Each and every year, video game fans clamor for certain games to be shown off during the E3 press conferences. Without fail, when a show ends, disappointment about what wasn’t shown bubbles to the surface. With the major E3 press conferences in the rearview mirror, let’s take a look at the biggest no-shows of E3 2018.
Square Enix returned to E3 for the first time since 2015, but one of its most anticipated titles did not make an appearance. Final Fantasy VII Remake, the ambitious, reportedly multipart reinvention of the seminal PlayStation classic, wasn’t even mentioned in passing. While this may not be incredibly surprising to some, it goes to show that Square Enix probably let the cat out of the bag much too early when the remake was unveiled at E3 2015. In the three years since, we’ve received scant details on the project’s status, and almost all of what has been said suggests development has suffered numerous setbacks. There’s always next year.
Remember the adorable Yoshi platformer that debuted at E3 2017? The still-untitled Switch game skipped Nintendo’s press conference, which is odd considering it was expected to launch sometime this year. Shortly after Nintendo’s conference concluded, the game’s page on Nintendo’s site updated from a 2018 release to 2019. Nintendo confirmed the delay to Game Informer. With Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!, and Super Mario Party all arriving later this year, it’s not super surprising Yoshi’s cardboard adventure won’t hatch until 2019.
Call it wishful thinking, but we were hoping to see a bit of Samus Aran’s next adventure during the Nintendo Direct. All we saw was the logo at E3 2017, and Nintendo has been tight-lipped on the sequel ever since. Also, if Metroid Prime 4 wasn’t ready for the spotlight, Nintendo could’ve at least announced the Metroid Prime Trilogy for Switch (that has to be a thing, right?). In all seriousness, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime told IGN that Metroid Prime 4 is “progressing well,” but that it was too early to show Samus’ new adventure.
For years, stealth fans have bemoaned the absence of Sam Fisher during Ubisoft’s show. Leading up to this year, the next Splinter Cell game appeared especially plausible considering the recent Ghost Recon Wildlands DLC starring original Fisher actor Michael Ironside. Alas, Ubisoft’s show snuck by without a glimpse of Fisher lurking in the background. After the show, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said the studio plans to go back to the stealth franchise. When will that happen? Who knows, but hopefully soon.
The last tidbit we learned about Borderlands 3 was that it could see an appearance from Elon Musk’s flamethrower. In fact, we don’t even really know if it will be called Borderlands 3. All we know is that Gearbox Software is working on a new Borderlands game. Borderlands 3 seemed like a prime candidate for a teaser during either Microsoft’s or Sony’s press conference. Sadly, we’re still grasping at straws. Maybe we’ll see it next year, as all signs have pointed to Borderlands 3 arriving in 2K Games’ 2019 fiscal year.
When it became clear Ubisoft would unveil Assassin’s Creed Odyssey during its E3 press conference, a Watch Dogs 3 reveal seemed unlikely. Still, Watch Dogs 2 proved to be a massive upgrade to the original when it launched in 2016, so we were hoping Ubisoft would make the open-world hacking franchise a biannual thing. As of now, Watch Dogs 3 seems like a safe bet for E3 2019.
Going into E3, we knew Nintendo would discuss Pokémon … Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!, that is. When revealing Let’s Go, Pikachu!, Nintendo said the core Pokémon Switch game would arrive in 2019. It would’ve been nice to see at least a small teaser for the first mainline Pokémon game to come to a home console, but at least we know we’ll get our hands on it next year.
What exactly is Square Enix’s upcoming Marvel game The Avengers Project (undoubtedly a working title)? At this point, all we know is that a game based on the superhero squad is in development at Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal. Since it was announced in early 2017, we haven’t seen any footage, nor do we know what type of game it is (probably open-world action, right?). Given how lackluster Square Enix’s E3 presentation was, The Avengers Project could have spiced it up a bit.
When EA acquired Titanfall developer Respawn late last year, we learned a new Titanfall game was in development. We have heard squat about it since. It’s sad that EA’s press conference didn’t feature the next Titanfall game, presumably titled Titanfall 3. Anyway, if you haven’t played Titanfall 2, you should, and then you can be sad about Titanfall 3‘s absence with us. Seriously, it’s one of the best first-person shooters of this generation.
Let’s be clear: Rockstar Games didn’t need to bring Red Dead Redemption 2 to E3 in order for it to be the biggest hit of the holiday season after it launches October 26. That will likely happen anyway. But arguably the most anticipated game of 2018 skipping the big show? It’s at least somewhat surprising. Then again, we doubt Rockstar is too worried about Red Dead Redemption 2‘s prospective sales figures.
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.