E3 2013: Thoughts From The Battlefield
Keith Ramsdale
2013-06-24
As I’m sure you’ll agree, that was one of the most exciting E3 conferences we’ve seen in recent years and there’s certainly a lot of buzz coming out of the show. I know some people like to look at the so-called winners and losers, and it’s clear some have work to do, but we all wanted E3 to be about the games and that’s exactly what we got. As with every transition, it’s a great time to be part of the games industry and the anticipation is only going to increase as we head towards the launch of Xbox One and PlayStation 4 later in the year.
I was very pleased with the reaction to our Download conference which preceded E3 and PopCap kicked it off brilliantly with the superb Plants Vs Zombies Garden Warfare. As someone who grew-up with Star Wars I can’t wait to see more on Battlefront and the reaction to Faith returning in a new Mirror’s Edge highlighted how much affection there is for the franchise.
It’s also great to finally allow the wider gaming industry to get their hands on our next-gen titles, FIFA 14, Battlefield 4 and Need For Speed: Rivals, and it’s testament to the studios involved that we’ve received and won several E3 awards across the entire portfolio. I’m obviously a little biased but for me Battlefield 4 stole the show and the 64-player sessions impressed everyone who took part.
And it’s not all about the next generation of gaming; we have a stellar current gen line-up and the response to FIFA 14 in particular has been very positive. I have to admit, I’m struggling to get to grips with the new shooting system but that has more to do with me playing as my beloved Derby County instead of Barcelona. Well that's my excuse anyway.
So for now it’s back to planning as we look forward to GamesCom where, hopefully, we’ll have a few more surprises.
Until next month
Keith
