If you keep an eye on the video game industry throughout the year, you probably know that after E3 in June, the next video game event is gamescom , which takes place before the end of the summer . For the second year in a row , the pandemic didn’t stop it from happening and promised a ton of announcements , but were they worth it in the end? Which company made the fans happiest?
The opening ceremony and basically the most important of gamescom 2021 , Opening Night Live has already concluded, but it left not without first making many revelations and announcements. After all, the host of the event, Geoff Keighley , anticipated several surprises, so it would surely be worth keeping an eye on the broadcast.
But all this began 1 day before with Microsoft, which anticipated its participation months before and even announced that it would carry out a presentation focused on its internal productions and the occasional external project, which made fans think that it had a lot to announce. The event lasted an hour and a half and included announcements, trailers or updates for their games, as well as flagship services, such as Xbox Game Pass and xCloud , which continue to grow to offer their subscribers the best.
XBOX DIDN’T MISS ITS CHANCE TO SHINE AT GAMESCOM 2021
After its latest purchases, Microsoft has grown its network of internal studios to such a degree that it is unmatched in terms of creative strength and renown and can now afford to hold presentations like this frequently. It is enough to take a look months ago to realize the above: with this, Microsoft has organized 2 presentations with news of several of its games that have left its followers happy .
However, one thing that still suffers from a bit is the lack of power from their announcements or disclosures. Despite the fact that Xbox presented a preview and even a control of Forza Horizon 5 and more details of Age of Empires IV , another of its promising titles, fans felt that its presentation was a bit empty (read: ‘they wanted to see Halo Infinite ‘ ). Of course, it was a move to mislead and leave the best for Opening Night Live, when he finally shared news of his long-awaited FPS.
And boy did he do it in a great way, 343 Industries and Xbox did not need several minutes of gameplay, but a cinematic trailer was enough to enthrall the fans, who exploded in jubilation when they learned that the campaign and the multiplayer of Halo Infinite will debut at the same time this year , and that they reached the climax when they saw the other 2 surprises that had been prepared for them: a controller with the design of the Master Chief and the first special edition of the Xbox Series X , paying tribute, of course, to Halo and his next 20. Th anniversary.
AND NINTENDO? AND PLAYSTATION?
Taking into account the size of Xbox Game Studios, the only companies that can make announcements similar in quantity, quality and scope are Nintendo and PlayStation. However, both Japanese companies did not confirm their attendance, so Microsoft had a clear path to show off without direct competition.
Thus, Nintendo fans knew in advance that they should not expect anything, much less get excited about the expected reappearance of Bayonetta 3 because if they did the disappointment would run on their own. On the other hand, PlayStation fans did expect more not only for external or multiplatform productions, but Keighley anticipated that there would be updates to PlayStation games; although he did not specify if he was referring only to the trailer for Death Stranding: Director’s Cut .
In the end, Sony decided to participate to announce the date of Horizon Forbidden West , but the effect was the opposite of what Xbox achieved with Halo Infinite , since the delay of the game until 2022 was made official , something that had already been leaked. In the end, the thrill of having a release date was no greater than the disappointment of the delay confirmation, but fans took it in for the sake of the final game. After all, let’s remember that Halo Infinite suffered from this too .
GAMESCOM 2021 OFFERED SURPRISES FOR ALL TASTES
Although Microsoft was the one who gave the most talk at this event, we must not miss that there were a lot of revelations of new games, both from large studios and indies. Highlights were the new Saints Row game , Marvel’s Midnight Suns , Tales of Luminaria, and the eye-catching DokeV , promising an MMO-like experience that Pokémon fans have been asking for so much . Interesting indies were introduced for the first time, such as Cult of the Lamb , Stray Blade and the new football simulator UFL .
There were many trailers and gameplays of upcoming games to debut or even release dates, such as Dying Light 2 , Age of Empires IV , Wasteland 3 , Forza Horizon 5 , The Gunk , The King of Fighters XV , Call of Duty: Vanguard , The Outlast Trials , Vallheim , Death Stranding: Director’s Cut , Sifu , and the new Ninja Turtles game . Collaborations, DLC, or upcoming event updates for games that are now available, such as Microsoft Flight Simulator , Fall Guys , joined the announcements and more.
If you did not like the event it is simply because you expected a specific game, of a particular genre or not very popular, that was simply not announced, but that does not mean that an event is not good, because in the end it presented a good amount of surprises.
SO WAS GAMESCOM 2021 WORTH IT?
Like almost any large video game event, gamescom 2021 was certainly worth it. I’ve said it before, the key is not to create false expectations. If you live in the illusion of seeing Bayonetta 3 , Skull & Bones , Beyond Good & Evil , Perfect Dark or, even worse, games that have not been announced and that may never come true, such as Mother 3 located or until the return of Silent Hill ; don’t blame the event for disappointing you.
Unlike many fans, I appreciate the existence of these events because I see them as an opportunity to see the titles in which the developers work and because thanks to this exhibition it is possible to see game previews that perhaps rarely appear on the front page.
However, there are those who think that the 2 hours of Opening Night Live may be excessive and I understand that it is because they do not like all games. But you have to remember that it is a presentation with different ads to appeal to different audiences, without this necessarily meaning that the games are bad; If you are willing to watch these broadcasts, you should know that you will spend 2 hours on the presentation, if someone does not believe that the event is worth spending that time, they can choose to consult the announcements later and thus avoid the gameplay of other games they are not to your liking, which is a good option.
This type of digital events in conjunction with the State of Play , Nintendo Direct and Xbox Game Showcase allow developers to share their news whenever they want and not wait months to do so in old mass events such as E3, which in that sense is increasingly dispensable. . Dedicated presentations are very timely, as they reveal widespread news like the ones we saw at the Xbox exclusive presentation at gamescom 2021 and more concise and anticipated announcements from the Opening Night Live shared event I think it’s very good what Xbox is doing in terms of to communication with fans, as this keeps them informed of their projects and cases such as Everwild’s could be avoided, that in the midst of the uncertainty about the restart of its development it is not known what is happening with it officially .