PC Gamer magazine and AMD have partnered to host the first ever PC-focussed event at this year’s E3.
E3 is largely considered to be a console gaming event. Third-party publishers who release their games on PC are present too, but even their focus tends to be more on the console side. PC Gamer hopes to change that with an event that focuses on all the great things that are happening in the PC gaming space.
The PC Gaming Show, as its called, will be a three-hour event on 16th June and will feature the likes of Dean Hall (DayZ), Cliff Bleszinski (Boss Key Productions), and developers from Blizzard, Bohemia Interactive, Cloud Imperium Games, Tripwire Interactive, Square Enix, Obsidian, Paradox and Devolver Digital, among others.
It will be live-streamed on Twitch, and you can get more details at PCGamingShow.com.
Red vs Green
A bigger PC gaming focus at E3 is much needed and it’s great PR for the organisers of E3 and for the event itself, but I can’t help but feel like they’re going about it the wrong way.
Unlike console platforms, PC gaming doesn’t have a single platform holder, which should actually be a positive for an event like this because it can be an all-encompassing show. However, in AMD and Nvidia, PC gaming does have two strong, bitter rivals much like Sony and Microsoft in the console space. So it probably isn’t the best idea to have one of these two companies as the main sponsor for such an event.
With AMD being a prominent partner at the PC Gaming Show, Nvidia will ignore it altogether, which means that all its partners in the games industry – publishers like Ubisoft, Warner Bros, etc – will probably steer clear of the event. The same would be true if Nvidia was to be the event’s main sponsor; AMD and it’s partners would skip it. PC Gamer should ideally have involved both companies, and not chosen to partner with one over the other.
Sure, this probably leaves more stage time for indie developers, but an event such as this should be representative of PC gaming as a whole and not just a section of it. It’s a bit like Sony having the PlayStation press conference at E3 sponsored by EA. It just doesn’t make sense.
