We went through the 100 games shown at E3 press conferences and only 9 were from Canada
Still, that puts Canada third, with only the U.S. and Japan showing more wares at the world's most important game industry event
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The show’s doors have only just opened, but the headline-grabbing announcements at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) have already come and gone. And, as has become normal at the game industry’s most important annual event, several Canadian studios are generating some of the loudest buzz.
Canada ranked third overall in terms of number of games shown at the major press events held by Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and Bethesda Softworks. That said, the total number of Canadian games shown accounted for less than 10 per cent of 100 or so games given time on these important stages. And, worryingly, Neither Sony nor Nintendo featured a single game developed north of the U.S. border.
The largest dose of Canadian content came from France-based Ubisoft, which operates several large Canadian studios that produce some of the industry’s most popular games.
Ubisoft Montreal showed off Assassin’s Creed Origins, the latest instalment in the blockbuster pseuedo-historical action series, which will take players back to Ancient Egypt when it launches this fall in time for the franchise’s tenth anniversary. Also coming from the publisher’s Montreal offices are Far Cry 5 – which we previewed last month – and the mysterious looking VR adventure Transference, starring Elijah Wood, which comes from Ubisoft Montreal’s The Funhouse, a side studio created to do more experimental work.
Ubisoft Toronto, meanwhile, took the wraps off Starlink: Battle for Atlas, a game that observers were quick to call a marriage of the spacefaring adventure No Man’s Sky and Skylanders, thanks to a series of collectible real-world toys. It promises sci-fi vehicular combat combined with the ability to touch and tinker with plastic ship models.
Electronic Arts showed its support for Canadian talent via unveilings of FIFA 18 – the latest in the world’s most popular soccer series, headed up by EA Vancouver – and a new multiplayer sci-fi first-person shooter called Anthem, from Edmonton’s BioWare Studios (of Mass Effect and Dragon Age fame). Anthem appears to take cues from Bungie’s Destiny by allowing players to team up to explore an open world while taking on missions as a team. It was teased at EA’s conference, with a bigger presentation left for Microsoft’s press event, where it was displayed running on the new Xbox One X in stunning 4K.
Microsoft’s event was also host to a trio of Canadian-made indies: Riverbond, Cuphead, and The Darwin Project. Riverbond, from Toronto-based Cococucumber, is a classic action-adventure game with retro graphics and support for up to four players, while Cuphead – from brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, located in Oakville, ON and Regina, SK, respectively – is a highly stylized platformer that looks like an interactive 1930s cartoon. The Darwin Project, from Montreal-based Scavengers Studio, is an asymmetrical combat game set in the Canadian Rockies, seemingly designed with eSports in mind.
More Canadian games are undoubtedly on display in booths within the Los Angeles Convention Center’s cavernous halls, but it’s perhaps a little concerning not to see more Canadian content getting stage time while the whole world is watching. The lack of Canadian wares in Sony’s showcase is particularly worrying, given that the Japanese company is currently controlling the video game industry conversation.
A quick summary of our informal research is posted below. It breaks out the countries of origin for the rest of the games shown at this year’s major E3 press conferences. Looking beyond Canada, it’s heartening to see development spread so generously around the globe, with more than 20 countries represented on E3’s primary stages.
U.S.A. – 29 games
Madden NFL 18 (EA Tiburon), NBA Live 18 (EA Tiburon), Doom VFR (id Software), Fallout 4 VR (Bethesda Game Studios), The Elder Scrolls Online (ZeniMax Online Studios), The Elder Scrolls: Legends (Dire Wolf Digital), The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on Switch (Bethesda Game Studios), Quake Champions (id Software), Forza Motorsport 7 (Turn 10), State of Decay 2 (Undead Labs), Tacoma (Fullbright), Osiris: New Dawn (Fenix Fire Entertainment), Paladins: Champions of the Realm (Hi-Rez Studios), Dunk Lords (Story Fort), Ooblets (Glumberland), Project Code: Shift (SeasSun Games), Middle-Earth: Shadow of War (Monolith Productions), Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (Naughty Dog), Days Gone (SIE Bend Studio), Star Child (Playful), The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR (Bethesda Game Studios), Call of Duty: WWII (Sledgehammer Games), Moss (Polyarc), God of War (SIE Santa Monica Studio), Super Lucky’s Tale (Playful), Destiny 2 (Bungie), Spider-Man (Insomniac Games), Rocket League (Psyonix), Metroid Prime 4 (presumably Retro Studios)
Japan – 15 games
The Evil Within 2 (Tango Gameworks), Dragonball FighterZ (Bandai Namco), Code Vein (Bandai Namco), Monster Hunter World (Capcom), Shadow of the Colossus (SCE Japan Studio), Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite (Capcom), Final Fantasy XV VR (Square Enix), Xenoblade 2 (Monolith Soft), Kirby (Nintendo EPD), Pokken Tournament Deluxe (Bandai Namco), Yoshi (Nintendo EPD), Untitled Pokemon game (presumably Game Freak), Fire Emblem Warriors (Team Ninja/Intelligent Systems), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD), Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD)
Canada – 9 games
Anthem (BioWare), FIFA 18 (EA Vancouver), Transference (The Funhouse/Ubisoft Montreal), Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Ubisoft Toronto), Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft Montreal), Assassin’s Creed Origins (Ubisoft Montreal), The Darwin Project (Scavengers Studio), Cuphead (StudioMDHR Entertainment), Riverbond (Cococucumber)
France – 8 games
Dishonored 2: Death of the Outsider (Arkane Studios), Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Ubisoft Paris), The Crew 2 (Ivory Tower), Beyond Good & Evil 2 (Ubisoft Montpellier), Unruly Heroes (Magic Design Studios), Dark and Light (NP Cube), Life is Strange: Before the Storm (Dontnod Entertainment), Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream)
U.K. – 8 games
The Last Night (Odd Tales), Fable Fortune (Flaming Fowl Studios), Robocraft: Infinity (Freejam Games), Strange Brigade (Rebellion Developments), Sea of Thieves (Rare), Crackdown 3 (Sumo Digital), The Inpatient (Supermassive Games), Bravo Team (Supermassive Games)
Sweden – 7 games
Star Wars Battlefront II (EA DICE), A Way Out (Hazelight Studios), Need for Speed Payback (Ghost Games), Battlefield 1 (EA DICE), Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (MachineGames), Battlerite (Stunlock Studios), Minecraft Super Duper Graphics Pack (Mojang)
Poland – 2 games
Fortnite (People Can Fly), Observer (Bloober Team)
Denmark – 2 games
Deep Rock Galactic (Ghost Ship Games), Minion Masters (BetaDwarf Entertainment)
South Korea – 2 games
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds (Bluehole), Black Desert (Pearl Abyss)
The Netherlands – 1 game
Hoorizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds (Guerrilla Games)
Australia – 1 game
The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti (Beethoven & Dinosaur)
Austria – 1 game
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Moon Studios)
New Zealand – 1 game
Ashen (Aurora44)
Norway – 1 game
Conan Exiles (Funcom)
Russia – 1 game
Hello Neighbor (Dynamic Pixels)
Romania – 1 game
Brawlout (Angry Mob Games)
Bulgaria – 1 game
Surviving Mars (Haemimont Games)
Spain – 1 game
Raiders of the Broken Planet (MercurySteam)
Ukraine – 1 game
Metro Exodus
Singapore – 1 game
Skull & Bones (Ubisoft Singapore)
Italy – 1 game
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Ubisoft Milan)
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