E3 2018: Takeaways From the Gaming’s ‘Battle Royale’

The 2018 Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, is underway in Los Angeles. Now in its 24th year, E3 is the gaming industry’s Super Bowl–an opportunity for the sector’s hardware and software developers to show off new games, consoles, and other projects.

Every year, E3 provides a peek at the future of an explosive industry, and what the next chapters of its short but storied history hold in store.

E3 2018 biggest announcements

Gamers look forward to E3 because it’s typically when the major gaming studios and industry players show trailers or teasers for the newest games and hardware that are slated to be released over the coming year.

For example, at this year’s expo, we saw announcements for future installments to some of the biggest and most beloved gaming franchises:

• “Fallout 76” – War never changes, and the fight heads to the hills of West Virginia.
• “Gears of War 5” – We’ll see this “Gears” sequel, with a strategy and mobile game, too.
• “Halo Infinite” – Master Chief is set to return in what could alternately be called “Halo 6”.
• “Elder Scrolls VI” – We only got a peek at this coming sequel to “Skyrim”, and likely have a long time to wait before it’s actually released.
• “Super Smash Bros.” – Nintendo’s famous fighting game gets a new installment.
• “The Last of Us Part II” – The sequel to 2013’s award-winning breakout hit is slated to launch on the PlayStation 4 in December.

And there are many, many more.

Aside from established franchises, some developers use E3 has a chance to resurrect dead titles. Bethesda Games did just that at E3 2014 when it announced a new Doom game (released in 2016), and this year, we got word of its sequel: Doom Eternal.

In addition to all of that, we also got word that Microsoft is hard at work on the next iteration of the Xbox.

“The same team that delivered unprecedented performance with Xbox One X is deep into architecting the next Xbox consoles,” Phil Spencer, Executive President of Gaming at Microsoft said during the company’s press conference.

What does it mean for the gaming industry?

Gaming has already captivated billions around the world, with the industry already having worked its way into 66% of American households, and driving revenues expected to top $230 billion in the next five years, according to industry data.

With new titles and entries for some best-selling series like “Halo”, “Assassin’s Creed”, and “The Elder Scrolls” in the wings, the excitement surrounding the video game industry isn’t likely to wane after this year’s E3.

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