Electronic Arts EA Play E3 Press Conference

It’s E3 time again. It always feels like it’s so far away when the year starts, but is inevitably here before we know it. It’s been quite the lead up to E3 this year, and I’ve tried to wait until most of the leaks and rumors have gotten out of the way before publishing these predictions (even though at the time of editing, they are still coming out). I’ll have five predictions for each major conference, starting in chronological order (aside from Devolver Digital, Limited Run Games and the PC conference).

Yesterday was EA, and I was not able to post these in time before the show, so here I have my thoughts along with my predictions, and how those predictions may or may not have come true.

Predictions

1. Respawn Star Wars

We have seen only a short mo-cap session teaser of this game back in 2015 I believe, and after Battlefront 2, and cancelling the game from the now closed Visceral Studios, EA’s Star Wars games need a win. Respawn is talented, and this is set to be a single-player action adventure game, something that many fans want, especially after the aforementioned Visceral Studio’s game being cancelled. It’s as good a time as any.

*1 point. We may not have got anything except a title, Jedi: Fallen Order, but it was announced. We’ll definitely be seeing more of this next E3. It would be nice to have seen more, at least a teaser, but EA has plenty else coming out that I don’t think they needed to.

2. Apology

Speaking of EA Star Wars games, Andrew Wilson, the CEO of Electronic Arts, who is almost always present at these shows needs to come out first and at least mention their failings in 2017. Between Mass Effect: Andromeda, Battlefront 2, and even Need for Speed: Payback, I think an apology can go a long way. They’ve stated that Battlefield V will be better with microtransactions and DLC, so paired with an apology, together it might hold better weight.

*0.5 points. Dennis Brannvall, a design director at DICE came out to go over new additions to Battlefront 2, and mentioned that things did not go well at launch for the game. A little later, EA CEO, Andrew Wilson came out and mentioned that as a company they “want to be better” and giving players “value for their investment” and not having choices that give players an advantage over others. While not exactly an apology, they mentioned some of their shortcomings, which goes a little way toward making up for questionable decisions from 2017. They are learning from their mistakes, just like they have in the past with things such as online passes. It’s something, but they could have done more on this front for their consumers.

3. Anthem March 2018 Date

We know Anthem was delayed to early 2019. Final fiscal quarter to be exact, which ends in March 2018. I think, much like Andromeda they want to have as much time as possible before hitting the end of that fiscal year. My prediction is an exact date of March 26^th, 2019 will be at the show for Anthem. It’s the last Tuesday of that fiscal year, so if theyre dead set on keeping it within that frame, they cant really delay it from there, unless they have it on a Friday release instead of the traditional Tuesday.

*0 points. I wanted to give myself half a point here since the game did get a date here, but since I made it specific, I’ll let this one go. I have plenty of thoughts about Anthem that I want to write up after E3 is done. February is only 8 months away, so it’s exciting, but if they want to make sure it’s in the fiscal year, they could only realistically delay it about a month anyway.

4 . EA Motive Teaser

Much like Respawn’s game, we know next to nothing about the game coming from the relatively newly formed studio, EA Motive. They assisted in Battlefront 2, specifically the story mode, but they were also formed to make a big budget action adventure game, something that EA doesn’t really have up to this point. I don’t think we’ll see much at all, but a teaser will at least give us an idea of what may be in store for Motive.

*0 points. Maybe next year?

5. Cringy Sports Talk

It wouldn’t be an EA press conference without cringy sports casters or a 10-minute interview with an athlete. Personally, I love sports, but it’s a momentum killer… and I predict it will happen again.

*0.5 points. While I appreciated the talks about FIFA 19, and Madden 19 (which did nothing for the game) being shorter than previous years conferences, they still brought the show to a halt at times; that’s counting the fact I watched the show late and was able to skip through these sections. I’m going to throw the shout casting and match for the Command and Conquer mobile game here as well. I understand the need for EA to show off these titles, as much as the even is for the fans, it is also there to show off new titles and services that are for a much broader audience. That said, I think there can be a more clean and concise way to get these announcements out when on stage.

Bonus: Dragon Age 4

                With the focus from BioWare solely focused on Anthem, I’m 99.9% sure this won’t happen, but I BioWare fan can dream, right?

                *Yeah, I knew it wouldn’t happen

Total: 2.0 points

Thoughts

                Overall, I don’t think it was a bad show, but there are the same pacing problems and issues with presentation that has plagued EA’s conferences for years. I’d love to see more showing of the game, and less just people on stage talking for too long of a time. Don’t play a whole match of a mobile game, and don’t have a football player and a Madden player chat for five minutes when it has nothing to do with the game. I know EA’s audience is broad, but cleaner delivery can go a long way with how consumers perceive these conferences. The same information can be relayed directly to the people who care about each product via a press release or YouTube video. For as well poorly received NBA Live has been in recent iterations, just showing a trailer has me somewhat interested in the game, given all the microtransaction controversy that was in last year’s NBA 2K title. Just a trailer is all you need sometimes, and I hope EA can do more of that for its sports titles in the future.

                EA Originals continues to be the stand out for Electronic Arts, showing two new games: Unravel 2 and Sea of Solitude. I enjoyed the live demo of Unravel 2, and the fact they were able to keep a secret “its out today!” release under wraps is impressive. Sea of Solitude from Jo Mei games looks promising, and tackles themes that most games stay away from. This seems very important to the team, and I’m glad EA was there to help make their dreams a reality. It was also great to hear Andrew Wilson mention that Hazelight’s recent game, A Way Out, has sold over 2 million copies, and the team is moving into a bigger studio. A Way Out is a great game, and Hazelight absolutely deserves it.

                EA also presented a new streaming initiative, as well as promoting the new Origin Access Premier, which is similar in a way to Xbox’s Game Pass. It is interesting to see EA investigate where videogames could be heading in a few years and getting the message out now. I’m intrigued to see where it goes in the future. Games like Anthem and Battlefield V will be there at launch for subscribers, as well as other EA Access titles, and that seems like a good deal. Speaking of Battlefield V, I’m surprised that we didn’t see more this close to release, but like many were thinking, a battle royale mode was mentioned, but no details otherwise, except that it will be available after launch.

                And then there is Anthem. I liked the laid-back nature of the presentation, and the gameplay looks incredible, but I’m still not completely sold on the game. Like I mentioned, I want to dig deeper into what I like and don’t like about what has been said about Anthem so far, but I will be doing that in the coming weeks. Until then… It’s time for Microsoft!

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