Sony’s E3 2018 press conference was unlike any we’ve seen before – and, if we’re brutally honest, any we’ll ever see again. The platform holder mixed things up heavily for its showcase, but one thing remained predictably consistent: industry-leading first-party games. We’ve pulled together our trio of editors to share our snap reaction to the Japanese giant’s bizarrely constructed briefing.
Stop Being Clever, and Get Back to What Works - Sammy Barker, Editor
Sony stumbled upon the perfect E3 press conference format in 2016, when it balanced the theatrics of a live orchestra with the perfect blend of gameplay demonstrations and brand new reveals – and it’s been trying too hard ever since. While it was undoubtedly a lovely idea to immerse attendees in one of The Last of Us: Part II’s settings, it added nothing for the millions of people streaming, and resulted in a hype deflating interlude that seemed to drag on for decades.
The good news is that when the games were in motion, they looked absolutely astounding: The Last of Us: Part II – a game which, to my surprise, I was the least excited for going in – blew me away with its dynamic stealth combat and top-of-the-line characterisation; Death Stranding seemed very early, but I can’t not get excited about Hideo Kojima with a blank chequebook; and Ghost of Tsushima was arguably the biggest visual feast on display – even if it still has some kinks in its combat to work out.
Finishing on Spider-Man may not have been the perfect closer given how much of the game we’ve seen already, but it was the perfect demo selection, showcasing not just one but several villains that will appear in the game on 7th September. And, forcing me into an avatar change for a few days, Sony actually did bring a handful of surprises in the form of Resident Evil 2 (Capcom are killing it, by the way), Control, and Nioh 2.
I’ve been nervous about this press conference and I’ve been eager to try and control expectations because I genuinely didn’t think we were going to get many surprises. The lack of release dates doesn’t really concern me; Sony’s generally been dating most of its games at the last possible minute. And the software showed that the firm’s first-party is still very much best in class. My main criticism is that, even with content as killer as this, the company almost f*cked it up.
It’s time to stop being clever and start getting back to what works.
Just Shy of a Complete Sh*tstorm - Robert Ramsey, Deputy Editor
Well that was almost a disaster. As is often the case when E3 rolls around, Sony's incredibly strong showing of exclusive software saved the day -- only this time, the games saved the PlayStation maker itself, as the company came perilously close to making a complete mess of its own press conference.
That Intermission was a joke -- and not the good kind. I don't care if Sony was busy parading a gaggle of journalists towards a different venue -- there were hundreds of thousands of people watching online, and frankly, it was embarrassing. What on Earth was the company thinking?
Fortunately, as alluded, things did get back on track once proceedings were moved to a proper stage. I thought Ghost of Tsushima -- slightly janky animations aside -- looked hugely promising. Death Stranding absolutely has my attention as well, even if we've once again been left with more questions than answers. There were even a few surprises thrown into the mix for good measure, and they added some welcome spice to the event.
Again, though, I feel like Sony's really gotten away with one here. I think overall, it probably did have the best games on show out of all the publishers at E3, but this was a dreadful format from top to bottom. Even the transitions from one trailer to the next were sloppy, and the way the conference cut right at the end was jarring.
Uncharacteristic of a company which has perhaps been allowed to grow a little too complacent over the last few years.
An Unnecessary Wait Almost Overshadowed Some Potential Masterpieces - Stephen Tailby, Senior Staff Writer
Well, Sony said it was changing things up for E3 2018, and it wasn't lying. As the time drew near for the start of the Japanese giant's press conference, images started emerging on Twitter, depicting a tiny venue full of grumpy games journalists forced to stand. Quite what Sony was up to was unclear, but looking back on the presser as a whole, it's hard to understand what it was thinking. The aforementioned venue was simply window dressing for a gameplay demonstration of The Last of Us: Part II, and to be fair, it was a spectacular showing for Naughty Dog's latest, and the intimacy of the enclosed space created a very tense atmosphere that suited Ellie's stealthy infiltration of a mysterious bandit encampment.
It was all looking up after a worrisome start, but then we had to sit through an intermission while those grumpy journos were ushered into the main hall for the press conference proper. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that this completely crippled the pacing of Sony's showcase. Sid Shuman and his guests did their best to fill the 10-15 minute void with meaningful conversation, and in fact provided a couple of announcements, but it simply went on for far too long. What's even more frustrating is that, once it got going again, the show was great.
All four of Sony's tent-pole exclusives shone in their respective segments. Ghost of Tsushima was breathtakingly beautiful, although it was clear the gameplay and animations aren't polished as much as the visuals yet. Death Stranding continues to utterly baffle me, but it's impossible not to be captivated by its excellent trailers, and this was no exception. Finally, Spider-Man's combat-heavy sequence got me sufficiently hyped for September with wonderfully dynamic fights with several new villains. We even got a decent handful of other announcements, such as Remedy's new title Control and Nioh 2. The games, in the end, won me over, and I do think Sony managed to pull together a solid show, but the terribly misjudged beginning almost brought the whole thing crashing down.
So what did you think of Sony's E3 2018 press conference? Do you agree with us, or do you see things differently? Feed us your delicious opinions in the comments section below.
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Comments 75
There's a strong rumour going around that they actually had other rooms and theatres set up for Death Stranding and Spider-Man as well, but once they realised what a nightmare it was moving the audience they kept everyone in the Tsushima room.
If that's true, it's the most mind boggling thing I think I've heard all year.
At least the games looked very good. (And yes, I lost the bet. I'm forced to wear this avatar for four days, as I counted four "surprise" reveals.)
@get2sammyb Bloody hell I didn't know who you were for a second there
@get2sammyb Lookin good Sammy.
Wonder what the Death Stranding room was going to look like...
@get2sammyb that’s pretty crazy if true. I wonder how they thought they could do that in a timely manner during a press conference in the first place though.
IMO, if they would have done that little commentary at the desk before the conference started, and then followed up with TLoU: Part 2 instead of vice versa, it would have been a perfect conference. It was just that break in the momentum after showing off amazing gameplay from TLoU that kinda messed things up a bit.
It's the journalists fault, they should run and not keep us waiting. Get Fit!
@deepspace5d They had to move people from one room to another, hence the break. A truly bizarre decision.
I wish they would follow the Nintendo Direct format. It's so much cleaner and avoids the mind-numbingly dull parts that this conference had.
Good thing the stream kept conking out on my end, then.
@get2sammyb You lost the bet for one, there were three surprises.
@get2sammyb Respect
Like the article said and I said in I think it was tlou trailer thread Sony’s exclusives are unmatched from any other company. Seriously you don’t get games like that from the other two and it’s why Sony is so beloved and selling tons of consoles
@get2sammyb Kudos for going through with the bet, looking good haha!
As for the conference, I loved the games themselves and was genuinely shocked and excited by the Resident Evil 2 reveal. But the format was so, so terrible. Hopefully Sony will learn from it.
Also, the negative online response to Ellie's homosexuality in TLoU2 is appalling. The gaming community should be so much better than this. But then again, I can't say I'm surprised.
@SegaBlueSky really where was this at because that’s ridiculous
I kept getting distracted by the commentary transition I thought the conference had not started yet.
@JoeBlogs I usually go straight to teasers, trailers or gameplay footages whenever I missed the show. Not really interested in the talking part presentations, tbh.
@dark_knightmare2 it was Twitter I was seeing a lot of it, but also YouTube. Just awful, tiny-minded people.
I thought it was an awful E3. Them telling us they had nothing new beforehand does not excuse them from having nothing new. They didn’t really announce anything major last year either.
I’ve slammed Nintendo in the past for basing their E3 entirely around already announced games so now it’s Sony’s turn. Yes, what they showed looked great, but in the MS conference there were so many exciting reveals, and here there were none. The trailers for the remedy game and Nioh 2 were both very poor.
Sounds like someone's going to get a lot of flack for the way said someone organized the conference.
I think this was done purposefully to kill time because they couldn't just show each game for twenty minutes? I don't know. Still, while I applaud MS for sticking to its latest 'you'll see only games' philosophy, at some points it felt frantic and bloated. Still better than Sony's though.
Good sport for honoring your word, Sammy. Looking smashing today!
I was most impressed with TLOU Part II and Death Stranding. TLOU just simply looked amazing, like pretty much every Naughty Dog game. And there was just something about Death Stranding that makes me think that we're in for a real treat.
Ellie's sexuality was nothing new. Any fan of the series knows she's gay, and anyone who is upset about that really needs their head checking. A fictional characters sexual preferences are really nothing for people to worry about. Well done to ND for creating characters you actually care about.
Anyway, with that said they need to forget this format ever happened and never do it again. The punchable pundits dragging on for what seemed like an hour were unforgivable, and that pillock with the flute needs to turn it in an all. Dreams being relegated to bumpers when it REALLY needs a demo explaining it further was absurd, and the death stranding trailer was baffling in a bad way. Seriously, tiny reedus in the vast land? That's what they were excited about? Terrible.
The guy with the flute sounded like my 3 year old playing hers...
Still excitied for Ghosts, bit more interested in Spiderman now.
@SegaBlueSky Concerned trolls that never played Left Behind, that's nothing new. They want to politicize everything, it sucks to discuss about gaming on the internet nowadays.
@get2sammyb fair play 😂😂
@get2sammyb Nice avatar!
Didn't see the show as was getting some beauty sleep, but the format sounds horrendous.
But the games they showed look good and there were a few surprises in there.
@SegaBlueSky I went and looked thats ridiculous
Sony really dropped the ball with that presentation. Microsft has won this E3 hands down. What Sony said with this presentation is that they had very little to show us. Sony think that a few exclusives is enough and showing extended game play of just a few games will satisfy gamers. What Microsoft showed was a lot of games I got excited about. Sony seem to have totally ignored the fact that the console is not just about exclusives. I got more excited for the Bethesda presentation than I did for this one.
I really don't know what Sony was thinking, but I really enjoyed the games presented.
I bet Sammy is right, they probably had a room for each game in the original plan. They spent a lot of money on a clever idea with no regards to whether it was a good one. It's like Nintendo calling their console the Wii U, "you know, like We You. Get it?"
Yeah, I get it, it's a bad idea.
The beginning was very unprofessional and casual and non-hype enducing. Limiting the number of their announcements was a TERRIBLE idea. There are a million indies. Pick the best looking 10 of those.
People have no patience. I think the show was good. The intermission was a good place to present the third party deals (the part that everyone say always suck in every conference anyway).
People just think they are entitled to wherever.
If you just want to see trailers, wait for the conference to finish and go to Youtube, they will be there to your convenience.
Yeah let’s not do that start again. Don’t try to be cute. Anyway it’s clear they focused on quality not quantity regarding games. Clearly they are prepping for next gen.
Was a strange way of going about it but the games did there job seeing RE2 was brilliant and the last of us part 2 looks amazing
It seems mind boggling to me that they didn't just hammer some of those trailers in after The Last of Us while they were moving people. Or, you know, just don't move people.
@hotukdeals MS had a great presser for ps4 owners but did little else really, still lacking exclusives, they bought one or two studios(couple others don't really count because they already only made games for xbox) and definitely didn't give me a reason to buy an xbox especially by saying that a new console is in development, but yea ms "won" e3....
I think what people forget, is that Sony craft the showcases first for live audience. It was the same last year. But by reading the article, it seems that people are nervous or something.
Is Sony not delivering the games and experiences that they promised?
I actually enjoyed the presentation's format as it was suitably bonkers. To be fair, it was past 2 AM so I could have just been in a sleep deprived stupor. Made it to the end though and up again tonight for the Smash Bros invitational so busy week for me but well done Sony for what I thought was a truly fantastic presentation.
better than EA's E3 investors conference, that's for damn sure!
EA is literally the worse company to ever exist, I seriously doubt Konami could ever come close to crapping all over gamers as EA always does (with ease mind you) and make fans believe they are doing them a favor at the same time. I swear people who still support EA are just fully at this point.
EA has masterfully duped gamers into believing microtransactions are okay, and that's a mindset I'll never understand or accept!
The pacing was very strange and it ended very abruptly, but the games look wonderful. Spider-Man especially looks absolutely incredible and I am really looking forward to playing it.
The show wasn't flashy and there weren't a load of quick-fire trailers of multiplat titles, which seems to have disappointed a lot of people. In terms of letting their own exclusives do the talking, pacing aside, they succeeded. They're far ahead of the competition in that regard, in fact.
I also liked the few third party things they did show. Was not expecting Resident Evil 2 to release so soon. It looks quite scary!
@get2sammyb Hahaha hats off to you, Sammy.
100% agree I give the content of the show an 8/10 but the show itself was around 3
Outside of the lengthy moving of the audience, I thought it was good.
I must have fell asleep at around 1:40am so I missed the bloody thing. I was gonna give it a watch today but I've just checked out all the game videos instead which are all stellar, especially TLOU 2.
If they considered the Last of Us and that intermission as a PRESHOW then it would have been perfect!
@HungryWolf Not at all, I love the software they've got cooking.
No mention of limited run games. A treasure trove of news for vita collectors! Sadly the import fee is to much for me to justify, but they have an incredible line up of physical vita gems on the way
I really can't imagine they had further plans to move people around all the time. Then again I also can't really believe they thought it'd be a good idea to have an awkward 20 minute intermission after showing just 1 game (albeit an excellent one)
@get2sammyb I like your new Avatar! Please keep it forever and ever <3
sometimes something is just so good that it can't be beaten. (2016 show). other than that it was a good show but for lacking compared to recent years. better not repeat this next year sony.
nice avatar btw sammy
@get2sammyb Sammy the oxy dealer. New PS motto - "first taste is free"
Agree with what you said, last night was ok with what they showed since they gave us the heads up beforehand, but seriously they need to announce the PS5 by next E3, they can't have an E3 show w/ Death Stranding, Ghosts, TLoU2 and Nioh 2 again.
While you may be ok w/ them not giving dates, TLoU2 or Ghosts should have at least had "2019" at the end. If you can't say "2019" at E3 2018 after a couple of years of showing the same games then stop showing games at E3. Death Stranding is probably 2023, Kojima's blank check obviously came with a blank calendar as well. If they aren't going to show too many new games at least date the games they are showing for the 2nd time.
PS5 or I'm skipping E3 next year.
@rjejr I agree with what you said (don't agree on PS5) but I think people are being harsh on Death Stranding. Metal Gear Solid V isn't even three years old yet; he's had to recruit staff for an entirely new studio since then, design the game, select an engine, and start work on it.
New IPs take four or five years to make now.
I think there's a bit of a disconnect between gamers and how incredibly difficult these games are becoming to make.
yeah while i think that the ps5 will make an appearance next year it for sure doesn't have to.
just give us full release dates and go back to the traditional showcase.
If I had a penny every time someone called Sony "complacent", I'd be filthy rich by now.
It's like, "oooh, they're doing so well, they must be getting complacent!!!!".
Yeah, no. Not even close.
@Peach64 That makes zero sense. MS has the luxury of announcing new games because for the past years, while Sony has been releasing exclusive after exclusive, MS has not. They clearly only care about the holidays and ignore everything else.
I don't understand why sony didn't use e3 2016 as their default format for e3 conference. It's a perfect conference, big stage, live orchestra, executives talking about game for a minute or two, and reveal, reveal and more games reveal, for 1st and 3rd party. Why sony has to be weird??
Now microsoft stole their 2016 format, executives talk for a minute or two, and games after games reveal (although most of them is not exclusive).
Also, why sony didn't reveal dmc 5 and from software new game on their conference? I'm sure this japanese games will sell way better on ps4 (70% - 80%) compared to others system. Is sony just didn't care about japanese games anymore?
@get2sammyb "I think there's a bit of a disconnect between gamers and how incredibly difficult these games are becoming to make."
I think the disconnect is less w/ gamers, more with developers who think they can finisih a game in 3 years so they show it off but it takes 5. See Zelda:BotW, Rainbow Skies, FFXV, KH3, TLG. Over and over and over again games take much longer, not just than they think, but than they say. Then you have games liek Scalebound that can shown off twice and then canceled. Dont' even show a game until you think you can get it done in a eyar or two tops.
Dreams was shown at the PS4 announcement. It didn't have a name but the guy introducing it said the word "Dream" about 5 times, probably where they got the title from. That's not a problem of gamers thinking games should come out faster than they should, that's on the devs for saying in 2016 "We'll have a beta in 2017". The reason gamers think games should be out sooner is b/c thats' what they are told, You can't fault people for believing what they are told by the supposed professionals who are making the games. We're not talking about some nobody on Twitter saying "I think this game will be out next year" we're talking about Sony showing off TLG at E3 on PS3 when they knew it couldn't run on PS3. You can't blame people for believing what they are told by the actual people who are making the games.
In SOny's defense they haven' tbeen giving out release dates of late until close to release, but they shoudl still explain to peopel out loud - dont' expect this game any time soon, maybe not even this gen, as it's still early in development". If they know it isn't going to be done any time soon then they should say that. Say "it's years away".
To MS credit their entire E3 conference was pretty much - "We bought 5 companies to start making X2 games, so don't worry if you haven't purchased an X1, you can play those games on X2 w/ GamePass".
Sony was just the opposite - "buy a PS4 now for these great 4 games still to release". But next year they need to focus on PS5. Next time they show Death Stranding it better have some form of date. Or at lest if ti's PS4 or PS5. Can't blame gamers for what they don't know.
@rjejr You inspired me to write a talking point.
Very good and I don't even care about spider thing
@ShogunRok sums it up perfectly in his last two paragraphs. This part is particularly apt:
"Uncharacteristic of a company which has perhaps been allowed to grow a little too complacent over the last few years."
Glad somebody else is seeing it. They did get away with one because expectations were pretty low, probably especially after that dreadful start. Time to drop this terrible format, which started at E3 2017, and go back to the one from E3 2016.
@Gamer83 E3 2017 was the same format as 16 it's just people weren't happy that nothing "new" was announced.
And I don't get this complacency narrative that some are trying to convince themselves about. If that were the case Sony would be relying on 3rd party games and the same old franchises (see MS at the end of the 360 era).
All Sony did was change it up a bit and try to focus some of their biggest games (which any publisher in the world would love one of those, let alone 4) but these things get scrutinized to death to the point where you can't mess up otherwise the Internet eats you up.
@get2sammyb
Maybe that concept would have worked if they had one of those revolving stages or auditorium on tracks, but not the way they we’re doing it.
I wonder what instrument solos we missed out on...
Geez that was lame Sony!!!
At least the games won out.
@LaNooch1978 I call 'em as I see 'em, just sayin O_O
@wiiware DMC5 I agree with but Shadows Die Twice was obvious since they didn't want it alongside Ghost of Tsushima, Nioh 2 was fine since it was just a teaser.
@naruball Lol tell me that conference last night didn't smell of Sony's own farts.
I agree, I don't think Sony is outright "complacent", and it is a word that's used too liberally, but how else do you describe a brand that's sooooo far ahead of the immediate competition that it's clearly starting to lose sight of what its audience wants?
You can't wave away the likes of E3 2017, PSX 2017, and now E3 2018 without at least considering the possibility that Sony has a wobble in its step.
@malbhet Let's watch the insults please. Thanks.
Could have done without the huge intermission after TLOU2, and with the musical intros to both TLOU2 and Tsushima, especially watching in the UK at 2am and just wanting them to get on with it. What I did find refreshing was that they had the confidence to let MS basically announce the third-party titles for them and focus on their own exclusive titles.
@adf86 I think both game are different but maybe sony choose to show their console exclusives first. Oh well, I'll get both (got and shadow) when they launch
Also lol at sammy avatar
The beginning format was very odd Thank God the brilliant looking PlayStation Exclusives saved the day Because that is all that matters in the end i.e brilliant GAMEZ, GAMEZ, GAMEZ and SONY has it 'ALL'(unlike Microsoft who had nothing 'WOW'(T.M KAZ) outside of all the Multi-format games they showed, which are all coming to PS4 of course to)
Microsoft knocked it out of the park with a great stage setup, coordinated lighting that was very effective, great games and great presenters. You don't need to shuffle journalists through different venues in order to create atmosphere. This isn't a ride at Disneyland, and it's not an experience that you create on the show floor. This is a press briefing. Use a proper venue, have showmanship to actually talk about your games and your philosophy like Microsoft did or like Todd Howard did at the Bethesda showcase. And you can still create atmosphere for each title. Just look at what Microsoft did during the Forza segment of their show. The one part of Sony's show where there was someone talking, he rambled and was talking quickly and had no presentation skills. Learn from Apple. Learn from Microsoft. Learn from Todd Howard. That's how you do a show.
The thing is that Sony could pull out all the stops to once again being the ultimate E3 show with no objective faults but people in the industry and a very vocal minority on the Internet will still call it bad.
Sony keep delivering us fantastic looks at world class games but people have it out for them and will bring up any superficial bs to try and diminish any sort of buzz they can have, heck it happened with both the 2015/2016 shows where a bunch of dolts online complained of the silly things. Microsoft had a fantastic showing this year there's no doubt about it but if we were to look at the conferences objectively on what they were trying to do then Sony wins out as not only did they give some great and surprising announcements but also great looks at anticipated titles with not a single CG trailer in sight that reinforces that if you're a gamer then you absolutely should have a PS4.
Microsoft on the other hand showed barely any exclusives and what they did show was of varying quality with the weakest parts of their conference being Crackdown and a ridiculous tease of Halo (which was just CG nonsense). The rest of the show was games you can play on PS4 and they took up basically 80% or more of the show therefore not really giving much reason to get an xbox, the studio aquisitions was a brilliant move but it means nothing for the next couple years, and honestly the game pass thing and gears pop thing should have been kept out of the show entirely.
I hear what people are saying about Sonys format being unconventional and not working out this year (me and my friends didn't have an issue with it) but why is that what everyone is talking about when we should be focusing on the products being shown to us?
Oh yh because it's popular to bash Sony, i forgot. 🙄
Would've been alot better if not for the awful format. Their big four showings were honestly divisive for me, and I typically love the games Sony publishes.
I loved what TLOU PT. II and Spider-Man showed (ready asf for this September), but Ghost of Tsushima looked.... odd to me. Like I didn't dislike it, but what I saw wasn't impressive after the first sword fight. Death Stranding was easily the worst thing shown off at the show. A *****ng walk sim is what it was.
The third party stuff was good, and I'm plenty excited to see what'll become of these VR games.
Overall, I agree with the title of this article; gokd show, bad format.
@ShogunRok It is by no means losing sight of what the audience needs. The audience needs games and games require investment. If they were to stop releasing first party games and rely on third parties, you'd have a point. At the moment, you most certainly do not.
@naruball We're not talking about games, we're talking about public perception and presentations. I don't think anyone's questioning Sony's output, only its perception.
@ShogunRok Games matter, not presentation.
@viciousarcanum whaaaa? All these years I was under the impression it was popular to bash on MS. This changes EVERYTHING!
@rdchili96 Well that's good, because the games were great.
Doesn't change the fact that we had to sit through dire presentations to see them, though,
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