E3 2015 Early Announcements 1

I never tentatively tore the corners of my Christmas presents in order to get a sneaky first look inside. I had friends who claimed to know the contents of all of the gifts nestling beneath their fake fir trees, but I always preferred to wait. In fact, as I got older I tended to recommend that we held off opening our gifts until after dinner; with birthdays, I'd never touch anything until all of my family was home. I think, deep down, I just wanted to prolong that sense of not knowing – after all, the excitement of secrets always withers the second that they're revealed.

Now don't get me wrong, as a child I was always appreciative of every single gift that I received – but there's an unavoidable low that follows the unwrapping of presents; something that was a mystery is now laid bare in front of your eyes. And I feel like a similar thing's happened in the games industry of late, as E3 2015 lurks tantalisingly on the horizon – but Fallout 4, Ratchet & Clank, Mirror's Edge Catalyst, and many others are already in the public eye. "Why wasn't that saved for the show?" I've read dozens of times – and I'm here to tell you why.

E3 2015 Early Announcements 2

The thing about E3 is that it's almost too good. There are 52 weeks in the year with which new games can be announced, but many of them are condensed into a couple of days. The annual Los Angeles convention may not be the biggest gaming expo in terms of pure attendance anymore, but it is undeniably the most important event in the gaming calendar; Gamescom and the Tokyo Game Show are both busy, but not on the same scale. This, of course, leads to lots of noise, where organisations battle with each other in order to get their message heard – and it doesn't always work.

Everyone's shouting at the same time, but no one's really getting heard

Imagine you're in a football stadium, screaming for your star striker to pick up the pace. No one's going to hear your cries when the person behind you is booing the opposition and the person in front of you is talking on the phone; all that the television microphones will pick up is a blast of rumbling sound. And, as someone that covers it, I find E3 to be a bit like that: everyone's shouting at the same time, but no one's really getting heard. Massive announcements melt into the overall narrative, and press conferences are judged on the quantity of their reveals – rather than their quality.

I've never worked in public relations or marketing, but for those departments, I suspect that the idea of being ignored is a frightening prospect. No one wants their carefully planned product reveal and expensive CG trailer to be overlooked; they want it to be trending on Twitter, being liked on Facebook, and shooting up the YouTube charts. Only a number of brands can do that during E3, though – and even they have to settle for being a part of the conversation rather than the focus of it when all's said done.

E3 2015 Early Announcements 3

So, would Fallout 4 have made an impact at E3 2015 if it debuted during Bethesda's press conference? Absolutely – it's big news. But by revealing it early, the publisher utterly dominated the industry for a couple of days – its debut trailer has already been viewed almost five million times. And that sets it up nicely for its big show; with pre-orders placed and the first footage picked apart, many will be tuning in to the aforementioned media briefing in order to see the title's first slice of gameplay in full.

The surprise may have been "spoiled", then – but does it matter all that much? The answer, of course, is no. I preferred to wait to open my Christmas presents, but the contents inside never changed. And the same is true at E3. Yes, the mysterious allure surrounding some of this year's bigger games may have been sapped, but you're still ultimately seeing the same things that the publishers planned – albeit ever-so-slightly prematurely. The silver lining in that is that you actually have time to digest some of these titles now, because you definitely won't next week.

Do you prefer your E3 reveals to be condensed into a very short space, or do you appreciate it when they're given a little more room to breathe? Blow your load early in the comments section below.

Have all of the early announcements spoiled your E3? (89 votes)

  1. Yes, I doubt there will be any surprises left7%
  2. Maybe, I'll have to see what’s announced54%
  3. No, all I care is that cool games are revealed39%

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