10 Lessons The Gaming Industry Must Learn From 2014

8. E3 Is A Broadcast

E3 may be the most unpredictable expo there is, and that's no easy title given the existence of Dragon Con and Comic Con. Who expected Nintendo, who revealed a raft of promising first-party titles, to walk away as the arguable winner of E3 2014? Who actually believed Microsoft would talk about games last year (thanks, Spencer)? And who expected Sony to render their showing completely flaccid with a bunch of multimedia and television garbage that even they don't care about? Well, that last one was pretty easy to guess, actually. Indeed, Sony has a bad habit of inserting out-of-place media monologues into otherwise game-packed shows. We've gotten one for several consecutive years now, but it still goes down about as smooth as a shot of soy sauce in a martini. At the very least, Sony makes for a good class clown, a prime example of what you should never, ever do with your show. E3 is an event held live before an audience. Regardless, all presenters need to follow broadcast format. That means you don't waste a syllable; you talk about the best of the best and nothing else. It means you don't have time to ramble about your newest Netflix ripoff, because nobody cares. Your games are the new building on East 6th Street, whoever has the mic is the anchor, and they've got 30 seconds to make the audience care. Start talking.