Earlier today, E3 announced on their official twitter that this year's E3 conference was cancelled due to lack of interest. This comes a few weeks after Xbox,Sony, and Nintendo announced they weren't going to E3.
E3 has been an iconic part of Gamer Culture ever since it's inception in 1995. A yearly convention where Industry giants and indie newcomers gathered to show off their latest creations. Every Gamer looked forward to June for this event. In a sense, this is our Super Bowl. Millions were tuning in to watch trailers and commercials on the latest advancements in gaming.
You would see games making worldwide announcements that wouldn't release for another 2-3 years. You'd also see what's dropping this November. So there was always lots of excitement and curiosity. It became a community bonding event for gamers like none other.
Then the pandemic happened. During these years, game development companies found it to be more cost effective to run their own shows, right around the same time E3 would take place. For example, This years E3 was going to be June 13-16. The Summer Game Fest is June 8th the weekend before. It's being advertised as "See the future of video games, when the gaming industry comes together in LA - Starts LIVE June 8 from YouTube Theater"
They even commented on E3's tweet
Fellow Gamer & Former Corporate McDonald's Chef famous for bringing back the szechuan sauce is not impressed.
With E3 facing these existential threats and responding by cancelling their event, Does this mean E3 is dead? There has been no official statement yet. We presume the team responsible for the event is evaluating their situation and why things went wrong. We speculate that we'll see another shot at E3 in 2024 though it may be geared towards indie game developers more so. Especially if Xbox,Nintendo, and Sony aren't interested.
However, If this is the demise of E3, we'll be pouring one out and thinking about all the memories over the years. Whether you were in attendance or in a watch party at home, what was your favorite E3 moment?
