E3 2023 has been officially canceled. This marks the second consecutive year this event has been canceled, following the so-called “digital” edition in 2021 that was frankly pointless (because watching a livestream of another livestream… Only “YouTubers” do that). So I see a lot of people reminiscing about the good old days and sighing at the publishers’ decision to skip E3, but what exactly was E3, and what makes the current situation pointless now? Let’s summarize the situation.
The name “E3” stands for “Electronic Entertainment Expo.” As the name suggests, it is a three-day trade show where publishers, as well as hardware manufacturers—including not only Nintendo and Sega but now also PlayStation and Xbox—showcase their flagship new releases. E3 was originally organized in 1995 by the ESA (Entertainment Software Association), inspired by CES (the Consumer Electronics Show—the trade show showcasing innovations in consumer electronics)—to give the video game industry its own media event. E3 thus became the first trade show dedicated to video games, exclusively reserved for industry professionals and investors. This includes, of course, console manufacturers and game publishers, but also other companies dedicated to video games, such as accessory manufacturers (Big Ben, Logitech, etc.), some of whom had previously exhibited their products at CES.
With a few exceptions, the event takes place at the LA Convention Center in Los Angeles. The opening of the show is usually preceded by press conferences, with the trade press following those of the biggest exhibitors (Sony, Nintendo, Sega, and then Microsoft). The main purpose of these conferences was to report on the companies’ financial status (complete with plenty of charts and graphs), to present new games, of course, but also to showcase new technologies that would be on display as prototypes during the show. I’ll give two examples from The Legend of Zelda: I’m thinking in particular of the famous CGI battle between Link and Ganondorf in 2002 to demonstrate the power of the GCN, or the “Zelda HD Experience” in 2011 to showcase the utility of the Wii U Gamepad.
That’s basically what E3 is all about. An event dedicated to the future of video games, organized by and for industry professionals across all fields. We, the press, weren’t directly involved (until changes were made later in 2013). As fans, we’ll obviously remember the press conferences most of all, since that was the most media-friendly part to follow—with the awkward moments or moments of embarrassment when certain games didn’t work properly, as well as the highlights (Reggie Fils-Aimé’s “my body is ready” while trying out Wii Fit on stage, a moment that will forever define his personality). The first decade of E3’s existence (1995–2006) was significant. The show gained increasing media attention over the years. E3 essentially emerged at the dawn of 3D gaming and would follow its evolution with the advent of new technologies designed to push the performance of games. There were mistakes made by the ESA, such as in 2007 when it attempted to change the format with a dedicated campus (which did not sit well with the trade press, who deemed the organization too complex), but these had no major consequences for the organizers.
E3 continues on its path as it enters its third decade in 2015, a year in which the ESA will face a major challenge: with the rise of Web 2.0 and the emergence of other events throughout the year—such as the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the Tokyo Game Show, and Gamescom (formerly the Games Convention) in Germany—all taking place in parallel with the financial blows suffered by these in-person exhibitions—E3 is becoming less and less attractive to exhibitors. In particular, for the past two editions, Nintendo had stopped holding pre-E3 press conferences, opting instead for a YouTube event (while still engaging directly with its audience at the E3 booths via the Nintendo Treehouse livestreams). This was also the launch year of the PC Gaming Show, which, despite its soporific format, has (to this day) focused exclusively on PC games.
It took two years, following the 2017 event, for the ESA to decide to open E3 to the general public in an attempt to secure a new source of revenue. And despite these efforts to revitalize the event, E3 is losing the trust of exhibitors. 2019 will be the first edition since the event’s inception without Sony, one of the three largest historical exhibitors. And as you know, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the ESA to cancel the event. And I won’t even get into the “2021 edition”—a digital event that merely followed and commented on other livestreams. Well, people mostly just watch the actual streams directly *clown*. The digital edition might have been more than that in reality, including a “digital” trade show, I believe, but I don’t know if that actually happened in the end.
While E3 was, until the 2010s, a must-attend event for the video game industry and a key battleground for publishers, one might conclude that, for attendees, E3 has become just another event on the calendar—or even one too many to keep track of. That is the problem: what role does E3 still play in today’s industry when everything else seems to have replaced it?
And what about the Summer Game Fest? Geoff Keighley is a former journalist and host who has played a major role in growing The Game Awards, which aims to be the American equivalent of film award ceremonies for video games. Keighley has contributed to E3 events by hosting shows there, and since the decline of E3’s organization, he hasn’t hesitated to jump on every ESA announcement to promote his own event. What’s certain is that Keighley has ambition (and he has the support of several publishers), but there’s still a lot of work to be done. … The Summer Game Fest’s “Play Day,” which is the equivalent of the E3 show floor but 100 times smaller (like, it fits in a gym), doesn’t yet have the appeal of a trade show like E3 or Gamescom, where the entire industry gathers in one place. Geoff Keighley has his work cut out for him if he ever wants to host an event with the same stature as E3 or even CES. In short, it won’t happen overnight.
In any case, one thing is certain: whether or not we see the return of a well-organized E3, it’s unlikely that publishers will go back to the old-school format of holding press conferences tied to this type of third-party event. If there are any conferences, they’ll be at the publishers’ discretion throughout the year, as we saw with Nintendo in January 2017 after they introduced the Switch in a simple YouTube video the previous October. From now on, the “meta,” as they say in the jargon, favors short, well-edited formats (and therefore inexpensive to produce), aimed at the general public—or rather, the online audience.
As for me, I’ve actually moved on to other things. There’s no shortage of conferences filled with three-quarters talk, graphic charts, and other awkward segments that are hard to follow, and then there’s trying out games at booths—there are still plenty of opportunities to go to Gamescom and the like. Before 2017, E3 was just a trade show for professionals (though if it’s going to be like Paris Game Week, crammed with so many people, I’d rather pass, haha).
