The last couple of years have seen plenty of debate over whether or not the gaming industry needs E3, but with the annual event (and the far better Gamescom!) taking a break this year due to viral shenanigans, one thing is for certain: Its absence has definitely been felt. The void that E3 has left behind this year has also been ably filled, with plenty of people, studios and publishers in the industry stepping up to the plate and offering an alternative of their own. Shameless plug: Read about them all right here!
We’re essentially getting several months of gaming reveals, spaced out in a fashion that feels more like a marathon than a sprint for clicks in recent years. Ubisoft has a showcase coming up in July, Xbox is rolling out monthly livestreams and Sony is…uh…going to do something eventually I guess. One name that is definitely not planning to be doing the something along press conference lines? Square Enix, who are committing to individual reveals of games throughout the year.
And that’s fine! Narrowing its focus on what it has in the pipeline may be for the best at this stage. It’s not as if Square Enix doesn’t have some heavyweights in its corner either: Marvel’s Avengers is out in September, Outriders is coming to next-gen consoles and they’ve got freakin’ Platinum Games toiling away on Babylon’s Fall. Oh and some other little game you might have heard of, called Dying Light 2.
They’ve also had a banger of a year thanks to Final Fantasy VII Remake, and you can bet that that’s the only thing that fans would want to hear about should they take to the stage. The glorious remake has now sold over 3.5 million units worldwide so far, so Square Enix is in a good place currently. Their last outing at E3 2019 wasn’t much to write home about, as in addition to the games mentioned above there were a few other reveals for Final Fantasy 14, more Final Fantasy news about how every modern game in the series is coming to Xbox Game Pass and the reveal of Final Fantasy 8 Remastered.
Man, I’m still crying tears of joy over that reveal.
Last Updated: May 14, 2020
