E3 2015: EA Press Conference Impressions

Aside from recent releases like Dragon Age: Inquisition and Battlefield: Hardline, EA hasn't had the best few years.  Buggy launches, poor customer support and selling certain titles without being feature complete are a few examples of EA's sins over the past few years.  Last year's EA press conference didn't make things any better as they put on possibly the worst press conference I ever had the dishonour of watching.  There is no way that EA could put on two bad performances in a row, right?

Let us start with the good news, EA's press conference was better than last year's showing.  The bad news is that isn't saying much.  In all honesty, EA has a great lineup of games under their umbrella; they just can't seem to translate that quality to the stage.  When a conference with Mass Effect, Mirror's Edge and Star Wars almost puts you to sleep, there is something wrong.

The reason that EA had problems in translating quality to their stage performance was that they spent too much time telling instead of showing.  The actual game demos showed at the conference combined for a run time of maybe 20 minutes.  For a 90 minute press conference, that's unacceptable.  Also whoever thought splitting EA Sports into four excruciatingly boring and unnecessarily long segments to fill time should be fired along with the person who thought having an interview with soccer legend Pele was a good use of time.

Out of all the bad, there were a couple of diamonds in the rough.  Star Wars Battlefront had a phenomenal demo that expertly replicated the scale and grandeur of the Battle for Hoth from Empire Strikes Back.  In five minutes, DICE showed first and third-person perspectives, vehicle combat (which includes controlling AT-ATs) and playable hero characters all to a great amount of fanfare.  Other than Battlefront, the only other game to truly impress was Unravel, a puzzle platformer with unique mechanics revolving around yarn.  While I have a feeling Unravel will be a smaller title in EA's lineup, it has the potential of stacking up their with other great mascot platformers like LittleBigPlanet and Mario.

If it wasn't for Star Wars Battlefront and Unravel, EA's 2015 press conference would have served as a good time for a nap or a bathroom break.  EA seems to bark to the heavens that they understand their fans, but they are so out of touch that it's hilarious.  Gamers don't watch your E3 press conference to hear about your onslaught of yearly sports games, we want the Battlefronts, Mass Effects, Mirror's Edges and Unravels to be the focus of your show.  Until EA understands that fact, they will suffer the same negative reaction year-in and year-out.

Grade:  D+