We’ve finally seen these ‘E3 canceled’ headlines for the last time. The ESA has announced today that owing to a difficult media landscape, they’re done with attempting to run the event.
The ESA and E3 has been on the decline for years, and things were at all times expected to finish this manner. For all its faults, E3 was an important thing to have, while we had it. Since its inception in 1995, there was a consistent presence of this entity that allowed the assorted publishers and developers within the industry to advertise their products. Sure, it had a variety of awkward moments and cringe-inducing nonsense over time, but it surely sucks to see it go.
The lack of publishers and developers accelerated in 2017, with multiple major corporations within the games industry signaling that they might begin using online-only events to showcase their latest projects. Over the following couple of years, attendance was higher, however the event began to feel a bit pointless. The lack of interest from consumers also began to influence the perception of the event as a complete, with many publishers picking up on it. The microcosm represented by this shift towards online-oriented and fast-paced media would find yourself going poorly for the ESA and its efforts.
Because the events future looked dim, Sony decided to fireplace the primary kill shot for E3. Within the months leading as much as E3 2019, the foremost console manufacturer and publisher announced they might pivot to their very own event. The Sony showcase became the clarion call for the event’s future, heralding what was to return. It wasn’t just the lack of major presenters that was the one thing to occur that 12 months. On August 3, 2019, a listing of attendees leaked online, disclosing private personal information for various industry figures. Evaluation of the methods used to uncover the leak only made matters worse, as data for over 6,000 attendees of past E3 events was also uncovered. The ESA rushed to cover up the information leak, pulling the data from their website—though the damage was done.
After which, in fact, the COVID pandemic didn’t help matters. Lockdowns would force the show to shut down, and the ESA announced that despite early plans to proceed, they might need to move to latest plans. The ESA would attempt to salvage the mess, but ultimately the hassle would fail. What followed was the cancellation of the 2020 event in its entirety. This cancellation in 2020 ended up being the signal for the last in-person E3 we might ever see. Amid this bad situation, things only got worse. On February 12, 2020, Geoff Keighley, host of E3 Coliseum and The Game Awards, released an announcement announcing that he would even be forgoing his attendance of E3. This is able to mark the primary time that Keighley had refused to attend, citing his unwillingness to align with the direction E3 and its brand was headed in.
E3 2020 was resulting from proceed to supply public passes to the event, though the number offered was increased to 25,000 from 15,000. This was likely an try to staunch the lack of interest amongst the general public due to the breakdown in the standard news cycle for the industry.
The return to E3 would return in 2021 with an online-only event. The event once more lacked a presence by Sony and a number of other other major corporations within the industry. It was still generally positively received, though the shortage in impact was rather more noticeable. After which the trend continued. On January 7, 2022, the ESA announced that the in-person version of E3 2022 had been cancelled resulting from COVID-19, and a waning interest throughout the industry. Cut to this 12 months, and just about everyone decided they were done with E3.
After months of radio silence about plans for the return in 2023, they once more announced they might be putting a hold on those plans. Though the ESA announced a return in June 2022, for a similar time next 12 months. They announced later that 12 months that they might open the event to the general public contained in the LACC, echoing the plans from the previous 12 months. Those plans fell through, as there was no event in 2023. The last gasp from the E3 grave was in September 2023 when the 2024 event was also canceled.
At the moment, there have been tentative plans to bring back the event via a full revamp in 2025. But that too fell through. The ESA announced that E3 had been discontinued, citing “the brand new opportunities our industry has to achieve fans and partners”.
So which means we’re now not coping with hearing E3 canceled all all over again next 12 months. While E3 is dead, that doesn’t mean the industry is in trouble. The Game Awards went hard this 12 months, and so many more digital showcase of recent games and related media are planned for the approaching months. So though the event itself is gone, the lingering influence of E3 stays.
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