The world’s biggest annual gaming event, Electronic Entertainment Expo, kicks off tonight with a showcase from EA.
There are plenty of articles online discussing the schedule. This year, E3 will be a little more GMT friendly, with a lot of publishers holding earlier time slots than last year.
So, we’re aware of what time each publisher will take the stage this year – but what games can we expect to see? With the Switch’s momentum, and the Xbox One X having been announced before, this E3 will most likely be all games. PC Gamer’s slot also allows publishers to reveal their PC titles outside of their own time slot, giving each publisher a lot of time.
With all of that established, let’s get into predictions.
Electronic Arts
First and foremost, we can definitely expect to see EA’s annual sports titles, like Fifa and Madden. We can also expect to see some Battlefield 5 gameplay, which will probably be EA’s meatiest gameplay showcase.
What I’m most excited for, though, is Anthem, which is due some love after its announcement at E3 last year. This is the game which BioWare’s Mass Effect team were assigned to (possibly leading to Andromeda’s shortcomings). Let’s hope that Anthem looks as good as we hope it will!
Microsoft
Last year, Microsoft’s conference featured some third-party reveals, including Assassin’s Creed: Origins, and we can probably expect some other third-party showcasing this year. Forza seems like a safe bet, and Microsoft’s baby, Halo, is definitely due some attention. Cliff Bleszinski recently tweeted that he was bored in retirement, so Gears of War could also potentially enter the spotlight this year. The future of Sea of Thieves is pretty much shrouded in ambiguity right now, so some clarity would be much appreciated by the gaming community.
Bethesda
One of my personal favourite studios, who unfortunately gave perhaps the most disappointing showcase last year in my opinion. The recently announced Fallout 76 is a pretty safe bet, as is Rage 2, which has been taken on by Avalanche Studios and id Software. Fallout 76 is what I’m most looking forward to here, which is apparently going to feature slightly different mechanics to the other titles in the franchise, with survival and crafting mechanics at its core, according to rumours.
We can probably expect some more VR and a Skyrim port for calculators, too.
I’m not salty, I swear.
Square Enix
These guys are the new kids on the block, and I’m really excited. I haven’t played much Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts, but Square Enix collaborated with the incredible Yoko Taro last year, which resulted in the masterpiece known as Nier: Automata. Kingdom Hearts 3 and some new content for Final Fantasy XV will probably kick off the showcase here.
We can expect some Shadow of the Tomb Raider footage, and hopefully a closer look at the Marvel Avengers game that was announced back in 2017. Due to the lack of announced upcoming titles, hopefully we’ll be in for a few surprises, too. This is a must watch for serious gaming fans.
Ubisoft
Beyond Good and Evil 2 will most likely be left alone, or at most get a very minimal feature, as it’s already been attended to. The Division 2 will probably be featured.
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is what you want to look for here. After the success of last year’s Origins, we’ll be heading to Greece. Ubisoft seem to have forgotten about their new “one AC title every two years” policy, but we’ll let them away with that, because who doesn’t want to see a 300-esque Assassin’s Creed?
On top of all that, Ubisoft are always liable to reveal some surprises. Last year featured a Mario/Rabbids mash-up – is it wishful thinking to hope for Rayman?
PC Gamer
Unfortunately, I don’t know what to tell you here, except for the fact that the line-up of publishers is pretty epic. It includes Square Enix, Sega, Oculus Rift, and many more. This one is impossible to predict – which, if you think about it, makes it essential to watch? (Especially if last year’s Age of Empires announcement is anything to go by!)
PlayStation
Four words: This. Will. Be. Insane.
Last year, we got Horizon: Zero Dawn DLC, a Shadow of the Colossus remaster, and a look at Monster Hunter World. Last year was big. This year will be bigger.
We’re getting a look at Ghost of Tsushima, Spider-Man, The Last of Us Part II, and, last but certainly not least, the amazing Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding.
This line-up is epic. Sony’s showcase should be made top-priority. I don’t even want to make any predictions about these games, because I’m far too excited. As if that wasn’t enough, apparently we can also expect “stellar announcements from third-party publishers and independent developers”.
Nintendo
Closing out this year’s Expo, we have our old reliable – Nintendo.
Last year saw the Switch’s first E3, and the world breathed a unanimous “wow…”
This year, we’ll have our second round with the console that garnered not one, but two Game of the Year nominations for its exclusives in 2017. Apparently, Fortnite is coming to Switch, which seems pretty reasonable considering its continued success. Aside from this, we have two huge announcements to expect.
The first is in relation to the new Pokemon titles, Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee. These titles have already been announced, and some gameplay has premiered – however, considering the hype surrounding these titles, we can probably expect to see them gain even more attention at E3. These games resonate more with Pokemon: GO! than other Pokemon titles – perhaps an attempt to combine the new fans of the series (scrubs) with the longstanding fans. Why would this be beneficial? Well, let’s just say there’s most likely a full-blown Pokemon Action-RPG set to premiere in the near future – which, unfortunately, we probably won’t see at E3 2018.
Last but not least, we’ll see a playable version of fan-favourite Super Smash Bros. Nintendo have scheduled an invitational competitive tournament for this during the days immediately following E3, so we’ll see lots of gameplay for this title. Very exciting times ahead!
So, there’s plenty to look forward to this year. Sit back, relax, and try not to get too upset about the fact that these games aren’t out just yet.
Happy E3!
