Ubisoft and EA: which third party won E3 2014?

Two of the largest third-party publishers in the world went head to head at E3 2014. Ubisoft and EA may not have a historic rivalry, but you can’t tell us they weren’t competing for your love in LA last night.

EA and Ubisoft at E3 2014

EA made a lot of promises about 2015 and beyond, but had a neat little crop of next-gen sports games and the surprisingly compelling Battlefield: Hardline to bulk out its offerings. Refresh yourself with events.

Ubisoft kicked things off with Far Cry 4 and ended with Rainbow Six: Siege, speaking to the core almost non-stop. Even its Just Dance aside was mercifully brief. Catch up on all the news.

E3 is a reflection of the games industry. A few years ago you’d be reading reports or watching livestreams of up to a dozen events. This year, we have just four major players – EA, Microsoft, Sony and Ubisoft.

This whittling down of key companies reflects the industry’s increasing reliance on fewer, bigger hits, in line with the rising cost of competitive triple-A development as hardware advances. If the last generation hadn’t lasted as long as it did, keeping a lid on growth, we might be looking at even less content – or none.

The next few years will determine whether the triple-A scene can continue its unchecked decadence or whether the industry has to refocus, so it’s worth our time to watch closely and see what the remaining big four bring to LA. Microsoft and Sony are worlds in and of themselves, but EA and Ubisoft have interesting parallels: both are early adopters of new hardware. Both own astonishing catalogues of property. Both are among the most important content creators in video games.

Ubisoft had the more entertaining show, I think. Aisha Tyler attracts a lot of haters, presumably because we’re all so deadened by marketing that we’re no longer capable of recognising authentic appreciation for the material. Tyler is a mainstream celebrity who likes video games; Tyler is a conventionally attractive woman who loves video games the way we massive geeks love video games. Since the media and society are constantly telling us this is impossible, it’s no wonder many of us react badly to her enthusiasm.