There hasn’t been an E3 since 2019. Part of that is due to the pandemic, and part of it is due to a total lack of support from major publishers, a trend that started before 2019 but only accelerated when in-person events became impossible. Despite this, the Entertainment Software Association, the org behind the event, has refused to call time on E3’s body — every year they’ve insisted there will be one, and every year they’ve had to walk back the statement when not enough people signed on.
It took until December of 2023, but they finally admitted it today: E3 is dead. “After more than two decades of E3, each one bigger than the last, the time has come to say goodbye,” ESA posted on its website. “Thanks for the memories. GGWP.” ESA CEO and president Stanley Pierre-Louis elaborated further in an interview with WaPo: “We know the entire industry, players and creators alike have a lot of passion for E3. We share that passion. We know it’s difficult to say goodbye to such a beloved event, but it’s the right thing to do given the new opportunities our industry has to reach fans and partners.”
At its peak E3 was a gazillion-dollar private convention where big game publishers would spend countless dollars on elaborate booths showing off the games they planned to sell that year. But as costs kept rising and streaming video became more widespread, companies started turning away from conventions in favor of addressing their audiences directly, at a fraction of the promotional cost.
But it’s not like big fat specified event days where every publisher screams for attention at the same time have gone away. As people have been saying lately (usually in a negative tone), The Game Awards has basically become a 2020s version of E3 instead of an award ceremony. Geoff Keighley’s other presentation, Summer Games Fest, was intended to replace E3 from the beginning.
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