Nintendo of America top executive says E3 doesn't hold monopoly on gaming buzz

In this photo provided by Nintendo of America, crowds gather on Tuesday, June 12, 2018, at the Nintendo booth at the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles as fans flock to play Super Smash Bros. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Invision for Nintendo - Jordan Strauss

While information from the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo is still voraciously consumed by gamers hungry for bombshell announcements or updates on anticipated upcoming releases, the ensuing social media talk is as much about what was missing as what was revealed.

If the decrease in sexy news out of E3 is vexing to gamers, they may have to get used to it. One leading industry executive says the premier trade event doesn't have the monopoly on video game buzz that it once did.

"In our view, E3 has changed," Nintendo of America president and chief operating officer Reggie Fils-Aime said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"In the world before the internet, it really was the only opportunity to capture the attention of media and fans, and so you tended to talk about all your projects that were in development, even the ones that might be two or three years out. Today, certainly the Nintendo philosophy, is to talk about projects that are closer in."

Nintendo hasn't held a live press conference at E3 since 2012, instead airing a pre-taped "Nintendo Direct" segment. Nintendo releases these segments, usually ranging from 20 to 50 minutes, several times throughout the year to highlight upcoming content.

Fils-Aime said advances in video streaming and social media have allowed Nintendo to release announcements on upcoming games according their own preferred schedule.

"We would much rather share information closer to launch," he said. "We would much rather surprise the consumer once versus constantly repeating information over many occasions, even over many years. It causes us to behave differently than the way we did in the past."

Still, publishers and developers continue to make some of their most impactful announcements at E3, Nintendo included. This year's digital presentation was anchored by an update on the anticipated game "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate," a brawler featuring the stars of the Nintendo universe as well as major characters from other publishers.

Two years ago, Nintendo based its presentation around the long-awaited game "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild." Last year it made noise with a demo of "Super Mario Odyssey."

But some recent major Nintendo products did not make their big debut at E3. The Switch was not revealed alongside "Breath of the Wild" at the 2016 expo, but was instead officially announced with a trailer in October of that year, closer to the system's March 2017 release. Two new "Pokemon" titles were announced for the Switch on May 30, less than two weeks before this year's E3 kicked off.

Despite Nintendo's preference to make meaningful announcements on its own schedule, Fils-Aime said he is aware of the social media fallout when the company is perceived to have missed its mark in its digital presentations.

Sometimes the disappointment can be predictable, such as a lack new information on an anticipated upcoming game. But sometimes the social media angst comes from seemingly out of nowhere. Online outrage at the omission of Waluigi, a fringe Mario universe character, from the Smash Bros. roster was so palpable it was reported on in The Washington Post.

"That's one I was surprised by," Fils-Aime said, "I think it highlights the way our content connects with fans. So when in their view there's some sort of seeming slight, they take it personally.

"I take it as a signal of the passion of the community."