Side Quest, Episode 29: Bethesda Press Conference Review (E3 2018)

Totally unnecessary, yeah.

Colin Moriarty

I'm torn on this conference but I agree it wasn't needed.

strawhatninja

Thank you so much for your kind words. I really do appreciate it. Pleased you're enjoying the content, and that it's helping you in the real world. =D

Colin Moriarty

Hmm interesting.....this is just my observation/theory, but could it be bc of how last year (I think) Sony showed their tendency to present footage via a teaser trailer and not really back it up with any real information i.e. a release date, and because the PlayStation 4 has been dominating the western market this generation with their quality first-party exclusives, a lot of their competitors are now deciding to follow the same PR strategy. ~Colin, just wanted to say how impressed I am on how on top of things you are when it comes to quality over quantity with these very concise reviews of #E32018, and I know this is irrelevant to this post but you are honestly the main reason why I've been more engaged with current events/politics - to the point where I can even hold a round-table debate with my siblings, even if my sister always ends up owning my brother and I haha

Weldon

Totally fine, I'm amazed you haven't been making more mistakes with the rate you're pumping this content out! Awesome work man.

Phillip Guglielmo

Thank you! I'm working super hard, so I'm glad it's showing. Thank you for your support.

Colin Moriarty

Yeah, you gotta assume it's a mid-generation next-gen game.

Colin Moriarty

I don't agree with your TLoU2/DS comparison. Those games had actual trailers. The latter was definitely shown too early -- I said so at the time and constantly since -- but I don't really see how the two compare. I think Bethesda's dick would swing bigger if it chose the time and place of its engagements.

Colin Moriarty

It was fine. Felt a little advertise-y to me.

Colin Moriarty

That's an optimistic timeline. =D

Colin Moriarty

Sorry about that!

Colin Moriarty

Eh. I was surprised by how tonedeaf the conference felt... for me, anyway.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you! If they do well (and they are), I'll totally do something similar (though scaled down) for the likes of Gamescom, Paris Games Week, TGS, PSX, etc.

Colin Moriarty

First of all, it's crazy that you're able to pump these high-quality episodes out so soon after each press conference when it's just you doing them. Nice work Colin, and thanks for doing this! I've enjoyed all of them. Secondly, it's very strange to me that Bethesda did another conference of its own when it clearly didn't have the goods. I didn't think anything looked bad, but the stuff that I'm most excited for (Doom Eternal, Starfield) felt like padding, like you said. I think you hit the nail right on the head: why do a conference if you have to stretch to fill it? Is it because they've set a precedent now? ALSO, Jason Schreier had a great tweet yesterday about how "Single-Player First" Bethesda announced a bunch of multiplayer iterations of its most popular franchises. Food for thought, I guess.

Brent Lindquist

The next Elder Scrolls release is what? like 6+ years away if it's the 2nd major PS5 title?

Re: Why Bethesda wants to be like Ubi and EA with their conferences - my only guess is that having your own press conference at E3 is something to aspire to; to be able to create good stuff content for you to stand on your own two and say, ‘we are as big as EA and Ubisoft, and here’s why, roll the video’. Agreed that the conference itself was cringy and the concert from Andrew WK was nice, but unnesscessary. Re: Why Bethesda showed ES6 and Starfield - I think they were pulling a Sony in showing something insanely early to say ‘this is coming, don’t forget about it’ in the way that Kojima teased Death Stranding and Naughty Dog teased The Last of Us Part 2, which at the times of their first trailers/looks were pretty far out as well. Starfield is a new IP and will probably be treated as such if it bombs, but letting fans know that ES6, one of Bethesda’s tentpole games, does exist is more of a kinda gesture to rabid ES fans. I’ll admit, releasing DLC for existing IP, having to explain what Fallout 76 is, and the rest of 2018’s conference was nowhere near as intense as their 2015 conference which was 20 minutes of Doom and Fallout 4. They seem to be stuck in this time period of wanting to be as big as EA and Ubisoft, but had to revert to an older E3 playbook in order to do it since they could only use a shotgun approach to their releases. Is it necessary? No. Is it appreciated by fans? Yes, and I think the latter is why they continue, even without their ‘aces in the hole’ 2015 year.

Joey Rawlings

Even if I wasn't that excited during the conference, Skyrim on the Amazon Echo was probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen at an E3 conference.

Owen

I cant wait to play elder scrolls VI when my daughter is 6 (4 years from now).

Joey Finelli

Nice one Colin! Just a note - for the Legends card game, you said that it's being ported from PC to PC. :P

Phillip Guglielmo

Well I get your points you gotta admit their awesome tongue in cheek (super special Skyrim version) was pretty hilarious. Besides that though I get what you mean. Plus the reveal that all of the new content for prey was free was dope.

Brogan Wassell

Colin, I love these quick, snappy and great opinion on the conferences. It’s such a nice change from the usual talk over a stream with a million things happening on the screen at once approaches, followed by a 4 hour break down of every frame. I really hope you find success with these type videos and they continue over events like PSX etc. Keep up the great work!

Ryan Taylor