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https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/video-games/2023/12/12/e3-permanently-canceled/

E3, once gaming’s biggest expo, is officially dead

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, which was once the gaming industry’s biggest convention and media platform, is officially dead.

“After more than two decades of hosting an event that has served as a central showcase for the U.S. and global video game industry,” the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has decided to bring E3 to a close, said Stanley Pierre-Louis, president and CEO of the nonprofit trade association that represents the games industry’s interests in the United States.

A mix of new competitors, partner withdrawals, changing audience habits and pandemic-era disruptions led to E3’s collapse, ending years of attempts to resuscitate the event, which began in 1995.

“We know the entire industry, players and creators alike have a lot of passion for E3. We share that passion,” Pierre-Louis said. “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.”

In 2018, Sony PlayStation’s decision to leave the event started a domino effect of other vendors and companies pulling their attendance. Just over a year later, former E3 collaborator and journalist Geoff Keighley announced that he quit helping the ESA with the show, and since then has successfully engineered his own, separate events for showcases such as Summer Game Fest. He has also built up the showcase format in the annual Game Awards, including the one that took place Thursday.

The effort to replace E3 is ongoing. The Game Awards ceremony has captured much of E3’s cultural power, but it has been criticized for its focus on ads and marketing, which hampers recognition of the industry’s work.

Pierre-Louis said E3’s closure means the business of video games “has blossomed in different ways.”

“Any one of these major companies can create an individual showcase … [and] also partner with other industry events to showcase the breadth of games,” he said. “That’s exciting for our industry, and it means it’s an opportunity for them to explore how to engage new audiences in different ways.”

 

[Mr Reasonable]

When will the Geoff Keighley backlash really gather momentum?

 

[analog_future]

 

[Bernoulli]

fat L
the game awards and summer cringe fest is just ADs simulator garbage

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Well that fucking sucks. I mean I knew it was moribund but I still had a tiny bit of hope for a last minute sensu bean.


Geoff is an asshole and the shit he produces is, well, shit. Having live press conferences was hugely important to the soul of gaming and its been like listless since they stopped.

 

[Ribi]

Terrible news, at least we still have gamescom. The big three will continue to trickle information and give us garbage. Microsoft will have like 2-3 mini e3 like montages of games when e3 would have given us one big montage with all the crap vetted out.

 

[VolticArchangel]

The Sony and Keighley bit sounds like salt tbh.

 

[MiguelItUp]

RIP E3, truly end of an era.

This just makes Keighley more powerful, lmao.

 

[Lokaum D+]

i ll miss E3, so many great moments.

 

[T4keD0wN]

Lame, now were stuck with Summer game fests, that shit is so hard to watch.

 

[saintjules]

at least we still have gamescom.

I don't think most of the public that attended E3 would travel all the way to Gamescom. Could be wrong though.

 

[Gudji]

Geoff is already rubbing his hands.

 

[Punished Miku]

When will the Geoff Keighley backlash really gather momentum?

Sony killed it.
E3 didn't help with their dumb decisions with letting in the public and not structuring it in a functional way.
Geoff is just a vulture chewing on the carcass.

 

[YOU PC BRO?!]

 

[AV]

About time they stopped pretending it was ever coming back.

RIP some of the better parts like Giantbomb at night, but those were gone anyway. 90% of the reason anyone watched was for a string of trailers and nothing's changed on that front.

 

[Punished Miku]

Lame, now were stuck with Summer game fests, that shit is so hard to watch.

Summer game fest is nothing. Really the main stuff is 1st party still.

I know this will cause people to have seizures, but MS puts on the biggest "E3" show now. Nintendo always had a big summer event so they're uncertain. Sony, who even knows. September I guess.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Sad to see. This was such a huge part of the fun of gaming when I was growing up. Finally got to go to the show a few times and absolutely loved it (well, until they opened it to the public).

Obviously, it was all but officially dead after these last few years, but it still stings to see it written out.

 

[mansoor1980]

sony killed sega consoles
sony killed E3
whos next?................................

 

[joeygreco1985]

Fuck this. I dont want Summer Games Fest I want E3 damnit

 

[ozz ex machina]

When will the Geoff Keighley backlash really gather momentum?

Isn't this more Sony's fault than anyone? Excluding the company actually just being incompetent.

E3's been dead for over 10 years compared to what it once was. I'll always have the memories.

 

[phant0m]

When will the Geoff Keighley backlash really gather momentum?

Hey, I’ll Stan for Doritos Pope. Sure TGA isn’t perfect and has plenty of cringe, but the man has genuine passion for the industry.

He has a lot of people to make happy that make TGA possible and a lot to cover in a 3 hour event.

You guys complained that awards were blown through or recipients only given 60 seconds for a speech but you also know you wouldn’t watch TGA for 30 fucking seconds if it was awards-only like the Oscars.

TGA is far from perfect but I sure as shit don’t see anybody else stepping up.

 

[Portugeezer]

It was dying slowly before Covid, but then it forced their hand.

 

[Valt7786]

Big shame, E3 had some seriously hype moments to remember. Summerfest and game awards havent ever come close yet.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

Shame that, I grew up reading about E3 shows in magazines in the 90s and watched it every year once it was live streamed. Even though it wasn't the best in its last few years, it was better to have all companies attend a big show in one week than all this drip feeding. Now there's just speculation about who is going to have a show or leaks for everything.

I miss the old days of gaming, that's for sure. Now AAA gaming just feels like a soulless husk with almost no passion.

 

[Reaseru]

Funny how for them, it was Sony who killed E3, but forgot Nintendo abandoned them first by starting doing their own digital presentation.

 

[Adam_802]

Awful news

 

[Punished Miku]

Funny how for them, it was Sony who killed E3, but forgot Nintendo abandoned them first by starting doing their own digital presentation.

Nintendo still had a huge presence at E3 that whole time, with multiple days of Treehouse footage. They just skipped a 40 minute stage show. They still paid for a very large area of floor space for years after Sony left. They didn't bail on it until Covid.

 

[Draugoth]

End of an era

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

All our gaming conferences belong to the Pope.

 

[SantaC]

Terrible news. The press conferences was always the best with E3.

 

[KaiserBecks]

Congrats to all the buzzkillers who said e3 was shit and unnecessary. It’s all downhill from here. Konami 2010, you’ll always be in my heart.

 

[Fermbiz]

End of an era

 

[ShirAhava]

E3 after 2018 was like "why?" I don't even feel like E3 itself died the reasons for E3 are dead.

I'd care a lot more if the industry was still interesting. Everything is boring as shit now it doesn't deserve a show like E3

Lots of good memories and parties with friends over the years

 

[YukiOnna]

Sad to see. I'm more upset because it just means Sony and MS will continue to stick to Digital showcases that are soulless and boring. It's the console makers who started not attending the shows and then abandoning events like PSX.

At least Geoff is doing SGF, Gamescom ONL, and Game Awards in-person so it fills that and I'm happy, but I'll definitely miss 3 days to 1 week of coverage, all day streaming w/ Dev interviews, etc.

 

[makaveli60]

E3 was one of the best things in the industry for me. Reading about it in the magazines, then watching the trailers on its discs... Then later watching the live conferences, and discussing it at the same time... Good times. It was dead already, but still sad seeing it officially. Well, this industry is going downhill fast in many ways, what can I expect.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Youtubes is the new E3.
O face thumbnails are the future of gaming news.

 

[TransTrender]

NeoGAF!
What have you DONE?!

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

The effort to replace E3 is ongoing. The Game Awards ceremony has captured much of E3’s cultural power, but it has been criticized for its focus on ads and marketing, which hampers recognition of the industry’s work.

My biggest beef with TGA and less so SGF. E3 had some pretty bad celebrity tie ins and non gaming deals announced (usually Xbox with TV and sports), but was alot more watchable and far less bloated than Dorito's shows.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

The ultimate heist.

 

[Games of Today]

I can't believe it went from the 2016 Sony show to this. I would have expected a slower decline than that.

Well at least I'll always have that memory of watching it un-interrupted on a day off from work.

 

[Quantum253]

The anticipation and excitement of many many summers is gone. June went from my favorite months to now my least favorite. Lots of good E3s though, and I don't really care for whats replaced the expo.

 

[Draugoth]

This is the Best news of Geoff Keighley's life

 

[adamsapple]

E3 hsa been dead since the mid 2010s, this is just the final slug in the zombie's brain.

 

[TheInfamousKira]

It's not that it's sad to see E3 go so much as it's sad that in that amount of time, nothing equal has sprung up. I have a lot of respect for Keighley everything aside.

 

[Deerock71]

Funny how for them, it was Sony who killed E3, but forgot Nintendo abandoned them first by starting doing their own digital presentation.

I was going to bring up Nintendo Directs as part of it, but the death blow was truly covid lockdowns.

 

[Quantum253]

This is the Best news of Geoff Keighley's life

Until he whines about some other show killing off Sunmer Games or the VGAs

 

[Reaseru]

Nintendo still had a huge presence at E3 that whole time, with multiple days of Treehouse footage. They just skipped a 40 minute stage show. They still paid for a very large area of floor space for years after Sony left. They didn't bail on it until Covid.

The presentations from the big 3 console makers were the major hype point in every single E3. The moment Nintendo started ditching theirs, it made clear that E3, as an event, was unnecessary.

 

[nial]

Sony E3 2016 forever the GOAT.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

AS soon Sony left E3 the writing was on the wall. E3 2019 wasn't that great and since then it was only a matter of time until it was over.

The fact everyone announces games really close to release instead of hype trailers 2 years before release also means less stuff to show and less need of conferences to be held each year.

 

[SantaC]