PS4, Fortnite, and EA Won E3 2018 In Terms Of Media Coverage

E3 2018 is done and in the history books. But looking back on it, who won this years show? Well, [...]

E3 2018

E3 2018 is done and in the history books. But looking back on it, who won this years show? Well, according to media coverage, PlayStation and Fortnite were the biggest winners.

This is at least according to a new report from ICO Partners, who releases an annual analysis of E3 every year that looks at how many times platforms, games, and publishers are mentioned in the media during the event's week long running.

While last year belonged to Microsoft, this year Sony reclaimed its top-dog status. The brand of PlayStation was not only mentioned more than Xbox, but the PS4 was covered more than the Xbox One.

graph
(Photo: ICO Partners)

ICO Partners also notes that beyond the trio of major platforms -- Switch, PS4, and Xbox One -- hardware mentions were quite scarce. In fourth was the Xbox One X, which was followed by the Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, and PS4 Pro in 5th, 6th, and 7th respectively. It's interesting to see just how little the PS4 Pro was mentioned compared to the Xbox One X, and even compared to the Wii U.

As you can see, while Nintendo still lags behind PlayStation and Xbox, it had its best year since ICO Partners started recording this data back in 2014, despite having what many considered one of the worst showings of the show.

As for games, there could only be one at the top: Fortnite, which thanks to its celebrity event at the show, a Nintendo Switch stealth launch, and crossplay controversy galore, beat even the biggest new games revealed at the show.

Not far behind Fortnite was Fallout 76, which appeared at two media showings (Microsoft and Bethesda) and Cyberpunk 2077. The latter taking third is especially impressive, seeming it was limited to a mere teaser trailer, though said teaser trailer did notably cap of Microsoft's showing. What also helped was the game's behind-closed-doors demo, which was the buzz of almost every press member who was luckily enough to see it.

graph
(Photo: ICO Partners)

As for third-party publishers, Electronic Arts (EA) was once again at the top, which might partially be thanks to the fact that it goes before everyone else on Saturday, a day it exclusively shows on. In fact, EA's lead was larger than last year, partially thanks to last year's second place finisher -- Ubisoft -- dropping in coverage. Ubisoft failed to recreate the type of numbers it did last year, to the point it was surpassed for second by Fallout 76-fueled Bethesda.

Compared to previous years, E3 2018 coverage was down, which is mostly the result of no new hardware being present and fewer software surprises. The latter of which can be pinned on Walmart Canada, which leaked half of the show in the weeks prior.

0comments