This E3 has been a bit all over the place. Whilst there has been some definite highs in Xbox + Bethesda, Ubisoft and Square Enix (CHAOS!), the E3 schedule has definitely had some weird spots with showings such as Gearbox, Back4Blood and even the GamesBeat podcast (which I enjoyed but definitely was a weird thing to have on an official E3 schedule alongside Xbox and other major publishers).
None could have felt more out of place than Take-Two’s showcase this morning. It was apparent fairly quickly that this wasn’t going to be a stream with any game announcements (or even have any games shown off).
Take-Two’s VP of Corporate Communication and Public Affairs opened the stream to introduce 2K’s Director of diversity, inclusion and equality to lead a 45 minute panel on corporate responsibility into diversity, equality and inclusion.
This is a very, very, very important topic and no doubt it has some place in a gaming conference (a demographic that still has a long way to go in introducing and accepting diversity and inclusion), but this stream still felt like a bait and switch due to the fact that it was on the very same schedule as all of the other major publisher streams.
This stream took place on the day that PlayStation used to occupy for one of the largest E3 streams. It all just felt a little bit out of place, especially because Take-Two is one of the larger groups, owning major franchises such as Grand Theft Auto and Bioshock, so no doubt gamers were very excited for this.
#E32021 Take-Two Interactive's "conference" pic.twitter.com/V2W0CGZjF7
— Rugar Pastrana (@RugarPastrana) June 14, 2021
I’d argue that it would have been more powerful to have this type of discussion apart of a games showcase, where gamers would be more likely to tune in and be paying attention, rather than a standalone event that gamers would tune into expecting something else only to tune straight back out of.
Hopefully Nintendo is able to close things out nicely tomorrow morning.
