More Thoughts From Me E3 Special Edition: Who Won E3 2016?

We hear the argument every year: E3 isn’t a competition (it is), nobody wins E3 (someone does), and the gamers are the real winners (perhaps). But every year, there is always one really clear winner in my mind. Most of the time, its Nintendo, but nobody else wants to admit it! At E3 2016, things were a bit different. Here is my recap of how I think Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo did and who I think won E3 2016!

E3 2016 was a blast overall. I think all the major companies: Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, had something interesting to see at E3 this year. That said, there was definitly a clear winner this year. Here’s my rundown of how each company did:

Microsoft

While Microsoft had some good looking games, they really didn’t have too many surprises. Their new systems, Xbox S and Xbox Scorpio, were leaked online long before their conference even started. And game wise, Microsoft presented us with mostly sequels to shooting and fighting games. That said, all of the games had good graphics and there were a couple of standout games. We Happy Few and Sea of Thieves were the two games that I thought looked the best. I also liked that Microsoft took the time to spotlight their Indies. Microsoft’s conference wasn’t totally bad, but I think it could have been a bit better. Plus, having one console coming out this year and one coming next is a pretty worrying sign for the video game industry…

Sony

From the very first moment of their conference, Sony had my attention. They had a big orchestra conducted by the composer of the Walking Dead! And then they showed a preview for a God of War game that I actually wish I could play. I’ve never been a God of War fan. Make fun of this new God of War as “Dad of War” all you want, but it looked awesome to me. After that, though, things got even better. Horizon: Zero Dawn, Detroit, Days Gone, VR titles, and so much more were presented. The Last Guardian even (finally) got a release date!

Sony’s focus was games, games, and more games. They didn’t announce a new console nor did they over do it with people talking and live demos (only one live demo and it was awesome). We got a lot of trailers for a lot games that had interesting stories and fun gameplay. Sony was bringing Hollywood to gaming and doing it in style. I was so impressed by that entire conference. I do, however, worry that the Neo might take away from the Playstation 4’s momentum next year. Putting that aside, though, Sony did an amazing job at E3 2016.

Nintendo

There was no Nintendo Digital Event this year nor did Nintendo return to the stage. I think either of these things would have made Nintendo’s E3 2016 a lot better. Nintendo did introduce what is probably the best game of this E3 though: Legend of Zelda: Breath of Wild. The game was jaw dropping and every piece of footage shown looked amazing. But the way that Nintendo presented the game, via just a trailer and a bunch of live demos, seemed lazy and eventually became uninteresting. It would have been incredible to see Nintendo back on the stage with this game! Even a Digital Event, would have made the revelation of this game more special.

And its not like Nintendo didn’t have the games for a digital event. On Day 2, Nintendo showed off a bunch of games (Ever Oasis being the biggest surprise) that could have easily been spotlighted in one of their trademark digital or stage events. Treehouse Live was better on Day 2, but still, Nintendo’s E3 seemed to lack that something special. I do think Nintendo had better games than Microsoft, but Microsoft still had the better presentation. Its too bad that Nintendo went with just the Treehouse Live this year. I hope that they will do better next year.

The Winner

While Nintendo had the best game of the show (ZELDA), they are ultimately not the winner of E3 2016. If you look back at my recaps, the winner is pretty obvious…

Sony is the winner of E3 2016. Not just because they had the better presentation, but because they had a bunch of amazing looking games that had fun gameplay and were telling engaging stories. Sony’s press conference was entertaining to watch and gave me a lot of hope for the Playstation 4. Sony brought the games and didn’t waste time on live demos like Nintendo and didn’t just bring shooters or action games to the table like Microsoft. Each Sony game had a story to tell and I wanted to play every one of those games. Even the VR games! I never thought I’d be so impressed by VR games! Sony blew me away this E3.

As for who came in second, that depends if you’re more worried about presentation or who had the better games…

In the end, E3 2016 was a blast to watch. I wasn’t bored by Microsoft’s conference like I thought I be, I loved Sony’s conference, and Nintendo had some games that I wish I could play right now (especially Zelda and Dragon Quest 7).

Here’s hoping that we’ll get another great E3 next year!

So who do you think won E3? Nintendo? Microsoft? Sony???? Also: what was your favorite game of E3? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

And thats it for E3 folks. Thanks for reading my special More Thoughts From Me E3 Special Editions this week. It was a lot fun to write about these companies! I’ll be back next week with a regular edition of More Thoughts From Me. It’ll be about Final Fantasy Explorers for the 3DS.

More Thoughts From Me is an opinion column. The opinions expressed above are mine and mine alone. You’ll have to ask the other writers on Games Reviews what they thought about E3! Did they think Sony won?! Microsoft?! Nintendo?!! I have no idea! (but come on. Sony won guys)