to look like an attack on here and you know what happens

[Brave_Losers_Unite]

The worst thing about it NO EXCLUSIVES

[showtimefolks]

it more more of the same besides the studio announcement and few of the studios were xbox related to begin with

[SpringHeeledJack]

Same old smoke and mirrors from Microsoft. games that are not really exclusive. Same old Halo, Forza and Gears announcement.

Top it off they did a typical Microsoft tactic of just buying up companies. fans have been saying Microsoft need a culture change, not to buy up more studios. They will ruin these new developers like Rare if they do not change their business strategy and culture.

[starchild]

1. You can't declare a "winner" until all companies have had their conference.

2. The "winner" is always going to come down to personal taste.

[JaguarEvolved]

All I saw at the Microsoft conference was halo, gears , gears, gears, Forza. It's the same thing they've been doing. Acquisition of development studios is very good for Microsoft but those games wont be out by middle of next generation while Sony is constantly releasing exclusive games and they'll have games to launch with the ps5. PlayStation will continue to dominate

[bouzebbal]

No idea why people are excited for xbox show anymore.. Has been a letdown since first reveal, getting worse and worse overtime.

[GameNameFame]

I love how people are calling it winner by showing multiplats.

If showing multiplats games are winner. Than youtube is the winner! It showed ALL multiplats!

Fanboys gon deperate

[GamingIVfun]

A lot of flash and bravado. A lot of timed exclusives, mostly indie games. Lots of third party game announcement which were good, but didn't carry the show and they will be on other consoles . They bought five game studios. Were any new games announced from those studios? Halo...long way from release, just basically an announcement. A Forza and a Gears game, they looked great......

A flashy stage and them saying we are the best ( you decide) basically. To be honest I have never liked there flashy approach to the E3 conference and them always saying they are the best. If you say your the best you better be the best because it will bite you in the ass if you aren't. Microsoft have been bitten a few times. The better approach would be to say we strive to be the best. As far as the Xbox One being the best place to play third party games, they cover both ends of that deal, if you are playing on Xbox One or Xbox One S you could be playing the worst version of those games and even if you play on Xbox One X it's not a given it's going to be the best version

[pinkcrocodile75]

To be fair, I doubt Microsoft can do anything right on this site, fanboy's aside.

Now I'm not trying to moan because my point is, that we already knew the chance of new ip's already coming to fruition was highly unlikely. We all knew that MS should do a Sony and buy some studios and we all know that in gaming nothing happens in 6 months and to be fair even 12 months is a stretch.

So I went into the conference with tempered expectations and I was pleasantly surprised.

I like Gears of War, especially 4 and have high hopes for 5, however I'm really curious over the tactical gears ([email protected] knows what the pop thing was mind).

I'm a massive fan of Forza but specifically Forza Horizon and after watching FH4 show off seasons like Autumn and Winter made me excited.

Yes, these games are well known but don't forget that the reason they are made is because we love them with every iteration.

I loved the conference and was surprised as opposed to bored.

[MasterCornholio]

Kermit is that you?

https://imgflip.com/s/meme/...

[n1kki6]

I saw 50 games, some of which I will play on PC, some I will play on PS4, and some I Will play on xbox. Was a good show to me. I guess if your poor or a douche and only play on one system, then yeah, I suppose.

[Tobse]

That moment your fanboy Level reaches new hights

[Eonjay]

To me, giving the win to Microsoft is like giving them credit for basically posting everyone else's work. I do give them credit for Forza and Gears as I think those were highlights. Especially Gears as I'm not even a Gears fan and I thought that looked great.

[Ristul]

Great point, they showed a lot of multiplats.

[KillBill]

Microsoft 50 games of which 18 were exclusives. Sony 16 games of which 11 were exclusives. So Sony had a better exclusive ratio but Microsoft showed more. So Microsoft had a lot of Multiplats shown but didn't mean they didn't show exclusives. Even showed some games that many had said would stay/be on PS only.

[DarkVoyager]

“No, Microsoft Did Not ‘Win’ E3 2018 – Their Conference Was a Massive Let Down“

I wouldn’t say their conference was a massive let down. I though it was one of their best.

They need more games outside of Halo, Gears, and Forza though. Hopefully the studios the acquired will help fill in the gap. I’m sure Playground games are working on a new Fable game as we speak.

[Brave_Losers_Unite]

It was good, but the games are coming out for PS4 and PC. So their E3 was basically a 3rd party E3

[The 10th Rider]

I don't see why that matters though? Sure there were some concerning things for Microsoft as a business, but even from that perspective they talked about buying studios, they talked about expanding gamepass, etc . . . all of which are promising from a business perspective. From a gaming perspective sure they didn't show many exclusives, but they showed a ton of great games and moved quickly through them. It was a great show.

[manabyte77]

But it wasn’t good unless you were looking at the third party showcase that took up 90% of the show. My favorite part was Cyberpunk 2077 at the end, and I’ll be playing that on PS4.

[Kribwalker]

18 out of their 50 games have either timed or console exclusivity. so 36% of their games have some sort of exclusivity. hardly all the games 😉

[jagermaster619]

Sony had 3rd party games shown too. Plus they showed games that we knew about from last year's e3. Least Microsoft showed us mostly new games.

[ClanPsi1]

Makes you wonder why they're even in the gaming industry if that was one of their best shows.

[alb1899]

I'm wondering why you are aloud to have an opinion with your logic.....hmmm!

[Seraphim]

"I thought it was one of their best."

That just shows how much, rather, how little they've been doing this gen for this to be one of their best. There were some good games, yes, but overall it was incredibly meh. Aside from the surprise acquisition of Ninja Theory who have always praised their independence.

[LOCO209]

To be honest the only reason I bought HELL BLADE was to support their independence.
Good game but only got it at launch to support them.. They must have been on life support......----------------- ---
to sell out.

[NovusTerminus]

Their conference was a step forward by admitting the need for, and their commitment to 1st party now.

But overall it did nothing to sell their cinference.

[SuperSaiyanGod41]

U nailed it and I agree but in my honest opinion this Microsoft e3 was my favorite one by far. Yeah they didn't have any huge exclusives to win me over yet but just seeing them invest in new studios shows me they aren't giving up and are readying up for next gen to really compete. It's really good for all us gamers.

[FallenAngel1984]

It wasn’t a let down for gamers in general since a lot of things that many people can appreciate got unveiled.

It wasn’t a let down for some devoted Xbox gamers. However if you don’t have an Xbox console this conference didn’t do much to persuade you to get one over a PS4.

[Cmv38]

And that's the point. Ms has still done very little to convince me to buy an Xbox alongside the pro. Yes I'm Sony first, but I'm not Sony exclusive, but I understand and appreciate my power as a consumer.

[annoyedgamer]

There was no win here. But it definitely was not as bad as it could have been.

[Majin-vegeta]

Ill give credit where its due aquiring/building new studios is a step in the right direction.But no new IPS should be let down for x owners.Announcing games too early the way they chastised sony for announcing games them yet no one is calling them out can you say doube standards?Now lets see if they can start momentum into next gen

[Pancit_Canton]

Can we have the rest of companies have their E3 conference first before announcing any winners and losers? I know fanboys are anxious to rub it in on each others faces. Just hold it in a in few more days. The day after E3 should have #NOMODS424. Just to let it vent for a day

[The 10th Rider]

I was with you until the no mods thing. That would be awful.

[Kribwalker]

#THEPURGE

lol

[Christopher]

Conflicting thoughts here.

1. Microsoft hasn't won E3. But they had a good showing overall and the necessary change we've been asking for, it's just not going to happen now because that's now how new IPs get made, let alone those from just purchased studios.

2. Their conference wasn't a massive let down unless you suddenly expected them to pull games out of their ass. What they did do is set up a better future. Expecting them to suddenly have new IPs is unrealistic and why we've been complaining about their game issues for years.

3. I agree that they still have to prove their direction change from this event.

4. There's hyperbole on both sides of this as well as people ignoring the good from it while trying to focus on the 50% that was focused on third-party titles. This is a change of direction for Microsoft an a presentation that focused on games rather than past ridiculed topics (movies, streaming, etc.).

It was a good presentation, it just wasn't going to ever turn Microsoft around on a dime. It's going to take time and this presentation showed signs of them taking massive steps towards that.

There's also the issue of what people have designated for themselves as what constitutes a 'win' and what doesn't. Some people it's just games for that platform/publisher. Others, it could be more about the industry.

[CaptainOmega]

Remedy’s game could have at least made an appearance. js...

[DigitalRaptor]

Remedy is going to be at PlayStation's conference.

Bookmark this. :)

[Tazzy]

It did make an appearance on PS4.

[Majin-vegeta]

2. Their conference wasn't a massive let down unless you suddenly expected them to pull games out of their ass. What they did do is set up a better future. Expecting them to suddenly have new IPs is unrealistic and why we've been complaining about their game issues for years.

Well i mean having released next to nothing for xbox for the past 3+ years you would think at least 1 or 2 new IPS would have been announced.

[Christopher]

I think that's a hole they've dug for themselves that we know about but just haven't grasped how bad it really is. Microsoft is leveraging Gears, Halo, and Forza heavily. They did have State of Decay and Sea of Thieves, they just weren't what Microsoft "needed" to counter what Sony has been throwing at them. It's not that they haven't released anything, it's just that it hasn't been the 'hit' they needed or something that wasn't expected.

[MasterCornholio]

Just like to add that nobody "wins" E3 until everyone had their conferences.

[OB1Biker]

Until the E3 event is over. Not just the pre E3 conference.

[OffRoadKing]

For me it was about uncle Phil's T-shirt and this year it was a massive let down.

[OB1Biker]

I think it was a good conference because of multiplat but honestly it was still the usual exclusives. Nothing new. New studios are more of a promising potential but that doesnt mean they automatically do great stuff and need to show something people may or may not like

[yomfweeee]

What do you mean pull games out of their ass or have some new IPs?

This gen is almost 5 years old. They've been promising new games for years. So, yes they should have new games.

[starchild]

Fair and well-reasoned comment.

[Tazzy]

Their showing was mainly games coming to both Xbox and PS4 they were basically showing the PS4 some love they keep saying they don't rely on Forza Gears or Halo but they do. I'd give their showing a 3 out of 5 Sony blew it away big time and we got our first look at Control and Resident Evil 2 which could be a PS4 exclusive.

[Rimeskeem]

I live the people who gave Sony shit for showing games that wouldnt be out for a year or 2 and now MS showed new studios whos games likely wont be out for 3+ years until next gen.

[Christopher]

That's just fanboy BS. Sony is still going to be pumping out way more IPs over the next few years. That's a given. But I'm not going to continue to shit on MS when they do something right. Their presentation was much better than I expected, though I didn't go in with unrealistic expectations that they would suddenly announce two games for 2018 and four for 2019 that we've never heard or thought of before. It's going to be a long path for them to get up to speed, and their conference was a strong start towards that.

[The 10th Rider]

Announcing games that are years out with CGI trailers is vastly different than announcing the acquisition of some studios...

[Majin-vegeta]

*CoughHaloinifnitecough*

[The 10th Rider]

Do we have a release window for that though? In a comment earlier this year I actually averaged out the time between announcement and release for Sony AAA first party titles and the average was almost 2 and a half years. As long as Halo Infinite launches before the end of 2021 they beat Sony's average for this gen.

[Rimeskeem]

I dont remember the last time Sony announced @E3 an acquisition of studios. They just do it more privately and show the games off.

[Hakoom]

microsoft never won any e3 tbh xD
sonys e3 in 1h 30mins ;)

[XabiDaChosenOne]

Listen, I am glad that Microsoft has taken first-party Studio exclusives "seriously" and are making "efforts" to widen its arsenal of games. But until I have seen exclusives with release dates from the five Studios that they have recently purchased everything that they are saying right now in regards to trying to bolster their first party Studios is just promises. At the beginning of this generation Microsoft claimed that they had 1 billion dollars to spend on games I have yet to see the product of that 1 billion dollars almost 5 years later.

[memots]

throwing money around does not make a great conference.

[Teflon02]

MS conference would have been great if they said Any version of conker was on pc officially now and all 3 banjo titles. Whether through rare replay or single releases. I just want official releases of them all

[TheGamingArt]

Couldn't agree more.

[ClanPsi1]

I thought it was a great conference for PC and PS4 gamers. There were a lot of good games shown to look forward to!

[OffRoadKing]

*Grabs popcorn* This comment section is going to go thermonuclear.

[WitcheRivia]

Imagine being so mad that Microsoft had a good conference that you have to go & write a diary entry about why they didn't 'Win' E3.

[XtreemGamer]

Imagine a conference where 90% of games are multiplatform the others are just engine demonstrations... oh wait

[MrSec84]

Agreed, the same old reliance on Halo, Gears and Forza, along with more reliance on 3rd Party games.

There was nothing new from classic franchises people have wanted to see for ages, like Banjo, Conker, Perfect Dark, Viva Pinata, Kameo and there were no new IPs announced.

The most we got was a banner for a Battle Toads Game and the promise that some new studios will eventually have new games, even though Microsoft have recently killed off a bunch of others that were meant to be working on games that should have launched by now.

This E3 was very disappointing for Microsoft, more empty promises that there's no indication will actually be fulfilled.
There was no point in announcing new 1st party Studios being a part of Microsoft Studios unless they actually have something to show.

It's all just seeming like smoke and mirrors once again from Phil Spencer and co.

[TocaCannaBowl]

agree

[DeadManMMX]

Welp to each their own opinion. Plenty of people were happy with that conference could it have had more sure but it's a damn good sign for the future. Sure they could've announce Perfect Dark or Fable 4 games that are literally at least 2 years away to get a good pop and put them over but what's the point? They did that lil bit with Halo. Things are looking good it just seems like no matter what MS and Xbox do there is a legion of people waiting to put a negative tint on it. The majority of people are pleased with the show and that is really all that matters.

[TocaCannaBowl]

just wait for the next e3 😂