The press conferences and big reveals from this year’s E3 are finally in the bag, bringing with it a slew of announcements for some big name games. We’ve finally seen confirmation of Devil May Cry 5, along with gameplay footage for Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us 2, and that’s barely scratching the surface.
But with all the news and excitement flying around, there were some pretty big omissions this year that were either rumoured ahead of time or fans simply expected, blindly chanting “this is going to be the year!” despite nothing being confirmed beforehand. Lord knows I certainly got involved with some of that. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the biggest no-shows from this year’s E3.
1. Splinter Cell
It’s hard to believe that the last Splinter Cell game was Blacklist back in 2013. Considering that the series has had a total of six instalments in the 11 years since launching in 2002, five years is a long time to wait to see everyone’s favourite gravelly voiced special operative snapping neck and kicking ass. We bloody love you Sam Fisher.
The now infamous Walmart Canada leak, which we still believe should get a lifetime achievement award for “Services To Games Journalists”, outed a new Splinter Cell game, but the Ubisoft conference came and went with no mention of a new Splinter Cell. Yves Guillemot did confirm in an interview with Geoff Keighley that they plan on returning to the franchise at some point, with nothing else to say at this time. It’s possible that Ubisoft pulled the game from the conference because of the leak so they can announce the game unsullied later on. That’s the hope anyway.
2. Final Fantasy 7 Remake
It’s been agreed that the Square Enix conference was one of the most disappointing aspects of E3 due to how brief the event was and how little they actually had to say. The expectation was that they’d use the conference to talk at length about the much anticipated Kingdom Hearts 3 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake. The reality was that we weren’t even half right.
With Kingdom Hearts 3 getting extended coverage from Xbox and Sony, the Square Enix conference did little but repeat familiar steps, much to the dismay of the live viewers. Meanwhile, Final Fantasy 7 Remake was nowhere to be found, leaving questions about its current development status up in the air. At this point, we’d be shocked to see it this side of 2020.
3. Mortal Kombat 11
Anyone who has been following the Netherrealm Studios release schedule for the past few years will have likely put Mortal Kombat 11 on top of their E3 predictions list. Since the Mortal Kombat reboot in 2011, the Chicago based team have released a game every two years, with Injustice in 2013, Mortal Kombat X in 2015 and Injustice 2 in 2017. The natural continuation of that trend would be Mortal Kombat 11, slated for a release next year, but nothing was mentioned during E3.
With series creator Ed Boon being the troll master general that he is, either giving the fans complete silence or actively teasing the Mortal Kombat community, the status of Mortal Kombat 11 is unknown. They’re probably working on it, but when will they announce it? With Injustice 2 getting a big presence at EVO 2018 this August, we’d wager that we’ll something during that weekend.
4. Skate 4
Ah, yes. The always expected, never confirmed Skate 4, which has arguably reached the same level as Half Life 3 in terms of “probably not happening, but we’ll keep asking”. Developed as a competitor to the then popular Tony Hawk’s series before eventually becoming its successor, the series reached the pinnacle with Skate 3, which combined a healthy dose of realistic physics and arcade style fun to create an all time classic skateboarding game.
Unfortunately, that was the last we heard about the Skate series, and no one is quite sure why. Sales figures seem to indicate over 5 million games sold across PS3 and Xbox 360, making it widely successful, and fan support, petitions and Twitter hashtags for the game appear to be constant. Even skateboarding company The Berrics launched a campaign to “Make EA Skate Again”, but we’re still waiting for a new game. Come on EA, you know it’d sell like gangbusters.
5. Superman: World’s Finest
One of the biggest rumours leading into E3 was the supposed announcement of a new Superman game from Batman: Arkham developers Rocksteady. Allegedly featuring both Superman and Batman, hence the World’s Finest subtitle, along with other members of the Justice League, you’d be doing battle with one of DC’s biggest bad guys: Brainiac.
With a new Superman game being absent from E3, many have come to the conclusion that the leak was simply someone playing silly buggers with the gaming community, but there might have been some truth to it. Rocksteady developers are still teasing an announcement of some kind, and the rumours of a Rocksteady Superman game go back to 2017. Perhaps there’s truth to the rumour, or it’s all bullshit. Either way.
6. Fable 4
In response to the criticism that Xbox has no exclusives, Phil Spencer showed up to E3 with news about 18 console exclusive games, including big hitters like Halo: Infinite, Gears 5 and Forza Horizon 4, along with smaller titles like Tunic and some new Cuphead DLC. One game that was unfortunately missing from the line-up was news about a new entry in the Fable series.
It’s already been confirmed that developers Playground Games are working on a fourth entry in the main series, who appeared on stage to talk about their other big franchise, Forza Horizon 4. With the popular racing game their primary focus right now, we might not hear anything on the Fable front until the end of the year at least, but it’s coming.
7. WiLD
At the behest of the Editor-In-Chief of this website, The Right Honourable Jimmy Donnellan Esquire, here’s our obligatory “where’s WiLD entry?” If you don’t know what WiLD is, and frankly I didn’t until Jimmy started going on about it, WiLD is a PS4 exclusive survival game set in a procedurally generated open world. It’s being directed by Michel Ancel, who people may know as the creator of Rayman.
After being revealed and showcased around 2014 and 2015, WiLD seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth, with Ancel popping up periodically during 2017 to reassure fans that it’s still a thing. It’s quite possible that Sony have quietly shitcanned the game and moved on to other projects, but your man Jimmy still wants to hear more about it. In his own words: “I don’t even care much for its premise, I just want to fucking know.”
8. Metroid Prime 4
Though Metroid fans got their fill at this year’s E3 with the announcement of Ridley coming to Super Smash Bros Ultimate, the upcoming Metroid Prime 4 was conspicuous by its absence. Many fans expected some news on Samus’ latest adventure, but were left wanting by the end of the Nintendo Direct event, but there’s a reason for that.
According to Reggie “My Body Is Ready” Fils-Aimé, who spoke to The Verge, he said that: “Last year with Metroid Prime 4, it was important to highlight for the Metroid fan that that franchise was going to come to Nintendo Switch, so that we could also share Metroid: Samus Returns for the 3DS, and not have them be so disappointed that a mainline Metroid experience isn’t coming.” This is why Prime 4 was announced so far ahead of release, meaning the game just wasn’t ready to be shown at E3 2018. Apparently it’s progressing well though, so we should hear more soon.
9. Bayonetta 3
Another Nintendo Switch title that failed to make an appearance during the Nintendo Direct stream was Bayonetta 3. The upcoming character action game from genre titans Platinum Games was nowhere to be found, though Platinum Games could be found across the whole of E3, with Nier: Automata coming to the Xbox One and Babylon’s Fall announced for PS4.
So where was Bayonetta 3? With no sign of the Umbra Witch, it’s probably safe to assume that what’s true of Metroid Prime 4 is also true here: Nintendo and Platinum simply aren’t ready to announce more about the game. Still, with Gamescom in August and Tokyo Game Show in September, we probably won’t have long to wait.
10. Virtua Fighter 6
Right, if Jimmy can use Cultured Vultures as a platform to talk about WiLD, I’m using it to talk more about Virtua Fighter 6. Considered by many to be the pioneer of the 3D fighting game genre, we’ll soon live in a world where Soulcalibur VI and Dead or Alive 6 exist before Virtua Fighter 6.
With the last game in the series being Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown in 2012, which added two new characters to the roster, things have been quiet ever since. The last we’ve seen of characters like Akira Yuki, Jacky and Sarah Bryant is when they appeared as guest characters in Dead or Alive 5. With DOA6 looming on the horizon, the ball is in SEGA’s court if they want to compete.
11. The Avengers Project
We’re circling back to the Square Enix conference here, as another game was expected to make an appearance after being announced over a year and a half prior: The Avengers Project. Square Enix confirmed that we’d see more details about the game at some point in 2018, leaving many to conclude that E3 would be the most suitable candidate. Again, that turned out to be untrue.
The Avengers Project is currently being developed by Crystal Dynamics, who are currently putting the finishing touches on Shadow of the Tomb Raider ahead of its September release date, so it’s likely that it’s all hands on deck to make that game the best experience they can. With two more big gaming shows on the docket this year, chances are we’ll hear something then.
12. Watch Dogs 3
Let’s finish things off how we started; with the Ubisoft conference. What seems to be one of the worst kept secrets in gaming right now is Ubisoft working on a Watch Dogs 3, with rumours and “leaks” leading the charge since April. Even Ubisoft’s own AI assistant got in on the action, telling users that Watch Dogs 3 is a lot of fun and that they can’t wait for people to play it.
Of course, Watch Dogs 3 didn’t feature at all during E3 this year, with Cyberpunk 2077 filling the “games about hacking” role. Considering that Ubisoft had plenty to show at their conference, including Beyond Good & Evil 2 and The Division 2, it’s possible they just didn’t have room for it. Still, there’s always Gamescom.
And there’s the list. Do you agree with it? Let us know what you think was the biggest no-show of the year in the comments. If you say Half Life 3, you’re getting a slap.
MORE E3:
– 12 Best New Trailers From E3 2018
– Ubisoft’s E3 2018 Was Ubi-Hard To Watch
– E3 2018: Devolver Digital Evolves E3 Conferences
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