Hello. It’s Micro time.
I have returned from my LA travels, which was an exciting and encouraging week for the video game business. It was a helpful reminder that video games are great, and perhaps things aren’t that bad…
… only for Ubisoft and Xbox to bring us crashing down to earth just a few days. later.
Here’s the news.
Nintendo and ‘the greatest game of all time’ snatched Summer Game Fest victory
In Brief: Just when we thought it was all over, Nintendo snatched Summer Game Fest victory with its Direct broadcast. The digital event, which took place on Tuesday last week, achieved peak viewers of 3.8 million people, making it the most popular SGF broadcast (LevelUp data). The Zelda teaser trailer was the most viewed trailer of all, with 115 million views, ahead of God of War Laufey at No.2 and Resident Evil Veronica at No.3.
What You Need To Know:
Nintendo’s broadcast featured a new Xenoblade title, a new Nintendo Switch Sports game and the tease of the The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake.
The event was also full of third-party titles, with Square Enix showcasing Kingdom Hearts 4, Capcom announcing the new Onimusha for Switch 2, and Microsoft revealing a new version of Minecraft for Nintendo Switch 2.
Nintendo also showcased more of Fire Emblem, Star Fox, Rhythm Heaven, The Duskbloods and Splatoon Raiders, which are all due this year.
Despite the fan-favourite slate, the event received mixed reviews from viewers.
My Take
I couldn’t help but wonder how a live audience would have reacted to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
On paper this was a blockbuster Nintendo Direct – Zelda and Kingdom Hearts (and FromSoftware, too) are icons of past E3s/Summer Game Fests. New trailers from these franchises and studios would have sent fans into a frenzy in the past. It all felt a little muted this time.
There’s valid criticism over the lack of release dates and gameplay, of course. But I cannot help but remember PlayStation’s iconic 2015 E3 conference. It was a show stopper. There was The Last Guardian and Final Fantasy VII Remake and Shenmue 3. And the audience roared throughout the reveals. PlayStation ‘won’ E3 that year… and two of those games hadn’t even entered development yet.
