No More E3: The Event Stands Permanently Cancelled

[btarunr]

Entertainment Software Association (ESA), organizers of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, announced that the show stands permanently cancelled. The annual expo of video gaming, e-sports, and all forms of interactive art, was an important landmark in the tech industry's calendar; and saw major announcements of new games, studios, platforms, and technology, with a generally mid-year (June) schedule, generally right after Computex. From the looks of it, organizing the event viably since the COVID crisis had been a problem. In an announcement on Twitter through the official E3 handle, ESA announced the end of E3 with a brief statement saying "After more than two decades of E3, each one bigger than the last, the time has come to say goodbye. Thanks for the memories. ggwp"



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[Ferrum Master]

It is an end of an era.

 

[GhostRyder]

End of an Era... The last few though have had alot of places pulling out or not really doing much compared to just 5 or 6 years ago so I am not surprised (Only surprised it happened this soon). I honestly don't even recall last years or the year before that's E3 and any major games I saw at it that blew my mind like the days of old.

I was more hoping they would figure out a way to revamp it, but at least for the time being, it seems to be cancelled.

 

[Easy Rhino]

I always looked forward to what cool new tech vendors were working on.

 

[ZoneDymo]

I find it funny how stuff like this works, its more popular then ever...but suddenly its too expensive to do.
Same with like props in movies, movies make more money then ever before but they "have to" cheapen out on how they are made...

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

I find it funny how stuff like this works, its more popular then ever...but suddenly its too expensive to do.
Same with like props in movies, movies make more money then ever before but they "have to" cheapen out on how they are made...

The larger issue is that cost goes up.

Games, movies, music, are all more popular than ever before. But the cost of making a top quality AAA item (measured in terms of visuals, audio, and all the rest) has gone up faster than profits did. So we get a divided state of things. To bother with the risk of an AAA product or event it has to deliver on a level it couldn't in the past. So we get AAA stuff made for the lowest common denominator to generate the most cash, cheap to crank out indie stuff where you can take risks, and then a bunch of mid level junk that fades away.

 

[Vayra86]

E3 hasn't been worth looking at for over a decade. Surprised it lasted as long as it did.

I find it funny how stuff like this works, its more popular then ever...but suddenly its too expensive to do.
Same with like props in movies, movies make more money then ever before but they "have to" cheapen out on how they are made...

When things turn mainstream they turn to shit.

That's the theme. Everywhere. Mainstream means big money and big crowds and that means poverty in execution. Its as simple as that. You get watered down versions of what could be, or there's just too much and it all drowns each other in a cacophony of advertising.

 

[ir_cow]

Thought it would be canceled about 10 years ago when online events and web blogs started to take over. No company wants to waste money to announce games that is already well into development.

 

[Vatonage]

It's been a relic from better times for a while. Not much reason to bother with a giant expo full of your competitors when you can host your own event showcasing your own studios and publishers (State of Play, Nintendo Direct, etc). Though I will say that I'll miss it a bit, as something that's been part of the gaming landscape for so long.

 

[Easo]

End of an era which I did not get to experience personally.
Would love to have a big global show, anyway, instead of every company making their own as the bestest thing evar (last Blizzcon, lul).

 

[Denver]

Hm, But why will it end?

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Guess tubers will have to make their own E3.

 

[TheDeeGee]

E3 was awesome around 2000 when the internet wasn't common. As a youngster i bought all the game magazines that had a Demo CD and could drool for hours on end watching screenshots.

That magic feeling simply isn't there anymore.

 

[Ruru]

E3 was awesome around 2000 when the internet wasn't common. As a youngster i bought all the game magazines that had a Demo CD and could drool for hours on end watching screenshots.

That magic feeling simply isn't there anymore.

My thoughts exactly. These days I'm not even that interested in game releases and all that hype like I was used to in the 2000s as a kid.

 

[bug]

'twas a time when I looked forward to reading about E3 and seeing the demos. But that stopped long ago. I don't know when, but before 2010 for sure.
Not the show's fault, I think, it's just that the industry went a direction I can't get on board with (i.e., it actually became an industry).

 

[JAB Creations]

That is what happens when you fall for fraud like covid. Hopefully there are smart people out there that ignore criminal announcements that know how to organize an event properly.

 

[TechLurker]

End of an era, but the writing was on the wall for some time, when they went from being wild and nerdy in the late 90s to early 00s to trying to clean up and look sterile and professional in the latter 00s onwards.

As well, with online-only reveals and smaller, tighter public events becoming much cheaper to host at a studio's venue, there's admittedly little reason left to even put effort towards a centralized event like this.

Still, I do miss the days of being able to go on occasion and get some of the E3-exclusive goodies, photos with hired cosplayers and booth babes/dudes, shaking hands with game devs and getting some insight, and trialing new game demos and early builds.