Electronic Arts, Microsoft and Bethesda have already held their press conferences at the 2018 edition of the E3 video game focused event, with a relatively high number of interesting announcements delivered by the three companies and some interesting choices when it comes to short versus long term planning of reveals .
In an industry that has recently focused on quickly delivering announced titles to gamers, preferably in less than 9 months after the official announcement, both Cyberpunk 2077 and The Elder Scrolls VI are bucking the trend and yet both were the most commented on and appreciated games at their press events. Is this a sign that we, as gamers and humans, are more attracted to things that exist in the future, because they offer more possibilities and the potential for more excitement down the line, or that players want to see entirely new mechanics and that is only possible with video games that will probably only arrive on an entirely new hardware generation?
Cyberpunk 2077 was first revealed to the public way back in 2012 and a first trailer arrived in 2013. It only took until E3 2018 for the team at CD Projekt RED to deliver a full trailer, with some hints of gameplay but still mostly cinematic driven, but there was no hint of a release date. There are plenty of rumors about the title, including that it underwent a soft reboot around two years ago, and there are also hints that Microsoft, which used its press event to debut the trailer, has a deal to make it a showcase for its coming hardware, yet announced but widely rumored to be 3 to 4 years away.
For The Elder Scrolls VI Bethesda has delivered a very short teaser that reveals nothing but still closed down their press conference. The company has explicitly talked about next gen in relation to the game, although it is unclear whether they are talking about hardware or only about the engine they are planning to use. Except to see more details before the end of the year, possibly via leaks, and maybe a full trailer at next year’s E3 press conference.
The fact that this two titles are currently getting a lot of attention could be linked entirely history, franchise loyalty or developer renown. My personal take is that The Elder Scrolls VI and Cyberpunk 2077 are currently so popular because they embody the hopes of their fans (and some unaffiliated gamers) that video games can deliver something very different. We have an industry, as seen during the initial three press events, that’s segmented between big budged sameness and low budget surprise (there are exceptions) and love for big titles that are far from their launch date is a way to project that this situation can change and we might get something that’s both high quality and innovative.