With E3 2013 less than a month away and after re-watching last year’s press conferences (mostly to get them off my DVR), let’s recap the claims that were made by each of the Big Three companies (plus EA and Ubisoft) and see how they did almost one year later! Five conferences will be reviewed for not their content quality, but the truthfulness of the claims that were made, between now and Episode 135 of SMYN. Up next is EA at E3 2012, after the break!
CLAIM: Dead Space 3 will add a co-op campaign when it is released in February 2013.
RESULT: True. The game launched with this feature on February 5, 2013.
CLAIM: Players will be able to access SimCity Social on Facebook in “just a few weeks.”
RESULT: True. The game launched on Facebook on June 25, 2013.
CLAIM: SimCity will allow players to connect to other worlds when it is released in February 2013.
RESULT: WRONG! Not only did the game slip its launch date to March 5, 2013, but all of the online issues that plagued it caused players to not even be able to play the game for the first few weeks.
CLAIM: Battlefield 3 Premium is available “today” for $49.99, will add additional content and features for the game through March 2013.
RESULT: True. EA delivered the Close Quarters, Armored Kill, Aftermath, and End Game DLC packs throughout the year, ending in March 2013.
CLAIM: Star Wars: The Old Republic will add extra features and the ability to play for free up to Level 15 in a July 2012 update.
RESULT: True. Even though BioWare hoped the game would not go free to play, the update arrived on-time in July 2012. Unfortunately, it hasn’t seemed to change the game’s fortunes and public relevancy all too much.
CLAIM: Medal of Honor: Warfighter will be released on October 23, 2012.
RESULT: True. The game launched on October 23, 2012.
CLAIM: Madden NFL Social will be available this fall, where players can take their experience from Facebook to smartphones.
RESULT: True. The application launched in time for the football season in September 2012.
CLAIM: EA Sports is planning a very aggressive return to basketball with NBA Live 13, with changing game content throughout the year.
RESULT: WRONG! The game was cancelled on September 27, 2012 due to disappointing development, although rumors of a Live 14 iteration are rumored for this year.
CLAIM: FIFA 13 will provide a connected experience across multiple kinds of platforms when it launches later this year.
RESULT: True. The soccer/football franchise is EA Sports’ best-selling title and this year delivered the apps to enhance the experience when the game launched on September 25, 2012. No word on the shamelessly rehashed Wii and Vita version, though.
CLAIM: EA Sports and UFC have a multi-year deal in place to make mixed martial arts fighting games.
RESULT: To be determined. This was simply an announcement, with no UFC game launching in 2012. Expect to see something about this at this year’s E3.
CLAIM: Need for Speed: Most Wanted will be released on October 30, 2012.
RESULT: True. The game launched on October 30, 2012.
CLAIM: Crysis 3 will be released in February 2013.
RESULT: True. The game launched on February 19, 2013.
ADDITIONAL TOPICS with no outright claims: Madden NFL 13
CONCLUSION:
True: 9
To be determined: 1
Shaky: 0
Wrong: 2
It always helps a company’s claims when they announce a specific date and then launch on that exact date. Unfortunately, EA’s blunders this past year were significant. They blew their honest attempt at an NBA Live launch for the second time in three years and SimCity was in the gaming news for a long time for all the wrong reasons. As far the UFC goes, that was TBD by default, as it was obvious that there would be no game this year, so there’s no deception there. Even though this was one of the worst conferences at E3 in terms of content, when it comes the accuracy of claims, it was surprisingly solid.
CLAIM GRADE: B+
What would you give EA?
