By Cam Shea, editor in chief, IGN Australia
There are no new games at the top of the retail video game sales charts this week. In fact, there are only two games in the top ten that were released this year. A slow week then, but also a time when the entire games industry isn’t thinking about the now, but the future, and have made the trek to L.A. for E3, the biggest game trade show of the year. To be clear, E3 itself isn’t as important as it once was. Gaming has evolved – business models have changed, games have become a service, publishers can now speak directly to their audience whenever they like. The showdown between first party publishers – PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo – already somewhat diminished, wasn’t even a factor this year, with Sony opting to skip the show.
Even so, there were some big announcements and deep dives. Xbox’s next console, codenamed Project Scarlett, will be launching in late 2020, alongside Halo Infinite. Watch Dogs: Legion takes players to a dystopian London, where they can recruit any citizen in the entire city to their cause, then play as them. Nintendo revealed that it’s working on a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (IGN’s game of the year in 2017) with a dark and moody teaser trailer. Elsewhere, Deathloop looks cool, as does Ghostwire: Tokyo, The Outer Worlds, Gods and Monsters, Elden Ring, Marvel’s Avengers, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Link’s Awakening, Doom Eternal and Final Fantasy VII Remake.
IGN’s game of the show, however, was the same as last year – Cyberpunk 2077. The hugely ambitious action RPG from the studio behind The Witcher III is looking incredible. Plus it has a not-so-secret weapon: Keanu Reeves.
