With Nintendo Direct having just ended, we can tally our scorecards and figure out the winner of E3 2019. In my opinion, it was definitely Nintendo.
Nintendo Direct has just finished, and it’s not too early to say that Nintendo has won E3 2019. It was mostly down to a fight between Nintendo and Microsoft, as Sony is sitting out this year. In this cold and calculated analysis, I will show you why Nintendo won, the advantage that they had heading into the event, and how sometimes less is more.
Why Nintendo Won E3 2019
Short And Sweet
The Nintendo Direct was a brief 40 minutes long, meaning that it felt like it was packed with information and never slowed down. Microsoft went for a much longer event, but it felt filled with low impact news due to leaks, end of generation fatigue, and the fact that Microsoft had already announced bigger things like the PC Game Pass news. They did have Keanu Reeves though, which is still one of the best moments of this year’s event.
Nintendo ran a paired down 40-minute show that opened with a humorous introduction to Doug Bowser, instantly setting the mood for the delightful playfulness that Nintendo always tries to promote about gaming as a whole and their brand in particular. Then it was just games, games and more games, and a couple of major surprises.
They Brought The Games
Luigi’s Mansion 3, Animal Crossing New Horizons, Astral Chain, No More Heroes III, Trials of Mana, The Witcher 3 Complete, Banjo-Kazooie in Smash, Zelda: Link’s Awakening Remake, and an announcement that the follow up to Breath of the Wild is in production. There was zero fat on these particular cuts, the No More Heroes III news is huge, and it got its announcement, and then they moved on. Nintendo have clearly developed an excellent plan here, get us all invested with the Direct, and then let the Treehouse team expand upon the details. It was 40 minutes of impact, with absolutely no dull moments.
Animal Cross New Horizons On Its Own Would Have Won
Animal Cross New Horizons is coming next year, and this probably would have won them the expo on its own. Animal Crossing is an absolute fan favourite, and New Horizons looks absolutely great. This new game was shown to have a detailed crafting system, where you will need to build the things you need on a deserted island. You will need to build yourself a life there, and of course, all your little animal friends will be happy to hang out with you. Animal Crossing is the perfect antidote to the occasionally taxing lives that we all lead, and being able to bring it with you anywhere on Switch is going to be amazing.
Breath of The Wild Sequel
The Breath of the Wild sequel ended up being the huge reveal that we all expect Nintendo to close with. Not that we expected to see the game, just that we knew they would close their show with something huge. And this sequel is absolutely huge. Breath of the Wild was a monster hit, and people absolutely loved it. The game provided a sort of freedom within the gameplay mechanics that is very hard to achieve, and as always people fell in love with Link’s story. A direct sequel is not something that often happens in the Zelda games, making this even bigger news.
It’s Not The End Of Their Console Cycle
Unlike Microsoft, Nintendo are not burdened by the ghosts of their next generation. Sure, it is highly likely that we will see new versions of the Switch in the future, but the platform is not looking into the next year trying to figure out how to kill time until the new generation comes along. When people see new titles for Switch, they see games they plan on playing for years, with no thought as to when the generation will come to a grinding halt. This leads to nothing but unadulterated excitement when the reveals happen, and it shows in how the internet reacted to so many games that they saw during Nintendo Direct.
Nintendo have turned the Direct into fine art, completely removing any kind of additional information until all we get are clinical slices of information designed to build up hype, while also containing enough relaxed fun that they remain heartwarming experiences to watch. There are no awkward pauses, no missed beats, no dead crowds to not provide the pop that the people talking about games expect to hear. By closing the Nintendo Direct off almost completely from any kind of interference, it allows them to provide exactly the information they want, at the pace they want, and it shows.
For me, Nintendo won E3 2019 simply because they are the ones that made me the most excited about the next year of gaming, and have given me absolutely no choice but to bite the bullet and pick up a Switch finally.
