‘Bethesda’ May Not Do A E3 Presser Next Year, And That’s OK

Earlier it was revealed, via an interview with the Telegraph, that Fallout 4 developer Bethesda may not hold another press conference at next year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). While many may decry this, given the nature of this year’s press conference and how well Bethesda seemed to score in the eyes of its fans, the decision to not do a press conference isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Speaking with Pete Hines, VP of PR and Marketing with Bethesda, the topic came up about the likelihood of another Bethesda E3 Showcase. However, Hines was largely non-commital on the subject, not ruling out the possibility that this year’s conference was the only one Bethesda would do for a while.

“I don’t know if we’ll do one next year. I don’t know if we’ll do one again. This year felt like the right time to do this kind of thing.”

With many of the game publishers’ massive franchises being showcased this year, it’s hard to argue why Bethesda chose to show them in this way. DOOM, Dishonored 2, Fallout 4, and the upcoming expansion of The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited were all shown, with a bit of BattleCry in the mix. It would be hard to fathom Bethesda topping this lineup next year, unless the anticipated Elder Scrolls VI rears its head, which is something Hines hints may not be a possibility.

“It’s rare to have franchises like the ones we have and to have people joking about ‘when is Skyrim 2 coming out?’ The reason they say that is because generally speaking that’s what you’d be getting with another publisher in charge. They’d be spitting out a Skyrim 2 the year after or two years later. That’s just not how we view it. We’re not the sort of publisher that focuses on ‘what’s our 25 titles for 2015’.

We do smaller stuff, we don’t publish to scale, we try to publish to quality. Make sure everything we do is noteworthy.”

For Bethesda to forgo a conference next year isn’t a bad thing, really. It makes sense when you look at it closely. Bethesda would have to announce something big, or showcase a huge chunk of gameplay, much like what we saw this year with Fallout 4, to even come close to matching the feel of their showcase this year. And as Hines notes above, they just aren’t that type of publisher. When the time comes for Bethesda to show off another massive hit, like maybe an Elder Scrolls game or a Fallout expansion, maybe they’ll look at doing another E3 showcase.

But for now, kudos to Bethesda for sticking to who they are and not rushing to make sure they have the flashiest, most stylistic, buzzworthy show when it just doesn’t fit with the situation. One of the reasons why their E3 showcase went over so well was due to the nature of how they presented everything: no buzzwords, no marketing gimmicks — just pure, developer-driven gameplay. And if Bethesda doesn’t feel as though they can match that next year, it makes sense to put their showcase on hold until they can.

Don’t be upset if Bethesda decides to not hold their presser next year, because it can only mean that once they do have another one, if they have another one, Bethesda will have something great to offer as a result. Which should make every gamer excited at that prospect.

[Image via Bethesda]