E3 2014: EA Press Conference Impressions

2013 was not a year Electronic Arts wants to remember.  Everything under the sun seemed to go wrong for the gaming giant in 2013 starting with the mess that was SimCity and concluding with the severe online problems of Battlefield 4.  Hoping to turn their fortunes around, EA should bring out all the stops with their conference this year.  In a few short moments, you will hear if EA can turn around their fortunes from their unlucky 2013 or continue their downward spiral.

Well EA's misfortunes continue with easily their worst performance at E3 to date.  Words cannot describe how mindbogglingly bad EA's conference was.  Things seemed to be going in the right direction with Andrew Wilson's description of the structure for the conference which would see first looks at projects early in development along with demos for soon to be released games.  Sadly, none of the initial promise led to anything worthwhile.  EA showed footage and images so far in advance for games such as the next Mass Effect, BioWare's new IP, Star Wars Battlefront and Criterion's extreme racing game that it did nothing to build hype or excitement.  Everything just fell flat and EA could never build any sort of excitement or momentum.  The most boring moments of EA's conference came from the onslaught of EA Sports titles.  It may be nice for some to see hyper realistic graphics that they will never see in the actual game but that is misleading advertising not quality marketing.  EA use to be able to move through the sports presentation at a smooth clip, but it just went on forever this year.  The only sports game that appeared to be remotely fun was the new EA Sports PGA Tour that looks to mix traditional golf courses with crazy fantasy courses however that one trailer could do nothing to save this show.  If the monotonous sports game presentation was not enough, the Battlefield Hardline main event just emphasized how mind numbing this press conference was.  Nothing in the full multiplayer reveal of Hardline stood out.  It was exactly the same as every other Battlefield multiplayer demo EA has done at previous E3s just with instant grappling hooks and zip lines.  Nevertheless like everything else on this show, Battlefield Hardline was nothing impressive as it felt very derivative in its design and execution.

E3 has seen no shortage of bad press conferences.  EA's offerings this year rank among the worst to ever grace this stage.  Bringing the audience into the developer's studios and seeing upcoming projects in progress was a neat idea, but the execution did nothing to elicit any sense of joy or excitement.  Barely anytime was spent on the games that people wanted to see like Star Wars Battlefront, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Mirror's Edge.  All-in-all, EA's E3 2014 Press Conference was a complete waste of sixty minutes and never worth revisiting again.

Grade:  F