EA Play 2019

I expect EA to hold a quite and calm existence during their EA Play 2019 with no reveals of new titles (EA Play is what they call the event they have been doing ever since they decided to leave E3 officially, their events however have been happening just before the actual E3 kicks on) This is because EA have made the decision to not hold a proper press conference this year, instead they are running a packed event which will be live streamed across the web. They have “influencers” helping them out with this such as Andrea Rene (What's Good Games) and Greg Miller (Kinda Funny Games). I can see where EA is coming from, this is after all about video games. But personally I´m going to miss their conference and the feeling of being surprised.

However, we know that at least one new huge title is due later this year, Jedi Fallen Order. This is the first true single player Star Wars game EA is going to publish, which honestly is a weird situation on its own in my eyes. But it´s nevertheless a game which many (me included) are really excited to see more about.

Electronic Arts also is the owner of some of, if not the, biggest brands in sport games. Expect to see the yearly FIFA, Madden, updates taking a big chunk of time in this conference. These are huge titles that sell millions of copies every year so even though they're not for me or any of the more “hardcore single player” gamers out there, this is a no brainer from a business perspective.

A game that must be kind of an disappointment for EA so far is Battlefield V. They took the decision to go back to WW2 and people got excited about that. But with this huge trend in gaming being Battle Royale and Battlefield V lacked one for a very long time, at the same time Fortnite, PUBG and Call of Duty all were huge games in that scene. Even Apex Legends, also published by EA, is a Battle Royale. This make it crucial for EA and the developer team behind BF V to really show WHY people should care about their game. Battlefield has been such a fundamental part of competitive first person shooter for a very long time now, make sure you will be that in the future also.

Of course we will see some news surrounding Apex Legends and The Sims. Oddly enough Ea have said Anthem will not be a part of their show. Apex has been dropping players rather hard lately and EA need that game to do well. With that said, I find it hard to see Apex Legends really take over the world again. But the game need a refresh with at least one new playable character, and who knows, maybe even a second map could feel fresh for a while. The Sims 4 already has tons of extra content, all for a fee, but the game were free for a limited time over on Origin so maybe there will be a boost in popularity for a while. I expect to see even more expansion packs and stuff getting announced. All for a fee of course.

Writing this I came up with this feeling of negativity. I don't mean that at all. I just… You know… This will be a quiet year for EA at large I think and honestly I think a calm and quiet year is exactly what this company needs. A year not filled with questionable game releases and strange interviews. Just to build up some good will with the customers with great games and no connections issues. And that's why the only show I´m looking forward to is the Jedi Fallen Order one.

Or you know, I could live with a Dragon Age 4 reveal…. Pretty Please?

Thanks for Reading,

Much Love