You read that correctly: Bethesda will have its own press conference at E3 this year. What will be revealed?
NewsI've always wondered why more big publishers don't have their own separate E3 press conferences like Electronic Arts and Ubisoft. Surely, Activision could benefit from one?
Bethesda Softworks seems to think its a pretty good idea. After all, they've just announced their first E3 conference ever. The publisher of franchises such as The Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Wolfenstein, and Falloutwill hit the stage this year for some big announcements. What those might be, we don't know yet.
So far, all we've got is this first promo over at Bethesda's blog:
On June 14, you'll get to hear about all of those new Bethesda games you've been looking forward to. Although we can only speculate on what the publisher might announce, some things seem to take shape.
For example, id Software is most definitely working on a new DOOM, and have already announced a beta for the game. So expect them at the conference. You'll probably see more BattleCry, the F2P multiplayer game, which debuted at last year's E3. And although The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimitedwill have launched for consoles the week before, Bethesda will most likely at least mention the game.
Ah, so that leaves a couple of things missing, doesn't it? Dishonored 2? The next Wolfensteinsequel from Machinegames? Another Elder Scrolls game? A new Fallout? The only thing we're pretty sure you won't see is Prey 2, which was canceled last year. R.I.P.
Yes, its been rumored that Arkane Studios is working on a Dishonored sequel. It's been 3 years since the first game, so 2015 is a good time to announce the next one. We wouldn't complain.
It might be too early to call a new Wolfenstein, which just received a new installment last year in the form of The New Order. After a couple of rough restarts for the franchise, it finally seemed to regain its relevance in 2014, with an alternate history plot and solid characters that earned the game praise. We probably won't see a Wolfenstein sequel in 2015, though, but maybe a little teaser would do just as well.
The Elder Scrolls. While we're not sure that Bethesda will want to overshadow its latest MMO from ZeniMax, we have to at least talk about this franchise very quickly. The last RPG in the series arrived in 2011. You remember a little game called Skyrim, right? It's been 4 years since the last proper Elder Scrolls RPG, and while people haven't stopped finding things to do in Skyrim (there are TONS of mods), it might be a good time to introduce a brand new chapter to the series. Ah, but Skyrimand its predecessor, Oblivion, were five years apart at the time of the former's release. So maybe Bethesda might hold off until next year.
But really, we're only hesitant about Skyrim because of the final franchise in Bethesda's repertoire: Fallout. The other big Bethesda flagship, and one of maybe a handful of franchises that are able to break the internet every six months, hasn't received a sequel since 2010's New Vegas, which was actually developed by Obsidian Entertainment. After Bethesda acquired the Fallout license from Interplay in 2007, the company proceeded to create one of the most revolutionary and innovative RPG titles ever made, one that took 2008 by storm.
Bethesda has been pretty quiet about Fallout since 2010, only commenting on a future sequel here and there, but never referring to "Fallout 4," specifically. In 2013, Kotaku's Jason Schreier reported on leaked documents from a character casting call that seemed to confirm the existence of Fallout 4. This supposed sequel would take place in Boston. Of course, there hasn't been a shortage of hoaxes, so take this with a grain of salt. Even we fell for a hoax last year.
But the time seems right for Fallout, which would logically be the next game in Bethesda Game Studios' cycle. Their last game was precisely 2011's Skyrim, so if they've been working on anything, it's probably a Fallout sequel.
Whatever the new announcements are, don't be surprised if we hear about at least one of the big flagship titles (Elder Scrolls& Fallout) in some capacity. Don't expect a sequel to other of these franchises this year, but definitely in 2016. If we're lucky, we'll even get a teaser at this year's press conference.
More on Bethesda's E3 2015 press conference as we learn it!
John Saavedra travels the realm of Skyrim as an Imperial named Blinky Bahtfire. Laugh at him on Twitter!
