It happens every year. In the month or so, leading up to E3, something is bound to be leaked. Most of the time, at least two of the big three have some kind of announcement that's revealed earlier than anticipated, as does at least one third party studio. Excitement stirs, and many anticipate the full reveal of these games.
On the other hand, many think leaks are a bad thing. If a company's hand is shown early, it can give their competitor a leg up. On the consumer side, announcements are much more flashy, and exciting, when they're revealed at the event, as planned. Revealing this stuff early, just robs it of some of its thunder.
You may be surprised then, to learn that I don't think leaks are such a bad thing. In fact, I can think of three reasons, off the top of my head, why leaks are actually a good thing, so hear me out.
For one, even though I've only attended E3 once, I follow it every year, like every gamer should(seriously, it has to be in the gamer code somewhere), so I can say with confidence that the big three in particular, usually have more cards up their sleeve than they're given credit for, even Nintendo.
A couple leaks won't ruin the best of conferences. If the company doesn't have much to announce in a given year, then even one leak could be disastrous, but this early in a new gen, the race is usually on to secure as many exclusives as possible, so I don't think we have to worry. At most, I think we're looking at a game of Texas Hold'em, with a couple of cards turned up. It's still too early to know for sure, how the event is going to play out.
Secondly, leaks do have the effect of building excitement. When people hear about something big, it's bound to get people to ensure they tune in to the corresponding conference, or at least find out all the details, as soon as they're posted. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if companies leak some stuff on purpose. They often tease big announcements prior to the event, so it's not too much of a stretch to think that they would allow a full announcement to be revealed early.
Lastly, things like leaks, kick off E3 early. E3 is often thought of as Gamer's Christmas. The real Christmas holiday, technically takes place on the 25th, but the entire month of December prior, builds up to it, and it still takes a few days to wind down afterwards, even in the US, which doesn't have Boxing Day.
E3 is kind of like that too. It doesn't begin, and end, with the conferences and show floor. It takes a few days to wind down afterwards, and we get announcements leading up to the event, which are kind of like the chocolates in an advent calendar.
Sure, that last point kind of ties into my second, but I prefer to think of E3 as more than an event. It's a gamer holiday, and one that will be recognized as a real holiday, with mandatory days off, should I ever rise to power. Like all good holidays, it's a celebration, and the longer we can celebrate, the better.
E3 is upon us. What are your thoughts on leaks? Do you agree with my assertions? Leave your comments below.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
I don't care for leaks, since either I am paying more attention to it or it seems like the media is taking literally any rumor regardless of how likely, logical or well done they're and writing an article about it because it could theoretically be accurate.
I personally find this annoying, since I see exciting headlines and when I look at the article, there is a blurry picture of some printer paper that has obvious spelling errors, information that is too good to be true coming from a source that is more vague than the contents of a hotdog.
Don't get me wrong, leaks can be fun if they come from reliable sources and contain factual information, but that isn't always the case and lately the unreliable leaks / spoilers are vastly outweighing the plausible ones. Even then this wouldn't be so bad, but if you heard from a friend that Final Fantasy VII HD Collection would be announced (one of the more dubious rumors that made it to N4G) and you went in expecting it, then you're probably going to be disappointed when it doesn't happen and ultimately take away some of your hype.
Long story short, they can be fun, though they can also cause expectations to be out of whack and lower your overall hype. Especially when no one is filtering information.