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Eurogamer Expo thoughts by Bradley
Another year another Eurogamer Expo done. This years Expo saw record numbers again with many people eagerly queuing to try the latest AAA offerings, such as Black Ops 2 or a great early build of Tomb Raider, but personally I was pleased to see the enthusiasm shown by the general public for the Indie titles on show.
The Indie and Rezzed sections of the expo didn’t have the flashy titles or the marketing of other developers, but that didn’t stop people coming in their droves to see what was on offer. Whether it be in the form of groups of people sitting on the floor together watching others play the fantastic Natural Selection 2, an asymmetrical FPS, or the huge number of people that went home and immediately ordered Introversions Prison Architect, a management game still in alpha, there was a definite buzz for the smaller titles.
These smaller titles could have been easily overlooked among such huge competition as Aliens Colonial Marines and Halo 4, but that just wasn’t the case. When I spoke to Hugh Jeremy of Unknown Worlds, responsible for Natural Selection 2, I asked if he was concerned about Aliens Colonial Marines, a FPS title featuring asymmetrical play between humans and aliens, also being at the show. Rather than be concerned, he actually believed it would bring even more attention to the Indie developer as comparisons, however unfounded, would eventually be made between the two games which would mean Natural Selection 2 would benefit from the huge advertising budget of ACM in the long run.
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Ultimately indies will benefit from this sort of association so at next year’s Eurogamer Expo not only would I like to see more space given over to the indies and smaller PC devs but I would also like to see integration with small devs being placed next to AAA titles so that these innovative games get the maximum exposure they truly deserve. Keep your eyes on the site for upcoming previews and reviews of the best indie titles the show had to offer.
That wraps up our thoughts and impressions of this years Eurogamer Expo. We had a great two days there and met with many friends both old and new. We would like to thank everyone involved with Eurogamer Expo, from the expo staff through to the games companies staff who were on hand to answer any questions we had. We can’t wait till September 2013 for the next one!
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