It’s early May, and that can only mean one thing: We’re one month away from the gaming industry’s biggest show, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, held in Los Angeles, California on June 10-12.
This year, we anticipate next-gen gaming to really get the ball rolling with exciting announcements in both the software and hardware space. But, hey, we’re MP1st, so you know what we’re most excited about: Multiplayer shooters.
This year is shaping up to be filled with news and announcements surrounding more yearly entries in some of our favorite shooter franchises, the return of some of the most iconic shooter series to-date, and even a number of highly anticipated new IPs.
There’s a lot out there, so we’re going to help you get up to speed with everything there is to know about all of the shooters we think are going to make a bang at E3 2014, confirmed and unconfirmed.
BattleCry
Bethesda and BattleCry Studios are announcing a new free-to-play multiplayer combat game that boasts high-action, violent, and brutal 32-player online battles.
The studio has confirmed that it will be playable at E3 2014.
Reveal Trailer
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News
Battlefield Hardline
Announced on May 27, Battlefield Hardline is EA’s next Frostbite 3-powered shooter in development at Visceral Games, arriving this Fall 2014.
It adopts a cops vs. criminals theme, bringing the Battlefield series to a new theater of war. Visceral has confirmed an official unveiling on June 9, during EA’s E3 2014 media briefing, so expect to learn much more about the game then.
News
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
A new Borderlands title from Gearbox Software and 2K Australia takes place in between the events of Borderlands 1 and 2, featuring four iconic vault hunters and all new 4-player co-op gameplay elements.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is launching on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 this Fall.
Developer Overview
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News
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is a new entry in the popular first-person shooter franchise in development at Sledgehammer Games, the third dev team to join Activision’s roster of Call of Duty-focused studios.
Advanced Warfare was unveiled on May 1 and is announced to arrive on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on November 4. Development is focused primarily on next-gen consoles and PC.
We expect to get our first look at Advanced Warfare gameplay shortly before or during E3 2014, with multiplayer details to come later this Summer.
Reveal Trailer
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Superpower For Hire
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Kevin Spacey Tease
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News
- Press Release and First Details
- Reveal Trailer Analysis
- EXO Suit Abilities and Story/Setting Info
- Advanced Warfare is a “Different” Call of Duty
- New Engine
Destiny
Destiny is renown studio Bungie’s first foray into the connected, social space of shared-world shooters. It launches on previous-generation and next-generation consoles on September 9, with a beta coming to PlayStation users first this July.
Players will be able to customize their Guardian’s race, class, appearance, gear, and weaponry while leveling up, finding new loot, learning new Focus abilities, and exploring Bungie’s sci-fi fantasy world through Strike missions, Public Events, Raids, PvP, and more.
Bungie has confirmed that an official beta announcement will be made during E3 2014 where we’ll also get to see and play Destiny’s competitive multiplayer.
Strike Gameplay: The Devils’ Lair
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PlayStation Access Interview
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PlayStation Access Q&A
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Co-Op Strikes
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Armor, Weapons, and Loot
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News
- Beta Confirmed for July
- 40 New Screens
- Competitive PvP and Raids
- Character Creation
- End Game Activities
- More on End Game, Raids, and PvP
Doom
Rumors of a “new version” of Doom 4 in the works at Bethesda began spreading in April of last year.
The publisher all but confirmed said notion when it announced access to the “Doom” beta with every pre-order of Wolfenstein: The New Order last February. Details are scarce, but we do know that it is coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC at a yet-to-be-announced date.
We’re hopeful to get the first details of the return of the iconic shooter at this year’s E3.
News
Evolve
Evolve is a new IP to come out of Left-4-Dead developer Turtle Rock Studios.
Built on the CryEngine 3, Evovle is a next-gen and PC-only asymmetrical first-person shooter that pits four hunter classes against one monster who evolves and gains strength by devouring wildlife. It was first announced back in January of this year and is expected to launch this Fall.
It’s highly likely that we’ll learn more about Evolve’s Hunter classes, Monster classes and multiplayer maps at this year’s E3.
4v1 Interactive Trailer
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New Hunters and Gameplay
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Turn Annotations [ON] and use the overlay to switch between perspectives.
News
- First Details
- New Screens
- Monster Abilities and Match Length
- New Hunters Detailed, Launches October 21
Far Cry 4
A fourth numbered entry in the Far Cry series, rumored to adopt a setting in the Himalayan Mountains, isn’t even officially confirmed yet, but we think that may change at E3 2014.
UPDATE: Ubisoft Montreal has officially announced Far Cry 4 and has confirmed that it will be at E3 2014. Check out the first details below.
News
- Far Cry 4 Announcement
- Ubisoft Shanghai to Aid Development of Far Cry 4
- Himalayan Setting
- More Insider Information
Gears of War Xbox One
The bloody and gruesome third-person shooter Gears of War will return on Xbox One, this time under newly formed Microsoft studio, Black Tusk.
Announced back in January of this year, we’ve heard little about the return of Gears since, other than bits and pieces of information gathered through job listings and quotes from Microsoft.
We do know it is being built on Unreal Engine 4 and that it will likely make some sort of appearance at E3 2014.
News
- New Developer: Black Tusk Studios
- “Awesome” and “Innovative” Concepts
- “Best In Class Visuals” and “Bleeding Edge Rendering Techniques”
H1Z1
Built on the same engine as PlanetSide 2, Sonly Online Entertainment introduced the world to their take on the zombie-survival genre with H1Z1, a free-to-play open-world shooter that builds off the success of games like DayZ.
It is believed to be entering early-access this month and to eventually launch on PC and PlayStation 4. We’ll hope to get more launch details at E3 2014.
Gameplay Trailer
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News
Homefront: The Revolution
Crytek UK and Deep Silver are bringing shooter fans the sequel to Kaos Studios’ shooter, Homefront, to next-gen.
Homefront: The Revolution, will launch some time in 2015 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Mac, and Linux. It will be an open-world shooter that will offer co-operative multiplayer combat, though it looks like competitive multiplayer will be sitting this one out.
Homefront: The Revolution’s world gameplay premier will debut at E3 2014.
Announcement Trailer
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News
HUNT: Horrors of The Gilded Age
A new third-person shooter from Crytek offers co-operative combat as hunters seek to battle monstrous enemies once thought to be myth.
We expect to learn more about HUNT at E3.
Debut Trailer
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News
Halo 5: Guardians
The only concrete pieces of news we have about 343 Industries’ upcoming Halo game is that it’s coming to Xbox One, it runs at 1080p and 60 frames per second, and will be officially announced at E3 2014.
Rumors claim a Halo 2 Anniversary Edition is in the works that will precede the launch of Halo 5 in 2015, but they are only rumors. We predict a big E3 for Halo fans this year nonetheless, so stay tuned.
UPDATE: Microsoft and 343 Industries have officially confirmed that Master Chief’s journey will continue in Halo 5: Guardians, launching 2015. However, the studio assured fans that their next Halo adventure will begin with a “giant leap” this year. More details on that are to come at Microsoft’s E3 media briefing.
E3 2013 Teaser
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News
Rainbow 6
Rainbow 6 is still out there. We know it.
We don’t entirely expect developer Ubisoft to make any sort of announcement at E3 2014 regarding the classic tactical first-person shooter franchise, but we are still hopeful, despite our disappointment at E3 2013. After all, the last we heard of Rainbow 6, we learned it is not dead and is just being “remade”.
In 2011, the studio released over six minutes of target gameplay footage of what they were calling Rainbow 6: Patriots. Though not in-game, it was a way to show off what the studio was striving for. The game even got a “debut trailer” early next year, but alas, news surfaced in 2013 that “Rainbow had to be remade”.
Perhaps Ubisoft has surprises in store for this Summer. We can only hope.
Target Gameplay
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Debut Trailer
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News
Star Wars: Battlefront
Star Wars: Battlefront isn’t expected until Summer of 2015, around the launch of the first Star Wars movie coming out of Disney, but we certainly hope we’ll learn and see a lot more about it at E3 2014.
We know that Battlefield developer DICE is producing it, it runs on Frostbite 3, and it is already “well into development,” according to EA Games Label president Frank Gibeau.
EA was able to confirm during a recent earnings call that Star Wars: Battlefront will be at E3 2014.
Teaser Trailer
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News
- “Well Into Development”
- Expected to Launch Summer 2015
- Hopes to Emulate Success of Batman Arkham Games
- Development Coming “Very Well,” Will be at E3 2014
The Division
The Division is an exciting third-person, open-world, always-online project from Ubisoft studio Massive Entertainment, coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC later this year.
It is built on the impressive new Snowdrop game engine that was constructed entirely in-house. We witnessed the first gameplay at E3 last year but have since only been treated to new screens and tech demos with bits of information here and there. It’s expected that players will be able to shift between solo play, co-operative missions, and competitive action seamlessly in the digitally rebuilt city of New York.
At E3 1014, we expect to learn more about the game, but also anticipate the studio to announce a delay to 2015.
UPDATE: As we predicted, Massive Entertainment has announced a delay for The Division to sometime in 2015. Read the news below.
Gameplay Reveal
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Companion App Trailer
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Snowdrop Engine Tech Demo
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Snowdrop Engine Interview
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News
- “Unexpected New Features and Unique Innovation”
- The Division to Deliver “Full Immersion”
- A “Cover-Based Game” With Weather and Destruction
- Red Storm Joins Massive Entertainment
- The Division Delayed to 2015
Uncharted
First teased last year, the Uncharted series is making a return, this time on the PlayStation 4, and we hope to get the first details at E3 2014.
First Teaser
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Unreal Tournament
This news is fairly recent, and we will likely be updating this section on or shortly after May 8.
Epic’s Paul Meegan hinted at a look into “the future of Unreal Tournament” in a developer live stream later this week. Vice president and co-founder Mark Rein added that Unreal Tournament is indeed making a comeback.
We’re not sure what to expect, but perhaps we’ll find out later this week and at E3 2014.
UPDATE: The future of Unreal Tournament has been unveiled – a completely free and community-driven FPS from Epic Games. Check out the very first details in the news section below.
News
Half-Life 3
Half-Lif-E3. E3 announcement confirmed. “E” has three branches sprouting off the right side of its stem. “E” can be sliced in half horizontally perfectly even. E[3 2014]. (3+2)0=0. 0-1+4=3. Half-Life 3 E3 2014 announcement confirmed!
Maybe? Probably not.
What are your most anticipated announcements at E3 2014?
Check back here for updates as we learn more while we count down to the expo.