The annual E3 conference isn’t really a competition… but if it were, Sony would have just won. Microsoft and Sony each pulled out all the stops on Monday at E3 2014 and did their best to prove that this new console generation will be the best in history. Each company did a tremendous job, showing off exciting exclusive titles and revealing hotly anticipated non-exclusive games as well. Gamers in both camps will have plenty to be excited about in 2014 and 2015 but according to one industry watcher, E3 2014 painted the same picture we’ve seen since the PS4 and Xbox One were first unveiled: Sony is winning.
“One of the chief criticisms of Microsoft’s press conference was that the company took gamer feedback almost to a fault: it focused so heavily on specific games that you could have walked out of the Galen Center without knowing whether or not the company actually made a console,” Dave Thier wrote in a column on Forbes. “It wasn’t bad, so much — some of the games looked great, even if many weren’t exclusives, but it was decidedly safe. There wasn’t much that felt exciting coming from Microsoft, and you could feel that in the presentation as well. It was timid. That’s not the worst thing in the world, but you could feel it in the room. For a company that needs to re-invigorate its console, that doesn’t feel great.”
He continued, “Sony, on the other hand, appears to have a solid grasp on the art of the E3 press conference, especially after last year’s knockout round. People like Andrew House and Adam Boyes were just sort of strutting across the stage, enjoying knowing the fact that they had made a hit console. They smiled and made jabs at their competition when they felt like it. It allowed Sony to stretch out a little bit, as well — Microsoft may have the reputation of being entertainment focused, but Sony is the company that spent time talking about their TV and social offerings. As is only appropriate, the company moved past first and third-party games to spend time talking about new products and services. The show had the feeling of forward momentum.”
Thier believes that Microsoft did a better job this year than it did last year following the PR nightmare that was the Xbox One unveiling, but Sony still won the day.
“Today was very much a continuation of the narrative that we have seen so far — Sony swaggering forward, Microsoft putting itself together,” he wrote. “There’s still room for things to change as we move forward to the holiday season, but it’s palpably clear where the momentum is.”
From earlier: I don’t care who’s winning the console war – Microsoft’s Xbox One is awesome
