Thousands of people are filling up the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 10 -12 to absorb as much news and info from hundreds of companies showing off their wares at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo – or E3 – and millions more are watching via the internet. I’m narrowing my focus on the big game companies and their “main stage” presentations, but even then, I’ll have to split my coverage into several blogs. Part One covers Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo.
Microsoft
What They’ve Done – After a rocky PR mess last year, Microsoft has course-corrected their next-gen console, the Xbox One, and lined up old and new entertainment divisions to make their visions of an “all in one” living room entertainment device come true. Sony’s PS4 may be ahead of the Xbox One in units sold, but it’s also available in over double the markets. Not to minimize Sony’s accomplishments, but their 7 million PS4s sold to Microsoft’s 5 million Xbox Ones sold isn’t that big of a lead. The Xbox One seems to be doing pretty well in spite of that PR mess last year. Recently, the Xbox has made other course corrections, and made a Kinect-less version of the Xbox One available for $399 – the same price as the PS4. Microsoft is heading into E3 with the most momentum: nothing but good news lately (positive changes to Xbox Live like offering free games every month and dropping the “pay wall” to services like Netflix), big game announcements pre-E3 (Sunset Overdrive and Forza Horizon 2), and the promise so show nothing but game after game during their main stage presentation.
What They Need To Do – They need to stick with their strengths – Xbox Live service, multi-player communities, all in one entertainment, and lots of 1st and 3rd party games – and build more momentum for the Xbox One. We also know they are making Xbox TV shows, but they should stick to games during their presentation. They’ve already admitted that Halo 5 is coming, but not until 2015. What new games will justify buying an Xbox One now? Are the rumors of a Remastered Halo 1 – 4 collection true? What other surprises will we see?
What They Did – coming soon.
Sony
What They’ve Done – Sony was in a very advantageous situation last year. By keeping mostly silent through the spring, and taking the E3 stage at the end of the day, Sony was able to sit by and let Microsoft nearly destroy themselves, swoop down at the last minute, and appear as the “white knight” company that would save gamers everywhere. The PS4 was not only more powerful than the Xbox One, it wasn’t going to require a constant internet connection, used games could be sold and traded, and (at the expense of not being bundled with the new Eye Toy camera) it was going to be $100 cheaper. Microsoft quickly got rid of the mandatory internet checks and also supported the used game market, but Sony’s message seemed to resonate with more people, and the PS4 went on to sell 7 million units in 6 months.
What They Need To Do – Sony needs to keep that momentum, and I’m not convinced they can. The main compelling arguments for purchasing a PS4 instead of the Xbox One seem to have all but disappeared. People have quickly forgotten that except for their slams against Microsoft at the end of their show last year, Sony’s main stage presentation was actually pretty boring. Sony can not repeat that type of show and should copy Microsoft’s strategy of showing nothing but game after game. The PlayStation division of Sony is doing really well, but the rest of the company is in really bad shape. Despite their early lead in units sold, Sony has had to close studio after studio, and key staff members of their best studio, Naughty Dog, have quit for unknown reasons. Sony needs to get on stage and convince consumers that they can still produce higher quantity and higher quality games than their competition.
What They Did – coming soon.
Nintendo
What They’ve Done – To understand my fears for Sony, we need to look no further than Nintendo, and witness how they’ve squandered their huge success with the Wii and fallen flat with the Wii U. The Wii took a different strategy – the so called “blue ocean” or untapped market of casual and non-gamers – and enjoyed early success. But, even though over 100 million Wii’s have been sold, and many Wii titles sold over 20 million copies each, the last few years of its life were not kind. Sales dropped dramatically as did the schedule of new games being released. When the Wii U was announced, it seemed like Nintendo was having a bit of an identity crisis. Were they trying to recapture their “core” audience or were they still trying to ride the waves of success with the Wii? What ever Nintendo was trying to accomplish, the results speak for themselves: despite an entire year head start over the Xbox One and PS4, the Wii U has struggled to sell only 6 million units.
What They Need To Do – Nintendo should quickly move on to yet another console, one that can actually rival the PS4 and Xbox One. They can still sell Wii U’s and even make this new console backwards compatible, but clearly their strange strategy of a tablet-like controller tethered to an under-powered console is not working. Nintendo has all but admitted that they are fine with being a “secondary” console in people’s homes meaning that they understand that people are buying either a PS4 or an Xbox One, and *maybe* getting a Wii U for the few Nintendo exclusives. Why is that acceptable? With a powerful console that can play all the popular third party titles, no gimmicks, AND those super popular Nintendo exclusives, Nintendo could become the primary console in people’s homes. It is, however, very unlikely that Nintendo will make such an announcement, so instead, they should also announce game after game and make more compelling arguments for people to purchase Nintendo products again.
What They Did – Nintendo is not getting on stage at E3. They are having a special “Nintendo Direct” internet broadcast on Tuesday. Report of that is coming soon.
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