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After yesterday’s big news about the cancellation of this year’s E3 event, it was inevitable that the games companies originally slated for a conference there would turn to some new form of announcing their games. Now it seems like both Xbox and Devolver Digital will be holding some form of digital conference. Head of Xbox and Jacket-with-tee-shirt-ambassador, Phil Spencer, posted on Twitter:
“E3 has always been an important moment for Team Xbox. Given this decision, this year we’ll celebrate the next generation of gaming with the @Xbox community and all who love to play via an Xbox digital event. Details on timing and more in the coming weeks https://bit.ly/3cSw03A.”
It seems we’ll be getting more details on where/when this digital event will occur in the next few weeks at least, whether they’ll stream the event or just send out Press Releases is unknown. But the second party in question, Devolver Digital, seems to already have an idea…
For those eagerly anticipating the return of Nina Struthers and, more specifically, Devolver Digital’s infamous E3 conferences, will be glad to know that they are planning their own online conference called ‘Devolver Direct’. Considering Devolver Digital’s tendency to comment on and therefore poke fun of the current state of the industry (and especially the entire identity of E3), it would be no surprise if this is some sort of take on Nintendo Direct, Nintendo’s very own digital platform for announcing their new and upcoming games. Once again, in a Tweet by Devolver Digital, they said:
“The week of E3 has always been a big part of what we do and are genuinely bummed about the cancelation of the event itself. Lots to juggle but right now we plan on having a livestream Devolver Direct / press conference and possibly more.”
That “possibly more” is quite interesting, as Devolver made a name for themselves in 2017 when they debuted their pre-recorded E3 press conference that, unashamedly, took a while for people to realise it was indeed pre-recorded and the titular character Nine Struthers was fake. Though the heinous acts on stage were indeed fake, the games revealed were indeed real, but the videos typically only lasted about 15 to 20 minutes so it’s possible that Devolver is planning to either reveal more, or maybe go more in depth with each game announced (again, much like Nintendo Direct).
I wouldn’t be surprised if Devolver Digital (or even Xbox for that matter) end up turning this into a yearly thing instead of going to E3. The whole cancellation of E3 brings up the question of whether we really need stage appearances anymore for game announcements, and whether big gaming conventions like E3 are still relevant. Only time will tell though…
As soon as we hear more information about Xbox’s digital conference and Devolver Digital’s Direct conference, trust us, you’ll be the first to know.
What do you think of this development? What other companies do you think will follow Xbox and Devolver’s lead? Are physical gaming conventions relevant anymore? Let us know your thoughts!