Jeremy’s Campaign: E3 cancellation is sad

By Jeremy Martin SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Are video game companies even interested in an E3 return anyway?

Despite the fact many fans, including myself, want an in-person E3 to come back, it seems video game companies become less interested in the idea each year.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo is a video game trade show held annually at the Los Angeles convention center, according to a June 11, 2021 Washington Post article.

The convention takes place in June.

Major video game companies, such as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, use the event to reveal their newest hardware and their biggest video games.

It was announced E3 2023 was canceled on Friday, according to an article by IGN published on the same day.

The Entertainment Software Association confirmed the announcement in an email sent to members, according to the same article.

The Entertainment Software Association is the voice and advocate for companies that publish computer and video games, according to their website.

In the email, the organization stated the E3 “remains a beloved event and brand,” while the 2023 showcase “simply did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength and impact of our industry,” according to the article.

This comes just a year before it was announced that E3 would be coming back in 2023 and would be the first in-person E3 since 2019, which transitioned to an online format because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the same article.

Throughout the last handful of E3 events, several companies have altered their presence at the event and in some cases announced they wouldn’t appear at all.

In fact, the news of this year’s E3 cancellation comes after major companies like Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft and Ubisoft confirmed they wouldn’t attend the event at all, according to the article.

Instead most of these companies would hold their own digital showcase, similar to Nintendo’s Nintendo Direct videos.

I miss the days of big on-stage reveals from video game companies like Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.

However, industry changes make it seem as though such an event won’t be happening anytime soon.

Stanley Pierre-Louis, president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association, said “the timeline for game development has been altered since the start of the COVID pandemic,” and that “economic headwinds have caused several companies to reassess how they invest in large marketing events,” in a March 30 article by Games Industry.

After all, why would video game companies spend the extra cash to set up an elaborate live showcase when they can just make announcements and pull off major reveals in the form of a video?

It’s just not worth it for video game companies to have an in-person showcase or even a physical presence at E3 anymore.

The setup of a live showcase would cost more money for video game companies. With major video game companies dropping out of the showcase, fans have little incentive to attend anyways, especially if major companies choose to create digital alternatives fans could watch from the comfort of their own homes.

Considering the lack of interest from major video game companies and the decreased incentive to participate in a live showcase, I would get used to viewing major reveals digitally.

While E3 might seem like a digital show nowadays, other summer gaming events like Geoff

Keighley’s Summer Game Fest have served as a replacement for E3 in recent years, according to a March 30, 2023 article by The Verge.

For the most part, I encourage fans to embrace digital showcases as the video game industry’s new way of generating hype for their biggest reveals.

GRAPHIC BY VANESSA TRAN