Some fans suspect that a spicy detail from the press conference of the E3 2019 by Bethesda was fake: The fans’ reaction was way too strong for what was shown.
At the E3 press conference by Bethesda, there were some new features, but also a lot of criticism.
Some critics even believe that one rather spicy thing during the presentation was simply “faked”: the reactions from the audience.
Image did not match the sound
What is being claimed? Reddit user Uesugi took a small clip from the Bethesda press conference that made him skeptical. After the presentation of “Orion”, there is long, sustained applause from the audience.
However, the camera scan over the crowd shows that a large part of them is sitting relatively quietly. You can watch the small clip here:
The incident is also hotly debated on Twitter. For example, one “Matt” says:
I am convinced that 80% of the audience is fake or that it is canned applause. Something just seems weird about that. I know people love Bethesda but… come on.
Even more dramatically, “Enny” expresses:
Do you think gamers are damn idiots? Cut this crap. We know the [reaction to] the Orion demo was faked, and we know you placed hype people in the audience. You disgust me. RIP Bethesda
At least one fan may have been more enthusiastic than most. He shouted out from the crowd with nearly every sentence of each developer, which also brought smiles to some:
“Hype Guys in the Audience”
Placement of microphones in the audience: One theory is that microphones were deliberately placed among people in the audience who were instructed to clap extensively and too much, called “clappers”.
This makes it sound in the stream as if the whole crowd is applauding, even when in the video only a very small part of the audience seems to be really enthusiastic.
The people just had more fun than your grumpy asses
Players defend Bethesda: However, there are also some fans who see it differently and dismiss the criticisms as “conspiracy theory” or have logical explanations. Many viewers would have paid for admission and sacrificed their free time for it. They would rather get caught up in a hype than sit on a convention feeling dissatisfied and grumpy. User Itz_Jolly writes on Reddit:
I would probably choose to just have fun instead of being angry, even if Bethesda deserves a lot of anger. I’d rather cheer sarcastically than resort to booing.
Others find it only logical that a group claps particularly enthusiastically. After all, the audience also includes developers and family members who, of course, participate with more enthusiasm than skeptical fans.
What really is behind this matter is hard to prove. However, it is clear: For many viewers, the image and sound did not match, and the positive reaction of the fans to so many mobile games in a row certainly didn’t match either.
What is your opinion on this matter? Did Bethesda clearly manipulate the fans’ reactions? Or is it just an unfortunate camera angle that does not capture the group that is actually clapping?
