Goodbye E3, You Will be Missed.
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has stated that the event is gone for good.
E3 is 'the' event for gamers all over the world. It is our 'Christmas', a time when we get to see what the industry is working on in terms of software, and hardware.
I'm sure everyone has fond memories of a particular E3, especially during hardware reveals. This is where companies like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft are at their best. Revealing a new console always makes the crowd go wild. So does a teaser for a highly anticipated game. E3 provided plenty of those throughout the years.
E3 before the social media boom was a more contained and exclusive event. Gamers had to rely on their preferred media outlets to get a glimpse of what occurred during the expo. Companies also had to put their faith in media outlets to promote their games or new tech brought to the convention center.
Ah, the good old days. I remember reading about E3 in gaming magazines or watching on TV gaming-oriented programs. Times were different, and with social media slowly starting to gain momentum, one could think that this was going to revolutionize how gamers consumed this type of content.
Companies like the Big 3, and other publishers started to dive into social media and built their presence there.
A bubble that burst.
Social media helped E3 gain a worldwide audience. Media outlets quickly picked up where the momentum was heading. Companies started creating their YouTube channels, while others promoted their websites heavily.
Everyone started moving away from a written format, or a heavily scripted TV program, which relied a lot on producers, sponsors, and other factors.
Digital media provided the liberty to not only outlets but to consumers as well. The problem is that gaming publishers and developers slowly realized its potential. They asked: why not publish news ourselves, instead of relying on any given gaming media outlet?
Nintendo was the first to see that E3 was becoming irrelevant. They were the first company to 'ditch' E3, and by that I mean, not having a press conference, yet still having a booth at the convention center.
Nintendo started promoting an all-digital press release called Nintendo Direct. On it, they would provide news, updates, and teasers not only for their games but also for their hardware.
The Japanese company has always carried a tremendous amount of momentum. Fans all over the world are expectant when it comes to anything related to Nintendo. Teasing a new Mario, Zelda, or a new console can become viral in seconds.
Perhaps digital media gained too much momentum that the middlemen (media outlets) were left out of the equation. Companies making video games simply had to promote their products directly to consumers via their social media platforms.
Open to the public
E3 became so popular during the peak of its life that the organizers decided to open it to the public via tickets. Regular people could access what once was exclusive to media outlets, and get to live the experience.
Walking through the halls of the expo center, gazing at all the booths from Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Capcom, EA, Activision, and many other companies is one of the most exciting things a gamer can experience.
One cannot help but think: why was access not for the general public? Of course, media outlets did not like the idea so much. Not only was their exclusivity stripped away, but more people on the floor meant more chaos. The early bird gets the worm.
The organizers initially separated the expo into several days. The first days were exclusive to media; that's where the big companies held their keynotes. The days after were open to the public. Despite these measures, during the whole week of E3, we saw a mixture of media and the general public wandering the floor.
Then came Covid
Sadly, Covid altered our reality to levels we cannot even begin to imagine. Some of us have suffered a drastic change in our lives whether it's the loss of a loved one, being let go by the company we worked for, or putting our goals on hold indefinitely.
E3 was suspended during the Covid years. Companies followed what Nintendo did and presented their upcoming games through digital press releases. Perhaps this is what unintentionally killed E3.
Companies realized that you don't have to pay to have your booth at the LA Convention Center. Microsoft started this trend by having its in-person event at the Microsoft Theater right across the street during the days of E3.
You not only got to save costs, but you could announce whatever you wanted when you wanted. Companies were no longer forced to wait for a specific time of the year to announce things. All of this was thanks to the explosion of social media.
Gamers preferred opening YouTube or reading a tweet to know what their favorite companies were working on. Suddenly, media outlets were not in control anymore. They evolved into something else. Thanks to YouTube, most gaming media outlets have survived. People love podcasts, they might have inadvertently replaced magazines.
So consuming E3 through a media outlet was more about hearing the pundits talk about the event and the things they liked and disliked. Others did special features where they recorded themselves walking through the floor, showing us all the booths.
This was great for consumers who never got the chance to experience E3 in person. Seeing what was once exclusive to media outlets brought to the general public through these videos was a great experience.
We not only got to see the booths, but they interviewed the people working on the actual games. It was even more interesting when they took the time to talk with indie game developers or small studios; that's where the real industry lives.
Unfortunately, Covid meant having an all-digital event. That's where companies ended up presenting their keynotes on their YouTube channels. In a way, it was easier for the media to cover these events because they could react in real-time, as the thing happened.
Double-edged sword
The cost-saving benefits of an all-digital event for companies, and the convenience for the media of covering E3 from the comfort of a studio could have inadvertently killed E3. The ESA found itself with a lack of support from interested parties to organize a physical E3 at the convention center.
E3 was postponed at first, but it never recovered. The ESA finally decided to cancel the event for good because of how the industry has evolved in terms of announcements and coverage.
Not only do big companies rely on social media to announce new games, but smaller studios get a pretty decent amount of followers so that they can follow the same strategy. Besides, media outlets love consuming social media and digesting it for their followers.
It is a bit of a vicious circle if you ask me. Or perhaps it is a symbiotic relationship between video game companies and media outlets.
Geoff Keighley enters the battle
The Summer Game Fest came to put the last nail in the coffin for E3. It is an all-digital event spread across multiple days in which companies present their keynotes. They take advantage of trending topics and search engine momentum to reach a broader audience.
Keighley also organizes the Game Awards which has a mix of announcements and awards. They are the Oscars of the video game industry and have catapulted it to more ambitious levels.
This event creates an incredible amount of expectation by gamers across the world. Everyone is rooting for their favorite nominees. Companies take advantage of that and announce upcoming games. The VGA platform allows them to reach a worldwide audience.
It looks like these couple of events have 'substituted' E3 in a certain way. The video game industry certainly benefits from these events to further promote their games, however, they are not entirely dependent on them. These companies have control over when and what they announce through their media platforms.
I don't think the definitive cancellation is a matter of E3 failing to adapt to changing times; it is just that the industry moved too fast with the huge boom of social media in the last decade or so. E3 simply became unnecessary; it was not replaced, it was tossed aside by the video game industry which found a new 'ally' on social media.
