E3 2015: How close were our predictions?

Each year at E3, we predict What Will, What Might, and What Won’t happen. This year, we feel like we actually got quite a few things spot on, and while it’s not a perfect list, we’re going to break down all the news from E3 (and post-E3, since some things tend to leak out throughout the show and directly after it) to see just how close our predictions were.

WHAT WILL

Prediction: Star Wars will be a huge focus at the show this year.

What actually happened: Not only did Electronic Arts show off Star Wars: Battlefront as expected, the company co-hosted an experience outside of the Los Angeles Convention Center with Sony, showcasing the experience on the PlayStation 4. Disney also showed off Infinity 3.0 characters and figures with two games in the Star Wars universe for Infinity due out this Fall.

Verdict: Yes on all counts.


Prediction: A huge focus on VR with a must-play experience on each of Sony’s and Microsoft’s offering.

What actually happened: Microsoft showed off its HoloLens on stage with a jaw-dropping Minecraft demo, and followed that up with a live demo of HoloLens with a Halo 5: Guardians experience at their booth. Sony had a much more muted Morpheus presence than expected, but what they did show could easily be a great experience in the VR space with the new Guerrilla Games title RIGS. Oculus Rift also blew our head clean off with demos of Edge of Nowhere and EVE: Valkyrie.

Verdict: Yes, yes, and yes.


Prediction: Nintendo will surprise us all with something new.

What actually happened: Nintendo showed off more of Mario Maker and announced that Mother is coming to North America in the form of Earthbound BeginningsTri Force Heroes was also announced for 3DS, as was a new Metroid game.

Verdict: Unfortunately, Nintendo didn’t deliver the surprises we were after. No big Metroid Wii U unveiling, and remarkably quiet on the Zelda front. Nope on this one.

WHAT MIGHT

Prediction: Nintendo will announce a series of Pokémon amiibo cards.

What actually happened: There was actually zero Pokémon news at E3 worth mentioning. No amiibo cards, no amiibo figures, no amiibo anything.

Verdict: Totally missed this one. Not even kind of close.


Prediction: The Last Guardian will finally make an appearance.

What actually happened: We don’t know how or where or why, but The Last Guardian was the opener for Sony’s press conference. The crowd admittedly went wild, and the game has been praised for its beautiful design and outrageously stunning art style every minute since the demo wrapped.

Verdict: We never gave up hope. We’re so happy to say this actually happened.


Prediction: Call of Duty and Ubisoft titles will be at Sony’s press conference to liven up their thin first-party lineup.

What actually happened: Sony’s first-party lineup was certainly thin this year, with only a handful of titles for the PlayStation 4, and even fewer coming out this year. Sony did manage to wrangle Call of Duty to its side, but Ubisoft games were spread evenly between Sony and Microsoft.

Verdict: We’ll call this a win. After all, we said it might happen, and it half-happened, so that’s a winner in our books.

WHAT WON’T

Prediction: Nintendo will not show Zelda Wii U or the new NX platform, but they might surprise with a new 3DS Zelda game that isn’t Hyrule Warriors 3DS.

What actually happened: No Zelda. No NX. New surprise Zelda game for 3DS that isn’t Hyrule Warriors 3DS.

Verdict: Remarkably spot on.


Prediction: No console redesigns this year.

What actually happened: No console redesigns this year.

Verdict: Can’t get more correct than that.


Prediction: There won’t be any hardware innovation from Sony or Microsoft except for Morpheus and a redesigned controller, respectively.

What actually happened: Sony showed Morpheus and Microsoft showed off the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller. Of course, we were actually referring to the controller with a standard headphone jack, but we’re not complaining about the Elite controller, either.

Verdict: Practically dead on, even if that wasn’t the actual controller we were talking about.

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Overall, it looks like we did a pretty decent job predicting what we’d see at E3 2015. While you might think that makes us happy, it actually means we were able to predict a large part of the show. We’d much rather be wrong about things than see them come to fruition exactly as we’d expect, so here’s hoping E3 2016 has a few more surprises in store.