E3 2021: Microsoft, Nintendo Could Be Winners And Other Big Storylines

For the first time in its 26-year history, the Electronics Entertainment Expo was held virtually. Better known as E3, this year’s event brought new game reveals, updates on previously announced games and updates from hardware companies. Here is a look at the biggest winners and storylines from E3 2021 held June 12-15.

Microsoft A Big Winner: One of the big winners from E3 could be Microsoft Corporation MSFT. The company unveiled several upcoming games and also highlighted that many of the upcoming Bethesda games will be exclusive to the Xbox Series X consoles and PC, a development that comes after Microsoft acquired the company.

A new space game called “Starfield” was unveiled with a November 2022 release date. Microsoft called “Starfield” a game 25 years in the making. NPR called the game a combination of Star Wars and Skyrim. “Starfield” will be exclusive to Xbox and PC when it is released.

Other upcoming games that will be exclusive to Xbox and/or PC that were part of E3 include “The Outer Worlds 2,” “Contraband” and “Redfall.” “Forza Horizon 5” launches Nov. 9 and will be exclusive to Xbox and PC and could be a surprise hit of a holiday season without huge blockbuster games.

Microsoft was an award winner for most anticipated game with “Forza Horizon 5” and best presentation for its Xbox and Bethesda presentation. Both awards came from top gaming websites.

Related Link: E3 2021: 12 Stocks To Watch For The Year's Biggest Video Game Event 

Nintendo Reaction Mixed: The Nintendo Direct presentation was highly anticipated by fans of the company, gamers and investors. The company’s presentation failed to unveil the new Nintendo Switch console but included several exciting upcoming releases.

Among the announced games was “Metroid Dread,” the first 2D Metroid game in 19 years and a game coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the series.

Nintendo NTDOY showed off footage of the highly anticipated sequel to “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.” The game does not have a name yet but highlighted new weapons, abilities and enemies for the franchise.

Nintendo also announced new games including “WarioWare: Get it Together” and “Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope.”

Ubisoft Impresses: Gaming studio Ubisoft Entertainment UBSFY was a highlight for NPR, which pointed to highlighted games like “Rainbow Six Extraction” and “Far Cry 6.”

The studio also showed off footage of “Avatars: Frontiers of Pandora,” a game that will be released in 2022 and centers on one of the highest-grossing movies of all time.

2021 Light, 2022 Exciting: One big storyline pointed out by Gamesradar is the lack of major releases coming in 2021.

“E3 would usually be the place that we’d expect to see this smattering of releases fill out with a strong end-of-year plan, but E3 2021 pushed the focus to 2022 and beyond more than any other event of its kind,” Gamesradar said.

Many of the games shown off at E3 feature 2022 release dates or have yet to be announced release dates, which makes 2021 feel like a “stop-gap” the article said.

Benzinga’s Take: E3 was certainly not the same with it being held virtually. The pandemic has also delayed the release of many games into 2022 which made this year’s event seem less exciting for the short term.

Sony Corporation SONY skipped E3, which allowed Microsoft a good opportunity to embrace and highlight its exclusives. The biggest takeaways from industry leaders are Microsoft and Nintendo had strong enough presentations to win the event and provide some excitement for their upcoming game slates.

Courtesy photo.