When news spread that E3 2023 was canceled on Thursday, the game’s Twitter quickly went into obituary mode. Developers, journalists, industry insiders, and fans shared their memories of the show.Among them Former E3 presenter Geoff KeighleyWe’ve moved from nostalgic show-floor photos to promoting the hoots of rival Summer Game Fest events in a single Tweet space. Organizers Entertainment Software Association and his event company, ReedPop, have promised to “continue working together on future E3 events,” but the general assumption is that it won’t be coming back from now on. “RIP E3” is trending. E3 seems completely dead.
The detail is that so many memories of great E3 moments rely on events that weren’t technically part of the show. All the stories of connection that took place on the sprawling and noisy show floor of the Los Angeles Convention Center ( This oneby former Polygon editor Arthur Gies) had 10 more articles about grand showmanship and the hilarious missteps of the publisher press conference that accompanied it. Sony buys Microsoft about the game ownership fiasco, or Shigeru Miyamoto with sword and shield present Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess.
There is no doubt that these unforgettable moments, and others like them, were born out of the hype, fan enthusiasm and competitiveness of the E3 show itself. But they weren’t really part of it. They occurred off the show floor at private events hosted by publishers and platform owners. E3 is the reason these events happened. But now those companies have realized they don’t need it to stay in business.
So what went wrong? And is this really the end of E3, or will it come back?
E3 2023 was supposed to be the comeback of an event that hasn’t happened since 2019. With the COVID-19 pandemic wiping out in-person shows, attempts at a digital event in 2021 were a waste of time. ESA hired his ReedPop (and my former employer), organizer of PAX, New York Comic Con and Star Wars Celebration, to consult with exhibitors to create a new hybrid public and trade event. created. It will continue to be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, but will include an online component.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that neither Nintendo nor Microsoft will be attending E3 2023. This was a serious blow, but Microsoft said it would host a showcase event ahead of the show.
After Ubisoft also withdrew support this Tuesday, Reported by IGN Other publishers had declined to participate, putting the entire future of the event in question. According to IGN’s detailed report, while exhibitors were frustrated by ReedPop’s slow communication about plans for the redesigned show, ReedPop initially appeared involved and was strong early on. I was caught off guard and even felt “betrayed” by clients who provided me with encouraging feedback.
Directing the rebirth and transformation of such a high-profile, large-scale event was no easy task, even with ReedPop’s experience in costume. It didn’t go well and the relationship seems to have broken down. But this is probably more of a symptom than a cause. A number of factors contributed to the complete collapse of industry support for the most famous showcase.
and Interview with GamesIndustry.biz On (a site owned by ReedPop), ESA president Stanley Pierre-Louis explained in a diplomatic but moderately candid style what he sees as why the publisher abandoned E3. bottom. In short, the pandemic wreaked havoc on production schedules. This meant that either the game was not ready to be screened or announced on a large scale, or it was difficult to pinpoint a release date. It became difficult to secure the huge budgets needed (not to mention the need to be considered frugal after companies like Microsoft laid off thousands of staff).
Finally, while publishers were still experimenting with ways to “balance” in-person events with the digital marketing streams that dominated during the pandemic, they were gaining traction long before that. . (The first Nintendo Direct took place in his 2011, and Nintendo held his final E3 press conference the following year.)
Putting an optimistic spin on it, as Pierre-Louis attempted, these points are indisputable. More bluntly, as Chris Dring of GamesIndustry.biz did, Accompanying Opinion This is also a semi-informal explanation of the E3 collapse from ReedPop’s perspective. “In the end, the industry didn’t want this E3.”
There are a few more angles to consider, but of course Pierre-Louis didn’t want to get involved with them. The first is that E3’s brand, as strong as it remains in the gaming community, has been bruised. The ESA was so popular in the years before the pandemic, due to a poor effort to piecemealize the show towards a public event, and a disastrous data leak that exposed many news outlets and attendees to potential harassment. There weren’t any. Sony already had enough, and Microsoft was looking to run its own parallel event at a different venue, much like EA did a few years ago.
Second, E3 was just starting to look outdated and wasteful. Video game PR is changing fast, and E3 wasn’t keeping up. Even before the pandemic, a series of horrific controversies culminating in Gamergate caused both the press and publicists to step back somewhat from their close ties to one another. It’s wild, not the pre-release hype cycle. It also takes into account the carbon footprint of flying half the industry to California amid the growing climate emergency. As editor-in-chief of Eurogamer, I knew the eye-popping cost of sending editorial and sales people from a handful of sites and YouTube channels to his E3. Imagine what it would be like for a big publisher.Was it TRUE worth it?
This existential question has been building in the minds of the industry for at least a decade. It looms much larger than one-off considerations regarding economic conditions, production schedules, or marketing plans. If E3 does happen again (which seems highly unlikely), the industry will have to give a very honest account of the true value of the event.
I’ve been reporting from E3 for years, and while it was a shoddy and transactional show in many ways, I still loved the experience. With its thrilling scale, it’s an exciting focal point for fans, and more than any other event, Gamescom or even the Game Developers Conference, has brought the world’s industry together in one place. Access was second to none. The energy generated by all these important announcements and face-to-face meetings was an annual weapon for the entire industry. But were we all in on the topic, attendees and fans alike?
We’ve been here before, though less dramatic. In 2007 and 2008, in response to concerns about cost and audience composition, E3 was scaled back and reduced to a quieter business conference. It was cool and easy to get the job done, but no one liked it. In 2009, the industry was ready to take another big bet. In just one day he saw Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Pete Sampras, Pele, Jay-Z, Eminem and his two surviving Beatles promoting video games. Showbiz is back.
If E3 is to make another comeback during these more somber and serious times, it’s going to need a much better reason than “it’s not just that.” fun?” E3 was an outsized event for a bullish young industry with impostor syndrome. Now the gaming industry, and gaming audiences, have to decide if it has grown.
