The real reason why E3 2016 was mediocre besides Sony

There was a common theme in this year's E3 and that was the lack of new ip from major publishers. At the same time last generation we getting ready for Red dead redemption, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2 and Borderlands, big titles you would absolutely expect in the crux of the generation. The question is why after the stellar e3 2015 would the big publishers just halt that momentum. Of course we won't get a definite answer, but let us attempt understand why there is a significant lack of new announcements from the big players.

2016 is already set to be a stellar year for games, the release of uncharted 4, Quantum break, Doom and Overwatch is a testament to that. What E3 2016 has shown us, are games that are release either this fall or in the first quarter of 2017, but nothing beyond that. That is the most interesting part of it all, why don’t we have a games releasing on the fall of 2017 and beyond. Nearly all of the games announced with a 2017 release date have been for a Q1 of 2017 and not the general "coming in 2017" , which usually fall in Q4 of 2017. I believe the publishers are holding back on announcing any new games. With the announcement of the new Xbox and potential PlayStation for the fall 2017, we can assume the publishers are holding back on showing their new games and saving them for a future event.

Now if you still can't see what I'm trying to imply when I say they are holding back their game announcements, let's if we can analyze what publishers announced and when there announced games are releasing.

EA: EA usually have underwheling shows but occasionally have a new games to announce. This time they had none but a small indie game. The highlight of the show was without a doubt Mass effect and Titanfall. Titanfall already has a firm release date of Q4 2016 but what about Mass effect. It's slated for a 2017 release and let's not put our money of Q1. Based on the small snippet of gameplay it seems to be way beyond what our current gen of consoles can handle. The release will window without a doubt fall in Q4 2017 and which is coincidentally when our new consoles release.

Bethesda: After last year's E3 everyone has had high expectations for Bethesda. They delivered a good show with Dishonored 2 being the main event. But there was no big new announcements apart from Prey and Quake: Champions. Prey is slated for a 2017 release which will likely be Q4 2017 and again one title that should falls when the new console release.

Microsoft: Now Microsoft have been announcing new Ip's for the last 3 years since the new generation of consoles. Scalebound, Sunset overdrive, Quantum break, Sea of thieves, Ryse, and Recore have really made Microsoft's lineup really stand out from the last years of the Xbox 360. But at E3 2016 they have failed to announce any new ip of any sorts, and showed only games for Q4 2016 and early 2017. This begs the question as to why would Microsoft all of a sudden just stop their momentum of new ip. There is no games past scalebound in 2017 and if you an Xbox gamer you should be worried, or maybe that’s just indication that they are holding back on announcing their new games for their new console.

Ubisoft: In the last few years Ubisoft has had a reputation of announcing some really big titles like Watch dogs, The division, Ghost recon and Rainbow six, although their titles don’t usually live up to the hype, they still make sure they announce their big upcoming title for the next year, but this E3 they didn't. None of their releases(Ghost recon and For honor) go beyond Q1 of 2017 and let's not pretend they don’t have anything for the rest of the year.

Sony: As always Sony had a stellar showing, all of the new announced game and ip from E3 came from them. It's as if they were the only one with permission to show all their games. Firstly with God of war, those visual look too good to be for this gen and the expected release date for this should be late 2017 or early 2018. Same with the Days gone it looks late 2017 or early 2018. The Last guardian and Horizon have they release date for Q4 2016 and early 2017 respectively. Detroit: Become Human seems to be Q4 2017 or around 2018. The Resident evil 7 game is set to release Q1 of 2017 and the new Kojima games seem to be 2018 at the least. Although these are predictions, there release dates they still hold some ground.

Now if these aren’t signs of publishers holding back announcements of new games for next gen consoles then I don’t know what is. All the major publishers just can't all of a sudden run out of games to announce, I 've never seen an E3 where the big publishers had no new games to announce. After seeing the new Xbox's power which mostly will be akin to the PS4K, you can't blame the publishers from holding back their new games. I'm guessing they are saving their announcements for when they are ready to show both new consoles, which will be at the next E3 or an event before that.