If there’s one thing I’m missing in a year with no E3 presence, it’s the traditional press conference wherein new games are trotted out, powered by maximum hype and occasionally fronted by celebrities who are clearly there just for an easy payday as they phone in the enthusiasm with Razzie-winning performances. You’ve seen them, and believe me, nothing prepares you for the weirdness of these conferences like being in the actual audience when Ubisoft throws an army of performers at you before they play a new Just Dance trailer.
Anyway! Sony, Microsoft and several other major publishers may have the power of too much money when they put these shows together, but there’s one thing that they don’t have: Blood. Devolver Digital’s annual presentation has been a glorious piss-take of the industry, fronted by the inimitable Nina Struthers and spanning a multi-event saga that has seen current trends skewered, video game developers slaughtered and reality itself questioned.
Last year’s Devolver Digital presentation saw Nina’s mind uploaded to the world wide web after she’d been gunned down in the 2018 D3 showcase. Forced into an endless hell of video game promotion and Scrubs-level curse words, could Devolver Digital finally construct the PromoCop spokesperson that they’d poured their entire drinking budget into? There’s only one way to find out.
“Amid a groundbreaking new level digital showcases, Devolver Digital aims to raise the bar for overrated marketing videos with this year’s Devolver Direct on July 11 at 12:00PM Pacific US time,” the indie publisher said in a press release.
The seventh best indie game label will step up to the plate once more and whiff real hard with a live pre-recorded presentation on Twitch [http://twitch.tv/twitchgaming] and Steam. This year’s showcase continues the tradition of overpromises with new game reveals, gameplay reveals, release date announcements, and special guests from the industry to help usher in these important marketing bullet points. And it’s nearly all gameplay because that’s what the youths of today demand.
The astonishing misuse of marketing budget will end with a few surprises and game demos available to play by the unwashed masses including Carrion, Disc Room, and an unannounced game. Maybe another game too, who can really tell where this is all leading. Devolver Digital fans and detractors can catch up on the unnecessarily intricate narrative to the ongoing saga by watching last year’s Devolver Direct and begin their uninformed speculation on Discord.
Last year’s D3 actually had some fantastic games shown off between the mindbending antics. Carrion continued to look amazing, Fall Guys seemed like quirky fun and that new DLC for Enter the Gungeon was ace of base. Only a few more days to go until D3 returns then, and you won’t even need to pay a single LootBoxCoin to see it.
Last Updated: July 2, 2020
Seeker
July 2, 2020 at 09:01
Devolver makes the best games presentations.
Son of Banana Jim
July 4, 2020 at 19:29
Pity that they’re games are either fantastic or utter trash. There’s almost no consistency with them. I wonder if it’s a quality control issue, or whether their management just couldn’t give a damn.