While E3 2015 could go either way, there a some big questions that the industry needs to address in the coming week. Questions that concern the video game industry's future in both the short and long-term.
How will a lack of exclusives affect Sony and Microsoft?
This question only concerns Sony and Microsoft because a console manufacturer (*cough* Nintendo) needs to rely solely on their exclusive content to sell their consoles when they have no third-party support.
The challenges Sony and Microsoft face when it comes to their lineup of exclusives are completely different. Sony has a problem when it comes to mobilizing an exclusive game to fill the void Uncharted 4's delay left, while Microsoft relies far too much on third-parties that their small roster of over-exposed exclusives are struggling to maintain momentum from year-to-year.
Yet again, we enter a Sony press conference with little to no plan for the holiday season. Uncharted 4 was suppose to Sony's answer to Halo 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Now, all Sony has planned are Until Dawn and Tearaway Unfolded, two great-looking titles that sadly are nowhere close to heavy-hitters. Sony is also re-releasing the first three Uncharted games on PS4, but the Uncharted Collection's upwards of 70 dollars price point is more of a rip-off than a worthy substitute for Uncharted 4.
Last holiday season, Sony relied a lot on third-parties, especially Activision's Destiny, to move PS4s because their exclusives—DriveClub and LittleBigPlanet 3—weren't the killer apps that people wanted. These wise business decisions along with an insane wave of momentum Sony has been riding since the PS4's launch has kept the system leaps and bounds ahead of the Xbox One, but that string of good luck will eventually run out. Sony needs to start capitalizing on their huge lead or somebody else, namely Microsoft, will take advantage of their arrogance. Sony has an army of game studios at their disposal so how we don't have another huge title to replace Uncharted 4 is absurd. Slot in The Last Guardian or Guerrilla's unannounced project into Uncharted's spot because Sony cannot spend another holiday season sitting on their hands.
While Sony has a problem with capitalizing on their lead, Microsoft is having problems convincing people to buy the Xbox One. In all honesty, the Xbox One is severely lacking when it comes to exclusives, especially when you take into account indie titles and timed exclusives such as Titanfall, Sunset Overdrive and Rise of the Tomb Raider. On top of that, their small roster of first-party properties (Halo, Fable, Forza and Gears of War) have all been over-exposed thanks to yearly releases or franchise mismanagement. Gears of War may be the only major franchise that gamers are craving for since there hasn't been a new entry in the series for over two years now.
Last year at E3, Microsoft made a concerted effort to show gamers that they had a renewed interest in first-party development with a large lineup of new exclusive content including Scalebound, Crackdown, Quantum Break and Phantom Dust. Here we are a year later and Microsoft's supposed renewed interest in first-party development has seemingly gone up in smoke. Scalebound, Crackdown and Quantum Break will not be at this year's E3 and Phantom Dust is stuck in development limbo as Microsoft dropped the game's developer in February and has yet to find a replacement. Unless Microsoft has a slew of unannounced projects ready to drop on us at their press conference, they are stuck with a major problem that could plague them this entire generation.
Third-party support and exclusive DLC can only take a system so far. There NEEDS to be a consistent lineup of exclusives or the Xbox One won't have the staying power needed to compete with the more robust lineups of the Wii U and PS4.
Will the new contenders in press conference circuit sink or swim?
There use to be a time when E3 played host to a plethora of press conferences from Konami to Disney Interactive. Sadly as time went on, some publishers stopped running press conferences due to ever-increasing costs or their own corporate restructuring. As a result, five publishers were left as the flag bearers for every show: Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, Sony and Nintendo. This time around two new challengers in Bethesda and Square Enix are entering the E3 press conference circuit to try their luck at hanging with the big publishers in the industry.
There has been a lot of speculation surrounding these new conferences because neither company would invest the insane amount of money and effort into a conference if they didn't have a stellar lineup of titles to show. Bethesda has already announced that Fallout 4 and Doom 4 will be at their presser. On the other end, Square Enix has confirmed Deus Ex: Mankind Divided's first gameplay footage for their conference along with Final Fantasy XV's absence from the show altogether. Could this mean we'll get some surprises like the rumoured Dishonored 2 or an official release date for Kingdom Hearts 3? Those questions may soon be answered as Bethesda kicks off the proceedings late Sunday, June 14th and Square Enix stands as the final press conference before the show floor opens Tuesday, June 16th.
How will Virtual Reality (VR) headsets factor into E3?
With Oculus VR at the helm, virtual reality (VR) headsets have taken the industry by storm. Game publishers and developers are eagerly jumping into the VR headset race with their own VR headset or games made for the devices.
Is VR the future of video games as we know it? Maybe in the distant future, but it's hard to say at this point in time. At this very moment, there are two key issues that can completely halt VR's forward momentum: price and input. Funny enough, price is the one topic no one wants to talk about and input devices like Oculus Touch have only been demoed through video or behind closed doors.
Since E3 will be the final trade show before VR headsets land on store shelves starting this Fall, it will be the most important show for VR as a whole. E3 is the final push for these VR manufacturers and developers to convince gamers to shell their hard-earned cash on their products. There is also a possibility that VR headsets could be a centerpiece at the Sony and Microsoft press conferences considering Sony is developing their own headset called Project Morpheus and Microsoft's newly announced partnership with Oculus.
It will be interesting to see how much of a factor VR will play into E3 as a whole. VR could either end up being the new input device for games going forward or go the way of 3D and motion gaming.
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