As sad as it is to say, E3 has finally met its end, as it has now been announced by Stanley Pierre-Lious, President and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), that E3 will not be making its valiant return in the future.
There are many reasons as to why E3 has unfortunately met its end, one of the main reasons being the global pandemic that created a lot of situations for companies over a long period of time. However, with E3’s demise, many of the gaming industry companies have already begun with their own shows revealing new technology, upcoming games, and special announcements.
For many gamers, E3 was a major source of information that showed them upcoming games, all the new technology that was being developed, and even had special in-person events and teasers that those who were lucky enough to go would be able to see and experience.
What Does E3’s Death Mean for the Gaming Community, and Will the New Forms of Gaming Events Live up to E3?
Over the years, E3 has been a major part of the gaming community and has been going since 1995 all the way until 2021. For many members of the gaming community, E3 will be a very big part of their gaming lives, as gamers will always remember the time their favorite game was announced.
Because of this, the gaming community will be heavily impacted and will most likely take a slight hit, but luckily, a lot of the biggest companies in the gaming industry have taken up the mantle, as companies like Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation have already begun to have their own shows that are mainly focused on their own unique announcements rather than generalizations.
So far, these gaming conferences and live streams have already begun to make some headway and take over the mantle that E3 has left behind. One major example is Nintendo, which has been doing its own “Direct” event since 2011 and has been expanding the event over the years.
Even though these major companies have already begun their own unique events that are solely targeted at the technology and games that will be coming to the respective consoles,. There has also been a rise in events like Gamescom and The Game Awards, which have slowly been turning into their own versions of E3, especially Gamescom, which gained a lot of popularity this year.
The main reason that Gamescom received a lot more attention than usual this year is due to the fact that E3 has been cancelled for the past two years. Since E3 is never returning, it is highly likely that Gamescom will be a gamer’s new main source of information regarding all gaming news.
Even though these events are gaining popularity, there are those who are afraid they won’t be as informative or as special as E3, as they are mainly held online rather than in person, but they still hold a lot of information for gamers to experience, even while they sit in the comfort of their own homes.
Why Did E3 Fail, and Will These New Gaming Events Come Across the Same Issues and Mistakes?
As stated above, there are many reasons why E3 has unfortunately been cancelled, and the main reason was, of course, COVID-19. However, there were more reasons as to why E3 slowly declined and was eventually shut down.
During the pandemic period, many of the gaming events that were already taking place made the decision to move their respective events online for everyone to tune in and watch. Unfortunately, E3 only hosted its event online in 2021 and cancelled the event in both 2022 and 2023, ultimately leading to its downfall.
During 2023, E3 was set to make its return with a complete in-person event, just like the good ol’ days, but now that the numerous events that were already taking place within the year had gone online and focused more on live streaming, E3 was unable to keep up with the new format and didn’t gather enough in-person interest.
It didn’t help that E3 was unable to gather a lot of the major developers to showcase their upcoming content, as companies like Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo had either planned their announcements during Gamescom or their own individual events, leaving E3 with very little to show.
Thanks to the expansiveness of technology and the progression of live streaming, gaming events are becoming a lot more popular, and people are focusing more on this aspect rather than being there in person. However, if these events continue to ignore this aspect of the gaming community, there is a chance that they could lose a major section of the community.
Will These New Gaming Events Gather the Same Interest That E3 Managed to Generate in the Past?
For many reasons, the gaming community is worried that all of the new gaming events that will be taking place instead of E3 won’t be as enjoyable or informative. So far, there is no evidence to show that they won’t be as good as E3, but events like Gamescom may not have the major announcements that E3 used to have.
Mainly because major companies will mainly hold back their big announcements for their own events while also using Gamescom to reveal more in-depth trailers, such as gameplay and character reveals.
This will leave many gamers wondering whether or not in-person events will continue to decline or whether they will somehow make a comeback with events like Gamescom. At the moment, it is unclear whether the in-person aspect of these events will continue to grow or if they will decline just as E3 did, but it is clear that gamers do enjoy the in-person aspect of these events, just not as much as online.
Even though these new gaming events are very popular and will continue to grow, there is a small chance that they could eventually end up taking the same path as E3, but if the gaming community continues to grow like it is and encourage these events and provide their support, then we will continue to see more of these events that could expand the community in more ways than one.
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