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[SuperData] AAA publishers are doing just fine without E3. Sony and Ubisoft had a higher audience than in previous conferences.

Era of not Yakuza

Era of not Yakuza

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The reception to the June 11 PlayStation 5 reveal demonstrated that Sony is one of the companies that is fine skipping E3. Plenty of people were eager to hear more about the successor to one of the most popular consoles of all time, and the event had the highest average minute audience (AMA) of recent similar gaming events like the Game Awards or the Xbox E3 2019 briefing.

Ubisoft showed AAA publishers can generate interest in standalone events even without something as significant as a console reveal. The Ubisoft Forward 2020 stream on July 12 had higher viewership than the company's E3 2019 broadcast, as gamers tuned in to see the Far Cry 6 trailer, which was teased after a prior leak. Viewership wasn't just due to organic interest, though. The publisher announced watchers would be rewarded with a free PC copy of Watch Dogs 2, and demand for the title caused the company's servers to be overwhelmed. It should also be noted that the company's misconduct controversy did not seem to impact viewership or interest in the Ubisoft game lineup in the short term.
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More at the link

www.superdataresearch.com

AAA publishers are doing just fine without E3 — SuperData, a Nielsen Company

It looks like the biggest publishers will be absolutely fine without big conferences like E3, but indie and mid-size developers may fall behind during this new normal.
www.superdataresearch.com www.superdataresearch.com

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Patitoloco

Patitoloco

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Oct 27, 2017
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It helps that people are at home without doing nothing, and that the showings were at normal hours for Europe people (unlike the usual 3am time of Sony here)
 
Lelouch0612

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Oct 25, 2017
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I find the analysis flawed since last year didn't have COVID and lockdowns to push everyone home.
 
Transistor

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Yeah, this is not a reliable statistic thanks for the pandemic. that being said, I do feel E3 is completely unnecessary now. It's a relic from the days when people got their information from a couple of news outlets or magazines. Now developers and publishers can just stream their own stuff
 
Temascos

Temascos

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Oct 27, 2017
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When the pandemic is over I imagine numbers next year will be lower but E3 as an event is becoming obsolete. While I imagine live events will come back in a big way, it won't all be in one single week, which is a shame but in terms of preparation and getting eyeballs on what you are doing it makes sense.
 
Le Dude

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Lelouch0612 said:
I find the analysis flawed since last year didn't have COVID and lockdowns to push everyone home.
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Plus Sony didn't have an E3 last year and the year before sucked . . . And this year is a next-gen reveal.

It'd be really tough to find a worthwhile metric to compare.

EDIT: Though I don't mean to sound too negative. I'm glad it's been working out for all companies, the comparison just seems worthless. We know gaming in general has seen a massive uptick due to COVID. The increased interest coupled with a lot more people who are free from work to watch should be more than enough to expect an increase.
 

Deleted member 10737

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something similar was posted on gamesindustry.biz yesterday
www.gamesindustry.biz

We don't need E3 anymore

The question of how much "we" as in industry need E3 has been a hot talking point for years now with cases to be made f…
www.gamesindustry.biz www.gamesindustry.biz

basically, says revealing games without E3 has not hurt their metrics on youtube/twitter/etc whatsoever.
 
cw_sasuke

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Oct 27, 2017
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I mean it's a console launch year and they revealed the LS5t on said stream.

Only relevant comparison would be e3 2013 but even that is flawed since streaming is much bigger nowadays than in 2013.

Buy obv. none of the big player need a convention like the e3 to get their message across - Nintendo proved that years ago.
 
Patapuf

Patapuf

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Oct 26, 2017
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The fact that the hours were much better for european audiences is surely a factor too. Much easier to watch a conferenc in the evening instead of 2 AM.
 
Galkinator

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I wouldn't mind this becoming the new norm. Wasting millions on producing these events is kind of pointless, all we want to see are good games.
 
ghostcrew

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Gonna say that any kind of analysis and comparison of 2020 and any other year is pointless.

As usual, Superdata is meh.
 
Konosuke

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What a dumb comparison. We're riding on nextgen hype, this has nothing to do with the covid format.
 
Carmelozi

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For AAA maybe, but for indies I don't think has helped. I know big events like E3, Gamescom or TGS can help them to make deals with publishers and it's better to do in person rather than doing online meeting on Zoom.
 
Xando

Xando

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Oct 28, 2017
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Considering it's most likely cheaper aswell i don't see why the big guys will go back to the old format of having 1-2 events per year rather than a small event every other month.
 
Everyone's talkin' 'bout Bugsnax
  • Index
    • OP
    OP
    Era of not Yakuza

    Era of not Yakuza

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    Cactuar said:
    No shit, Sony had Bugsnax.
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    Until big in-person gaming events return, the most successful small developers will be those who can form partnerships with platform holders and top publishers. This allows them to get their games in front of consumers when they are keeping an eye out for the biggest announcements. For example, the indie game Bugsnax from Young Horses generated buzz after its trailer debuted during the PlayStation 5 reveal. For companies that aren't AAA publishers or associated with one, the current environment will limit their exposure to potential players and has shown just how valuable these gatherings can be.
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  • Index
    • AllEchse

    AllEchse

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    Oct 29, 2017
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    Maybe they are doing fine from a viewship standpoint now, but they can't keep it up if these digital events stay as underwhelming as they have been for most companies contentwise.
    It'll probably improve when the pandemic isn't as much of a factor anymore but still, recpetion has been bad for many of them, even if lots of people tuned in.
     
    TheDarkKnight

    TheDarkKnight

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    I'd be curious to see the comparable deltas between a next gen year and the one before it.

    Just to minimize some of the many variables for 2020
     
    JorRaptor

    JorRaptor

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    I think the point more is that with spending way less money, these companies are still doing fine & even reaching more people. Like why go back to spending way more money?
     
    Tiago Rodrigues

    Tiago Rodrigues

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    E3 is obsolete in 2020...we knew that already honestly. Those conferences are good for hype in places like ERA but in the end it doesn't make games or consoles sell more.
    It also means now you can spread out announcements in a way you didn't before. Games don't have to outshine each other. And you can cut a lot of costs as well.

    Sony already missed last year and after 2020, they won't be back. They might still do one or 2 conferences a year but those days they'd do E3, TGS, GAMESCOM, Playstation Experience, etc are over.
     

    Deleted member 4976

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    Sony was pretty much done with E3 anyways so the PS5 reveal being something like 10m viewers across the board was just the cherry on top.
     
    formasymphonic

    formasymphonic

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    They don't need E3 at all — but I sure as hell miss everything being all together in one week instead of this dripfeed process we have now.
     
    Plinkerton

    Plinkerton

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    The conclusion is probably right, but it seems unfair to me to compare this year to 2019. This is a new console launch year so of course there's going to be higher interest... how does this year compare to 2013 for example?

    Also yeah we're all stuck inside at the moment with nothing else to do so what else are we supposed to be doing with our time?
     
    pswii60

    pswii60

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    Transistor said:
    Yeah, this is not a reliable statistic thanks for the pandemic. that being said, I do feel E3 is completely unnecessary now. It's a relic from the days when people got their information from a couple of news outlets or magazines. Now developers and publishers can just stream their own stuff
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    E3 is as much about networking as it is about the conferences, if not moreso.
     
    Cactuar

    Cactuar

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    I'm seeing a lot of, "Well of course Sony's numbers were higher than their previous year, COVID is a thing in 2020" or something to that effect. If COVID is some magic thing we can blame Sony's higher numbers on, was Microsoft's showcase higher than their E3 last year?

    This article seems to pit Sony's 2020 numbers against everyone's 2019 numbers. They should have waited until after the Microsoft's showcase to collect their data, and see if Microsoft bettered their last E3 in the same way that Sony's bettered theirs.

    Does anyone have that data?

    If everything is high due only to COVID, everybody's numbers should be higher across the board and not just select companies. Otherwise, there are other factors in play.
     

    dep9000

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    Mar 31, 2020
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    we need e3 back. These presentations have been mediocre at best and horrible at worst. Increased viewership means little when there's a pandemic going on. Hopefully e3 is back next year, but that is unlikely. Definitely 2022!
     
    BreakAtmo

    BreakAtmo

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    Transistor said:
    Yeah, this is not a reliable statistic thanks for the pandemic. that being said, I do feel E3 is completely unnecessary now. It's a relic from the days when people got their information from a couple of news outlets or magazines. Now developers and publishers can just stream their own stuff
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    In fairness I have heard E3 can be very important for industry meetups and pitches and the like. Supposedly a bunch of small devs have gotten their big break by meeting big execs at E3 and getting them interested in what they were making (often over copious... libations).
     
    Transistor

    Transistor

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    BreakAtmo said:
    In fairness I have heard E3 can be very important for industry meetups and pitches and the like. Supposedly a bunch of small devs have gotten their big break by meeting big execs at E3 and getting them interested in what they were making (often over copious... libations).
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    Oh, I agree completely. In my followup post I mentioned that they should just go back to the E3's of old and make it an event for press and developers. The millions spent on conferences for the public are just a waste when they can upload trailers online and get just as positive public feedback.
     
    ghostcrew

    ghostcrew

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    Xando said:
    They can still send people to E3 while avoiding to spend millions
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    The thing is, even if the numbers of people watching are really good, people don't seem to actually be enjoying this new format? We had a poll here and a whopping 70% of people said that they were missing the traditional E3 format.

    www.resetera.com

    [POLL] Who misses E3 this year?

    Basically as the title says, do you miss E3 and why? I do miss having a specific moment where everything gaming comes together. I miss the pre-E3 Leaks weeks, the days of press conferences from major platforms/developers, followed up by deep dives with developers and hands-on impressions...
    www.resetera.com www.resetera.com

    Having a centralised, neutral source that pulls everyone together for a week/a couple of weeks is probably a positive overall. The general consensus was that this disparate, smaller online events are just awkward to keep up with and a lot of people thought that stuff was getting lost in the shuffle.

    Like, it's cool that a lot of people watched these shows while stuck at home and when they were announcing new consoles in 2020. But is the excitement gonna last for following years if even in a console launch year, people are complaining about the format? If pubs think that a big stage show at a globally recognised event in June like E3 is gonna get them better results you can be sure they'll be happy to spend that money come next year.
     
    Yasuke

    Yasuke

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    Covid or no covid, you're kidding yourself if you don't think E3 as we knew it is over.
     
    Xando

    Xando

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    ghostcrew said:
    The thing is, even if the numbers of people watching are really good, people don't seem to actually be enjoying this new format? We had a poll here and a whopping 70% of people said that they were missing the traditional E3 format.

    www.resetera.com

    [POLL] Who misses E3 this year?

    Basically as the title says, do you miss E3 and why? I do miss having a specific moment where everything gaming comes together. I miss the pre-E3 Leaks weeks, the days of press conferences from major platforms/developers, followed up by deep dives with developers and hands-on impressions...
    www.resetera.com www.resetera.com

    Having a centralised, neutral source that pulls everyone together for a week/a couple of weeks is probably a positive overall. The general consensus was that this disparate, smaller online events are just awkward to keep up with and a lot of people thought that stuff was getting lost in the shuffle.
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    No offense but i wouldn't take ERAs opinion as representative for the main stream audience
     
    Linus815

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    a console reveal having bigger viewership than a regular e3 isnt exactly a surprise. there is no way to compare to anything because we didnt have a console reveal yet in such a stream focused time.
     
    fourfourfun

    fourfourfun

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    I think the industry would prefer to have more chance for software highlights than suffer the risk of being lost in the E3 rush. While most people are not used to it, following Nintendo over the years gets you accustomed to not waiting 11.5 months between information dumps.

    People love the seratonin rush of game announcements one after another. No need for the model to continue to be like that.

    I remember watching the GameTrailers E3 where they announced FF7r. The showcase after that point got totally lost. No wonder Devolver went it alone.
     
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