Way back in the past, before quarantines and masks, E3’s convention halls would be filled with booths plastered with stickers that read “Best in Show,” “Most Anticipated,” and other such titles.
With E3 having moved to the digital sphere, the stickers and booths are no longer there, but the titles and awards persist. But, the ESA found a new way to keep the tradition going. To close E3 2021, a small awards show was held, with the help of the show’s hosts, where the best games of E3 were crowned.
The ESA announced the E3 Awards Show on June 1st. The judges who presided over the decision were “industry experts,” according to the ESA. Now, the awards given out at E3 are in no way as expansive as something you can expect from The Game Awards, but it was an excellent way to build hype around some of the titles.
Microsoft and Bethesda walked away with the “Best Presentation” title, with the reveals of Starfield and The Outer Worlds 2 (though we don’t know if we could count this as a ‘reveal’).
Each presentation at this year’s E3 had its category of “Most Anticipated,” and some of the winners were Capcom’s The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and the PC Gaming Show’s Song of Conquest.
Here’s the entire list of winners:
- Capcom: The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
- Gearbox Entertainment: Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
- Indie Games: Falling Frontier
- Intellivision: Asteroids
- Nintendo: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2
- PC Gaming Show: Songs of Conquest
- Freedom Games: Airborne Kingdom
- Future Games Show: Immortality
- SQUARE ENIX: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
- Ubisoft: Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
- Xbox/Bethesda: Halo: Infinite
- Yooreka Studio: Loopmancer
- Overall Most Anticipated: Forza Horizon 5, Microsoft Game Studios
- Best Presentation: Microsoft: Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase
With the announcement of the award show, the ESA said that
“celebrating innovative creators and developers is the ideal way to close out E3,”
ESA
and that people should pay attention to games labeled “Most Anticipated” to help the title get more recognition.
While a panel of industry experts decided, gamers have never been the type to listen to ‘experts.’ As such, there were several disagreements that popped off online about the winners. The sixteen-year revival story of Metroid Dread was a major surprise, and many feel it was robbed of the “Most Anticipated” tag by Breath of the Wild 2 for Nintendo.
They also pointed out that while Breath of the Wild 2 has been in development for a while now with no release in sight, Metroid Dread will be hitting the shelves as soon as October.
But, disagreements aside, E3 2021 has come to a close, and plans have already been drafted for an E3 2022. Even if a developer, studio, or fan-favorite didn’t win at the E3 awards, there’s always The Game Awards coming in December.
About E3 2021
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2021 or E3 2021 is an event organized by The Entertainment Software Association. Here, all the top hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers of the video game market gather and talk about their work and upcoming titles.
In 2021, we will see the 26th E3 being held from June 12 to June 15.
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