Can Inside Xbox and State of Play eventually rival Nintendo Directs?

[themistermanguy]

Well, this was inevitable. Nintendo experienced a lot of surprise success with its Nintendo Directs. A series of live-streamed pre-recorded video presentations that deliver new game info and announcements directly to consumers, rather than just the traditional gaming press. Nintendo Directs slowly grew into highly anticipated events for not just Nintendo fans, but gamers in general. You never know when one can be announced, and even then, you never know what could be announced in them. This unorthodox model of announcing new games and features has disrupted how the industry had operated for years. IE, stockpile everything for trade-shows like E3 or Gamescom.

It was only a matter of time before Sony and Microsoft try their hand at it. Microsoft relaunched Inside Xbox last year to be more of a long-form Nintendo Direct style series. With new game-play and announcements on available or upcoming games. Just a few weeks ago, Sony debuted the first episode of a new series "State of Play" which is structured much closer to a traditional Nintendo Direct. So far though, neither series brought their best A game for the debut. State of Play's first episode already has dislikes that outweighs likes, and the response to Inside Xbox has been lukewarm at best.

That being said, it's still early in their run, I mean, State of Play only has one episode under their belt. Considering the nature of these shows, I think its best to give them at least 2-3 years to find their footing. Many people forget, but back when Nintendo started Directs, they weren't that great either, especially compared to more recent episodes. Most early Directs focused on bland hosts explaining footage we already saw, and covering games we already knew were coming. It was fine for the time because the format was new and novel. But standards change, bars get raised, and shows like this need to evolve. Starting around 2013, Nintendo began cramming more real announcements into them, more exciting announcements, and generally better paced shows, to the point where they killed their traditional live stage-show presentations at E3, to focus more on Directs and Direct-like presentations. This culminated in the show's 2017 relaunch, where the presentation is now much quicker, and more professional. It's to the point where a single modern Direct can cover just as many games as a years worth of Iwata-era Directs in just half-an hour.

I think the same can happen with Sony and Microsoft's alternatives given enough time. I always look forward to Nintendo Directs whenever they're announced, but I'm also anti-monopoly, so any competition is good news for gaming. If Sony and Microsoft can gradually improve the quality of their shows the way Nintendo has progressively done over the course of Nintendo Direct's run, then they could provide fans of PlayStation and Xbox something to gloat about.

 

[sXeth]

Can they? Sure. Eventually.

I mean, the main things you need are content, and then branding or personality to get people onboard.

Content is a big one, because Nintendo does drastically more inhouse dev work then Sony or MS. And getting outside companies onboard with your PR cycle is something of an ask. E3 is a big industry wide schmoz that they're all already part of anyways, so sure, companies will be onboard with showing up at your thing too. Some random Tuesday in March, maybe not so much. Variety kind of comes up too, how many Sony games are third person action adventures again? (and I'm on PS4, lol)

Branding of course, they are way behind. Other then Master Chief I couldn't name a single Microsoft character offhand. They haven't had a big public face since Molyneux left. Sony has a few more franchises under their belt, but stuff like the Playstation Allstars Battle Royale or the PS1 classic just kind of showed how little of their famous roster they can actually use. And again, couldn't tell you a name or face who does Sony PR stuff.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

No, not with Sony's lack of endearment. The thing about the Directs were that they weren't that radical of an idea, they were just Nintendo doing the logical thing and putting stuff out on the net in a quick, digestible manner. Furthermore, they're rooted in identity's image of being a personable family company. The reason they're called "Directs" is because it felt like Nintendo was talking directly, personally to the players. This was also helped by the visibility of Nintendo's employees in this, which made them more than just talking heads or suits. People can actually name members of Nintendo's Treehouse, which bolsters the personable nature.

MS and Sony have NONE of that. They have not spent literal decades building the kind of image Nintendo has. Until they do that, until they actually have employees who engage with players and build that feeling of closeness, nothing they do will be anything that cynical, shallow imitation.