What can we learn from the current landscape?
The world of gaming is looking a bit differently right now. As we write this in July, we’d normally be passionately discussing all the news that E3 would have shown us in June. Instead, a new sort of energy has overtaken the present, going largely digital. How has this changed things? Let’s take a look.
More than a few Caffelli employees have done a tour of E3 in past years, including some on-the-floor time in show booths as demonstrators and PR staff. This gives a perspective of the event that those watching from the comforts of their own homes just can’t usually get, that being of raw excitement, exhaustion, and passion for the craft.
But, as the opening of Avatar states, “everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked,” and we all know exactly what the Fire Nation is supposed to be in this example (let’s see if we can go a whole blog post without actually having to say its name!).
All events for 2020 have effectively gone digital only, including E3, PAX, and everything in between. This is felt particularly strongly considering both Microsoft and Sony are launching new consoles this year, meaning that for most people, physical events would be packed with hands-on moments with these new devices.
Instead, tactics changed, and companies had to find a new way to get information out, a method that follows largely in the vein that Nintendo established with their Nintendo Direct formats.
Starting in 2011, Nintendo introduced a new method of announcement delivery that they called the Nintendo Direct, with then Nintendo president Satoru Iwata proclaiming he was there to present information directly to the viewer. Effectively, what Nintendo established was having their own events where they could control the narrative and the hype, instead of being forced to share the gaming spotlight with all other companies vying for attention such as at events like E3.
In 2020, Nintendo Directs are so beloved and expected that Nintendo will trend on social media when they don’t have a Nintendo Direct for long enough. Fans will rush to Twitter and beyond to speculate when we’ll actually see one, what will be revealed, and why Nintendo is waiting so long to show anything off. And while we all expected there to be some sort of digital presentation from the Big N during the usual E3 time, there has been a large gap, one that a different competitor swooped in to fill.
Right now perhaps the biggest gaming-related news came from Sony’s PlayStation 5 reveal event (which you can watch in full here). Sony typically goes the big reveal route, renting out huge venues and getting crowds hyped in person. But this year, even before events began going digital, the company had announced they wouldn’t be attending E3. Everyone thought they were crazy, but here we are months later and suddenly they’re one of the few companies that had actual dedicated time during June for their reveal.
And reveal they did. The PS5 received an hour-and-a-half presentation showing the look of the console and a truckload of game announcements including a sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn and a very exciting addition to Marvel’s Spider-Man with the inclusion of Miles Morales.
What made the PS5 announcement so fascinating is that while it ran on June 11, it was slated for June 4. For an event this big to be postponed is nearly unheard of, yet—since it was entirely digital—the only shift was in dates. Imagine what it would have looked like and cost had Sony been planning an event in a large venue, only to have to shift it by a week. It would have been a headache; but, it instead easily pivoted to allow for current social events to dictate the most important topic and shifted by a week to accommodate. That’s amazingly powerful.
Interestingly, the companies we’ve heard relatively little from are the other two you’d expect to have something right now, those being Microsoft and Nintendo. Microsoft has taken a different tactic, wisely feeding Xbox fans content little by little while building to their event on July 23, essentially making room for Sony to claim June, but Nintendo’s curious silence has a lot of people very puzzled. Though they’ve shared some announcements here and there, the expected Nintendo E3 digital event never happened, which adds a different sort of hype as people wonder daily, “What will Nintendo show, if anything?” We know they have no plans of revealing a new console or SKU for the wildly popular Switch, but we also haven’t heard much about their game lineup for the rest of the year.
Who we have heard from, thankfully, are indie developers rapidly showcasing their games to a fanbase hungry for gaming content. Events such as the Guerrilla Collective, the Wholesome Direct, and the Steam Game Festival provide indie developers a greater chance to stand out among the AAA developers who usually hog the spotlight. The fact is, gamers are hungry for content, so seeing indie devs talking about their games and in many cases sharing new demos that gamers can play right now equals a big win for the indie dev scene.
Caffelli, Signing Off
If you’d like to discuss some plans for an event, either digital or in person, we’d love to chat and share some ideas! Reach out to us at info@caffelli.com and let’s get your event going.
