The DeanBeat: E3 signaled a bright future for gaming

There are always a lot of reasons to complain about the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the big game trade show in Los Angeles last week. I tired myself out walking for miles, and that can put a game critic and journalist into a foul mood. I talked to a lot of people before the show who were wondering if E3 was going to be an embarrassment. But I came out of this year’s E3 feeling confident about the future of gaming.

I was able to get briefings on a lot of games ahead of time, but E3 held some tantalizing surprises. And the quality of the games across all platforms was breathtaking. Without feeling too self-conscious about being a hypester, I can happily predict that the golden age of gaming will continue.

Newzoo is forecasting that gaming worldwide will grow from $91.5 billion in 2015 to $107 billion by 2017. Based on what I saw at E3, I can see that happening. There is no reason to believe that the console industry will shrink as gamers flee toward free-to-play PC or mobile games. The console titles were really strong, and I see no reason to believe the new digital games will cannibalize the traditional industry. And I was very happy to finally see strong virtual reality titles coming from both Oculus VR and Sony’s Morpheus VR headset. And of all the VR titles I saw at E3, only one, Sony’s Rigs mech e-sports title, made me feel nauseous. That’s a big improvement over past years.

At the biggest events of the show, Sony and Microsoft didn’t disappoint. Microsoft touted Gears of War 4, Halo 5: Guardians, and Forza Motorsport 6. It also surprised us with an announcement that Xbox 360 games will run on the Xbox One game console. Sony unveiled the brand new intellectual property Horizon: Zero Dawn and the brilliant blockbuster action title Uncharted 4: Among Thieves. Horizon showed that game developers still have the imagination to come up with an amazing new world, and Uncharted was proof that video game designers are still masters of combining outstanding action and storytelling.

Above: Dean Takahashi demos the Oculus Rift and Oculus Touch.

Image Credit: Brendan Iribe/VentureBeat

Oculus made me laugh out loud with the Toybox demo for its Oculus Touch input system for virtual reality. Microsoft showed off HoloLens, but the demos that I saw were somewhat flawed. Their system needs a wider field of view and better-quality graphics. But I applaud them for effort, and I think that augmented reality is going to be a fun platform of the future.

As much as I try not to be swayed by cheering at press events, it was hard not to get caught up in the retro gaming thrill when Sony announced Final Fantasy VII and Shenmue III at its briefing. I was stunned at the quality of gameplay and graphics of Doom and the breadth of Fallout 4 at Bethesda’s event. Even Electronic Arts, once maligned as the worst company in America, showed up with outstanding titles such as Star Wars: Battlefront, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, and Unravel. It also got cheers for a new Mass Effect: Andromeda reveal. Ubisoft showed strong titles in The Division and Rainbow Six: Siege, and it is being very ambitious with games such as For Honor.

Only Nintendo seemed to have a weak line-up. But it created some crowd pleasers for the loyal Nintendo fans, such as Star Fox Zero for the Wii U, Super Mario Maker, Amiibo characters for Skylanders: SuperChargers. Those titles aren’t going to win over new gamers, but they may keep fans busy until Nintendo launches its NX console next year and debuts mobile games in partnership with DeNA.

And there were plenty of other companies that could make up for Nintendo’s weakness. Warner Bros. came out strong with Batman: Arkham Knight, Mad Max, and Lego Dimensions. The latter should help grow the “toys to life” market and give Activision a run for its money. Square Enix has some big titles coming in the form of Rise of the Tomb Raider, Just Cause III, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and Kingdom Hearts III. Epic Games showed off its Fortnite title, and Hello Games may have figured out a way to use math to create massive virtual worlds with No Man’s Sky.

Above: Welcome to your new home.

Image Credit: Evan Killham/GamesBeat

The mobile people seemed to stay away, even though they’re becoming the biggest part of the game industry with an expected $30 billion in revenue in 2015, according to market researcher Newzoo. The only mobile game company booth on the show floor that I noticed belonged to Madfinger Games. It made sense because they make hardcore games on mobile devices that would appeal to the E3 crowd. Google and Apple didn’t seem to have much presence. They have their own shows to tout now. But Amazon was there, looking to lure developers to its app store and Fire platforms. And Bethesda proved with Fallout Shelter that mobile gamers will spend a lot of money on a high-quality title that comes from a hardcore gaming brand. Fallout Shelter might very well make more revenue than Fallout 4, but that’s going to be additive to the industry, not cannibalistic.

It was a welcome sight to see big new digital gaming companies step up their efforts. Wargaming branched out beyond World of Tanks to show off Master of Orion, a strategy game, while Nexon touted a bunch of new Western-inspired mobile games. Overall, I expect the Asian and European game companies to inject some healthy new ideas, capital, and games into the titles that we see at E3.

EA’s resurgence was heartening. Even in its annual sports games, it added interesting gameplay, such as crazy courses where you could hit balls across Grand Canyon in its Rory McElroy PGA Tour golf title. Activision has been narrowing its plate of titles, focusing on huge franchises such as Call of Duty. But it continues to invest heavily in Destiny. And it brought back music rhythm games with Guitar Hero Live. It also proved it was innovative again by adding vehicles to Skylanders: SuperChargers to keep that title fresh.

I loved stumbling across big indie titles such as Abzu, Hellblade, Adr1ft, and Wattam. On the PC, Sega’s Creative Assembly showed off the incredibly cool graphics of Total War: Warhammer, and Blizzard is prepping the real-time strategy game StarCraft: Legacy of the Void. In short, every piece of the gaming ecosystem is healthy. And not only is the industry on a path to delivering economic expansion, it is also showing that it isn’t creatively bankrupt either.

After a year of reactionary pullback from diversity, it was heartening to see the game designers going after a broader audience. Powerful female leads headline Horizon: Zero Dawn, Hellblade, ReCore, Assassin’s Creed, and even Electronic Arts’ soccer game, FIFA 16, which included women’s teams for the first time.

Sure, it could be better. Megan Gaiser, head of Contagious Creativity, is urging the industry to foster more creative leadership. But Mike Gallagher, head of the Entertainment Software Association, is also right to say that the game industry has some of the most creative people and biggest innovations of any industry. I see cyclical, secular, and creative drivers fueling growth in the industry.

You could certainly argue that there just isn’t enough time in the year to play all of these games, and you would be right. Some game companies are going to falter because their titles will get lost in the mix. But I think the game industry can rest easier knowing that we’re going to have a plethora of choices for the foreseeable future.

Sure, you can call me a cheerleader for the game industry. But after an E3 like we just had, would you disagree?

Above: Aloy takes on a big mechanical dinosaur in Horizon: Zero Dawn.

Image Credit: Sony