EA Play 2018

EA Play 2018 was the third annual press event held by Electronic Arts, and was took place during E3 2018 at the Hollywood Palladium between June 9th - 11th 2018. The itself aimed to showcase some gameplay for Battlefield V and Anthem, and to answer some questions about those games.

The event, however, was not very well-received by gamers.

Why It Sucked

 * 1) The event was hosted by Andrea Rene, but she didn't have much to work with, and seemed to fumble her way through the event, with awkward crowd interactions and developer interviews. To be fair though, she did give it her best despite having little material to work with.
 * 2) The event didn't really give Battlefield V (one of the biggest announcements from EA) enough screen time and as a result, left some fans scratching their heads. The announcement of an upcoming Battle Royale mode for the game caused some audible groans and jeering from the audience.
 * 3) *More baffling is that the single player "War Stories" campaign would be showcased more the next day at the Xbox briefing for some reason, rather than show it off on their own stage; this isn't the first time EA has done this either, which may give some players the impression that both EA and Microsoft are indeed, "in bed with each other".
 * 4) Once again, too much focus on their sports titles, with FIFA 19 getting more screen time than Battlefield V.
 * 5) From the audience, Vince Zampella of Respawn Entertainment very awkwardly announced the studio's upcoming Star Wars title: Jedi: Fallen Order. Not much was shared aside from it taking place between Episodes 3 and 4, and that it is expected to be released in Holiday 2019. No trailers, footage, or even concept art was shown.
 * 6) The announcement of Madden 19 was particularly cringe-worthy, complete with some awkward banter between a Madden 18 E-Sports champion and a NFL player.
 * 7) The announcement of Command & Conquer: Rivals. This part angered many fans of the series, as it was turned into a free-to-play mobile game which will no doubt have microtransactions in it.
 * 8) * Even worse is how it was presented: Two commentators did a play-by-play of a full match between two professional players. The match went on for 5 minutes, and the whole presentation lasted for eight and a half minutes, which is a slap in the face to those who were hoping for Battlefield V gameplay.
 * 9) EA's CEO Andrew Wilson came out on stage to talk about the controversies surrounding game monetization; rather than acknowledge the company's wrong-doings, he instead gave a PR jargon-laden speech about "offering player choice" and "ensuring you [the players] are treated fairly" and "we want to be better". No one bought these claims, and it seemed like an obvious attempt at damage control.
 * 10) The Anthem showcase was met with mixed reactions, given it lasted 20 minutes. While some liked the concept of the game and the confirmation of no loot boxes, others were still left with unanswered questions regarding the game's story or gameplay details, as well as the confirmation of microtransactions (which at least are purely cosmetic).
 * 11) They only had one Nintendo Switch game (FIFA 19) and nothing else showing that EA lied about doing more Switch support after March 2018.

The Only Redeeming Quality

 * 1) The announcement of Unravel 2 and Sea of Solitude (or S.O.S) through their EA Originals program were the biggest highlights of the conference. S.O.S looked interesting, and Unravel 2 was announced to be released when the event ended.

Reactions
Reactions to EA's showcase were generally negative, with many prominent content creators calling the show boring and frustrating. Yongyea described the hour long presentation as a "drab shit show", expressing anger towards the bastardization of Command & Conquer, and irritation at Andrew Wilson's disingenuous PR speeches about learning from past mistakes. He also believed it to be less about appealing to consumers, and more about "kissing the asses of their investors", most evident with the C&C: Rivals and FIFA showcases.

Angry Joe was more furious with the C&C announcement, and disappointment with the way Respawn Entertainment's upcoming Star Wars game was announced. Most pundits were particularly disappointed by the underwhelming appearance of Anthem, many of which still felt unsure of what to think.