The Strange Nature of E3 Press Conferences

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Like any gamer I quite enjoy seeing the various press conferences at the Electronic Entertainment Expo introducing any new releases many people have been anticipating or might have never known they wanted to see. Yet while rewatching older press conferences I have come to realize that it is actually quite a strange concept very unique to the gaming industry. In its core, it is nothing more than a classic press conference, a combination tool of Public Relations and Event, so that companies can create a level of transparency towards their target audience. Publishing information such as their newest IPs or just trailers for already announced products are nothing new, but the way it is handled is truly fascinating.

What do I mean by that? Well to put it quite simply, Public Relations or PR isn’t always associated with creativity. It is more about information and has been commonly associated with how to handle change, crisis or politics. Yet here we are every year at a convention listening to creators of various games talking about and presenting them sometimes in very strange ways. I mean just take this years Nintendo online conference, we saw the three most important people in their company in a puppet form. Rather strange if you think about it too long, as isn’t it truly more about the games than this, or did the industry due to its gaming nature require a gamified form of Public relations?

Nintendo certainly managed to change things up in the last few years by focusing strongly on a online video-based PR strategy. This way they aren’t dependant on anyone at the E3 and can make videos the way they want to, see the strange puppet decision this year. Yet on the hand one could say that their presence at E3 is more mandatory than anything else. Most of the interesting information is published over the course of the year or even shortly beforehand, as for example this year we found out that Ryu from Street Fighter is joining Super Smash Bros. for WiiU and 3DS.[1] Furthermore, one could question why even publish a short PR video before the event actually starts? I know this is nothing new as Fallout 4 did the exact same thing, but still doesn’t it take away from the actual event to a certain degree?

Public Relations is difficult to talk about as each industry handles it different, may it range from simple statements over websites or social media, public speeches or through a press conference. So there is no true best practice that one could say that E3 or what Nintendo is doing is the best way of handling it. Some could even say that the stranger the press conference is the more memorable, as some still remember the weird Microsoft Kinect presentation or Mr. Caffeeine to this day. Yet from a PR standpoint one would consider them to be a crisis on their own as it goes against anything PR stands for, it actually ruins the image of a company or makes them a joke. Like I stated before, there is a strange way press conferences are handled in the gaming industry and even how affective they are. The focus is products and less the image of a company.

In the end, this might be worth its own study on how exactly press conferences in this industry work or even if they are effective. Is it the product or the company that is truly the selling point in the industry? EA has certainly been confronted with what it does and so has Konami lately due to its strange business decisions. Are the press conferences are necessary if the games sell on their own? I realized that over the course of this article I am constantly questioning things and I guess it comes with the bizarre nature of it all. My personal understanding of PR or what I am currently even learning does not truly match up with the perception of the E3 press conferences. In this world, there is always one thing that changes the way we see things, but maybe that is the point of it all. This isn’t B2B communication so it is alright to be creative and gaming has a sense of fun in its core, so as bizarre as it may seem maybe there is a true point to acts like the new Nier director wearing a strange mask, Nintendo puppet Executives, Mr. Caffeine or brining in Jason Derulo to sing a song.

What do you think? Is the gaming industry creating its own form of PR? Are there any merits to it or is it just simply strange? Leave your comments and thoughts below!


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