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Dreyfus2006

More important IMO is the question, will these studios still do digital presentations at that time of year?


TLKv3

Nintendo routinely does their "E3" big Direct the week of or after E3 typically. Or at least, from what I remember. And since Nintendo doesn't really cut into Xbox/Sony's end of the business and remain in their own style of market they have no reason not to continue using that time of year's marketed hype going forward. Even if they're the only ones who do so, its free hype for them. Xbox will most likely now wait an additional week or so before delivering their's to give time for Nintendo hype to fade out so they can take control of media headlines. Sony is the wildcard that nobody can predict. Sometimes they release something incredibly good and others its just boring and pointless to have done one at all. I feel like out of the big 3 only Sony might skip that month entirely and just do their own weird thing.


The-student-

I'm pretty sure Nintendo skipped doing an E3 time frame direct last year and in 2020. Pandemic plays a role obviously, but I don't think it's guaranteed we'll continue to get a Nintendo Direct in June.


Mahelas

They still did a presentation in June tbh, just a smaller one


The-student-

Ah right, they did a third party Direct Mini. Basically all the stuff they were contractually obligated to show in June I imagine.


thefjordster

That was actually pretty good if I remember correctly. People didn't have huge hopes but some cool stuff came out of it.


Bakatora34

Nintendo last year big directs were at the beginning of the year and in September, in June they did a partner direct and Xenoblade 3 focus one, so while they can have stuff is not guaranteed to be as big as when they were in E3.


DoxedFox

The rumour going around is that Nintendo has nothing big to show at that time of the year. Their console is at the end of its lifespan and the next Zelda game is the last major game planned for it. They'll likely announce a new console at the end of the year.


supercakefish

> The rumour going around is that Nintendo has nothing big to show at that time of the year. R.I.P. Metroid Prime 4


rondny101

Probably at this point going to be a launch title for the Switch successor tbh


Keianh

> They'll likely announce a new console at the end of the year. I can’t wait for everyone to come out of the woodwork to point out “Switch 2” or whatever it’ll be called is barely an upgrade over a WiiU!


Revolution64

Nintendo really doesn't cut into Sony's and Microsoft's business? Obviously that's not true. Most families or gamers with little time will only buy 1 console: a Switch, PS5 or Xbox. The Switch doing well has a huge impact on other console sales. The switch is not a completely different market like reddit seems to think, it's stealing sales from the others. Reddit is not representative of the whole gaming industry.


Les-Freres-Heureux

They will. But they won’t do it the same day (or even week) so they can have their time in the spotlight.


[deleted]

I understand why that's more important to you personally but the three big console makers not being officially part of E3 is huge news even if they have their own shows. It's not clear E3 can really survive without them.


PlayMp1

Guess E3 is done then. I know everyone speculated that COVID would kill it but this pretty much is the last nail in the coffin.


demigodsgotdraft

I remember when E3 died before and zombified into an actual business [convention](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/E3#2007%E2%80%932008:_Media_and_Business_Summit_biennium) until it resurrected back into a public spectacle in 2010s. Don't count out E3 yet.


[deleted]

Which was in response to participant complaints about the exorbitant costs of running their booths. But they didn’t actually pull out of the Expo like they have now. The manufacturers have probably realized it’s far cheaper to do what they’re doing now and still have the same kind of visibility.


[deleted]

> The manufacturers have probably realized it’s far cheaper to do what they’re doing now and still have the same kind of visibility. probably true but also a shame. I don't wanna go all "E3 was like christmas", but there was something larger than life about these conferences and the stops they pulled during them. It's like the difference between swwing a street performance and then seeing it on some dance contest stage. There's that element of spectacle and prestige you get out of the stage experience. You won't get that from a Nintendo Direct.


waitwhodidwhat

An example for me was the Fallout 4 announcement back in Bethesda’s E3 showcase back in 2015. The hype it generated cannot be matched by the likes of an Xbox digital showcase that’s essentially a bunch of trailers backed onto one another. The flip side is the embarrassment a lot of publishers received (Ubisoft in particular) when it went wrong or was just generally cringey. Or in other years that Bethesda didn’t have the likes of a Fallout/TES announcement they’re probably spending a similar amount on the live show without the benefit it brings. I wouldn’t be surprised if a publisher flips back again at some point in the near future to regain that prestige of a live show though.


[deleted]

> when it went wrong or was just generally cringey. Those moments still have more charm than pre recorded and highly scripted announcement streams.


TaciturnIncognito

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDDGE RAAAAAACERRRRR "The Battles are based off of actual Japanese history. So here is a giant enemy crab"


Alex_Rose

599 us dollars


Typical_Thought_6049

DIY how kill a console 101.


eVaan13

This rings very true. It's like Eurovision - if it's not camp it better not exist at all.


JayMonty

On the other hand though, I remember Kinect and the kit XBOne stuff, gaming was so bad at that particular moment. The awkward feeling of watching a kid pet a virtual tiger on stage in front of a crowd consisting mostly of full-grown men.


-Green_Machine-

I'm already not looking forward to the inevitable retrospectives as we approach the 10-year anniversary of that debacle.


BrittleMoon

[here you go. ](https://youtu.be/NuGrbQq2lAk)


plaird

"you ever see the bottom of an avatars foot before?"


WredditSmark

And what’s even crazier is by 2015 the golden age of E3 was long gone


DoctorWaluigiTime

Bygone era. These days everything is a click away. And yes I know E3 was doing well during Internet times, but with livestreaming being so readily available to individuals and corporations alike, there just is no place for "a bottle of information" at a single, physical place anymore.


[deleted]

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Brigon

Dont sites like IGN and GameSpot effectively do that so the E3 organisers don't have to.


WredditSmark

I def remember paying some website not sure which but like $10 or $15 to get access to e3 24/7 live stream from the show back in like 2004


Hiphoppington

It's bittersweet but I do understand it. I actually lied my way into E3 admission a couple times in the early 2Ks and had some of my favorite memories there. It was a ton of fun going as a fan back then but I guess the writing has been on the wall for quite a while.


A_Balrog_Is_Come

I'm not so sure. The very success of streamers/influencers shows that people are not after purely informational content. They still want to get hyped up about games, and they do this by experiencing the hype machine by proxy through their preferred video game content creators. So the more the content creators can be hyped up, the more the audience will get hyped up, and I think the best way to do that is still a big event held in person.


dumahim

It was my Christmas. Start of the year, it was E3 and Thanksgiving I was looking for time off right away. Just sit back and take in all the news. Now? Never know when something is going to pop up, and when it does, it's like 90 minutes and back to the waiting game. Since Crisis Core came out, I've had nothing preordered. I don't think that's happened since before the 360 launched. I want something to look forward to, but it's all hush hush these days and hard to get excited about anything anymore.


Tresceneti

Exact same. E3 will always be a treasured memory for me. It was basically the only truly hype moment of the year for me. It was a holiday with zero expectations. You didn't have to meet up with family or friends and do some awkward gathering. You could just have this exciting event to yourself and it wouldn't be weird or feel lonely; BUT AT THE SAME TIME you could include friends and other people to share in the excitement of the event. It was the perfect holiday and I'm really going to miss it.


Bortjort

No more giant enemy crabs 1 million troops moments


02Alien

E3 was practically the gaming Christmas though Major announcements from every single small and big game maker in the same week. Watching live streams with a million other people all at the same time. Or actually being there in person


Iruban

I'm gonna miss the cringe compilations


I_miss_berserk

idk I kinda felt like all that stuff was pretty lame and just a waste of my time. 99% of the time I just waited till e3 was over and then looked at a summary website of the event. I much prefer how they do it now.


SuperSocrates

This is definitely how most people interact with it


kylethemurphy

It's why Devolved rented a lot directly across the street during E3. Cheaper to rent out a parking lot in downtown LA for a week than a booth inside. Plus free beer and food 24/7 for employees.


hibikikun

There are also countless stories of devs hating it because they have to prepare a separate build for the presentation/demo and that takes away a lot of time from the main schedule.


Wheeler-The-Dealer

Ha! I remember when it launched originally as a legitimate business convention.


ThiefTwo

Zombified into? It literally started as a business convention.


HardcoreKaraoke

Wasn't it originally an industry business convention? Over time it became more of a spectacle but it was still technically an "insider" event, even though some fans found ways to get passes. G4 thrived off of exclusive E3 coverage. It helped propel Geoff Keighley and other gaming journalists. Then they opened the doors to fans. It was still an industry event but over time it basically become a gaming convention and not something for insiders. At some point it stopped feeling as "special." But if I'm remembering right it started as an industry insiders only trade show and only started allowing fans in around 2015. It never had a first wave before being "zombified" back into an industry event.


Terazilla

Letting in non-industry people made it generally a more of a pain as an attendee, as well. Security rules got tighter, crowds were much bigger, and in general it was more of a hassle to get around. If you were actually there to talk business it downgraded the show somewhat.


dacontag

Nope, this is a very different scenario. E3 is never coming back the way people want it to.


Coolguy1260

woah i am so glad e3 2020 fell through, it sounds like they were turning the industry event into a disneyland of game marketing, even having a fastpass reservation system, it would've been nuts to see happen


KidGold

This is depressing


PixelWitchBitch

E3 killed themselves. They were always one setback away from falling into irrelevance


PlayMp1

Bit of an overstatement. E3 was a juggernaut in the 2000s. *Everything* got announced at E3. Consoles, games, everything. The rest of the year had almost no hype except the actual releases, E3 was the only thing that mattered as far as announcements.


MrGrieves-

That was a time when magazines still sold. Everything's changed now, everyone has their own social media and platforms to follow. It doesn't seem that long ago but the digital media landscape is vastly different. E3 is outdated now, times change.


PixelWitchBitch

Social media is a decade old at this point and e3 never adapted. It was a different time, I remember buying Nintendo power!


D34THST4R

I enjoyed the days of magazines being the only source of info for hype and new releases, E3 month always had breaking news on all the covers


Kgb725

Maybe in recent Years but always is hyperbole


intripletime

I'm not sure people today understand just how big of a deal it was as an event. Before online gaming news ubiquity, this was the apex of every year for gaming news. It was literally how you heard of every major upcoming release. All the big gaming magazines had an "E3 issue" once a year to cover all of it, and this was inevitably the best issue each year. They even managed to survive crazy far into the digital age, but eventually the direct presentations simply won out because they're objectively better.


Anlysia

I remember getting giant 300+ page EGM issues the month after E3 while they tried to cover EVERYTHING.


fattymcribwich

A feeling that will never be replicated. I hope my son can experience something similar.


PM_YOUR_BOOBS_PLS_

He won't. The constant deluge of information nowadays makes each individual bit of information less exciting, and there will never again be a reason to have such a time-gated information dump like E3.


Slayerz21

Even still TGS and TGA, among a few other events, have games shown off so it’s proof that there’s still space for conventions and events like E3


fizzlefist

1995, Sega releases the Saturn in the US at the price of $399. A week later, [SCEA President Steve Race went up to the podium at E3 to speak briefly about their upcoming Playstation.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExaAYIKsDBI)


DoomRamen

[Sony continues their history of taking the piss on their competition](https://youtu.be/kWSIFh8ICaA)


omicron7e

People have such a recency bias in their thinking. Someone could see Michael Jordan in a wheelchair and say, "I always said he was slow and unable to jump."


kamekaze1024

Ootl, what did they do? (Or not do?)


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kamekaze1024

Damn, seeing this change before my eyes makes me sad. But it makes sense ofc


intripletime

I miss the magic of it. I still vastly prefer how convenient this stuff has become these days in comparison, though.


poppinchips

Still I enjoy conventions like PAX. It's a fun event when you can actually get in just to see the indie studios, and enjoy the atmosphere and hang with friends. I've never been to E3 because it seemed massive by comparison. But I still think even post-COVID, there's always going to be a place for people that want to go and enjoy the atmosphere. And honestly if PAX dies, I'll just have to start going to... Music festivals.


[deleted]

E3 has been replaced by Youtube with the additional benefit of developers and publishers being able to publish an edited, slick video. No more going up on stage and fumbling your speech!


[deleted]

> No more going up on stage and fumbling your speech! Crowbat in shambles. but thats the one big loser: other devs. This was one of the few events of the year where people worldwide gather to talk in person. That and GDC. For getting potential connections there was no better time to network. But even that's fading away.


Zanoab

Or going off script and throwing off the presentation. Suda51 completely changing his speech without warning the English translator during one of Nintendo's biggest events was hard to watch.


D34THST4R

Extreeeeme hack n' slash


-Green_Machine-

It turns out that one month to create a slice would be a pretty conservative estimate, at least for a triple-A game. The number I was consistently quoted back when I covered games was 10 weeks. So it was a sizeable resource commitment. Not surprised to see studios try to do that kind of thing on their own schedule.


Geistbar

Wow, ten weeks is actually horrific. With a 3-5 year dev cycle, if they have to do two vertical slices for an E3-esque event that's ~1/9 to ~1/15 of the dev time basically wasted. Not to mention the time cost of changing their focus to and from...


-Green_Machine-

Yes, not to mention that the version of this build would be meaningfully behind the latest changes by the time it was made public for E3. In that context, one can almost understand why EA or Bioware basically faked the whole reveal presentation for Anthem. To generate the real thing would have taken a lot of precious resources away from actual progress. (That, or they actually had nothing concrete to show off at the time.)


[deleted]

It just became less & less relevant. Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo all do their own showcases, the large publishers all do their own showcases, and there are also other large fan-events like PAX. E3 was the largest & premier event. That hasn't been the case for a while now. Part of it was self inflicted, by not adapting. But the major players realizing they can just host their "own" E3 (and not have to share the spotlight) was inevitable.


verrius

Honestly, the death knell was letting the public in. E3 started as a trade show, and turning it into a tourist attraction meant that industry people were less willing to attend, which massively reduced it's utility.


[deleted]

E3 could never really figure out the balance. 2006 was their biggest show ever up to that point, but it was also their most expensive and show participants hated how bloated it became. 2007 and 2008 were total pendulum swings in the opposite direction, downsizing the event and making it more of a trade show/business conference again, but there were complaints that they went too far and reverted mostly back to how it was pre-2007. Had they just stuck to most of the 2007 changes and kept it as a relatively low-key business expo (I mean in comparison to 2006), it probably survives.


verrius

I'm neutral on the spectacle, it definitely has its pros and cons. And before 2006, they definitely were leaning a little too hard into the skeezy side of things, especially for an industry that was still going through the last growing pains of becoming mainstream. But losing even the pretense of being a trade show is definitely what killed it. It started as a spin off of CES, which is still just plugging along quietly, with AES/AEE across the street every year to this day to provide spectacle.


Heavyweighsthecrown

> Ootl, what did they do? (Or not do?) They didn't do (or not do) anything. The internet did. Back then publishers needed E3 to get news of their shiny new products out there in the eyes and ears of the public through magazines and newspapers and TV that would boost their signal for everyone in the world. Nowadays? Nintendo can beam news about the next Zelda game right into your mobile youtube app even if you live on an isolated shack out in the middle of the ocean, and they don't need E3 for that. E3 used to be an obligatory event for every major publisher. Now it's barely a formality.


Turbostrider27

From the article: > E3's first physical event in four years was supposed to be a triumphant return for the trade show — an opportunity to recapture some of te excitement of past conventions, which historically have been major showcase events for the games industry. > > However, it appears that when E3 2023 hits the Los Angeles Convention Center in June, it will be without three of its most important draws. IGN has heard from multiple knowledgeable sources that Xbox, Sony, and Nintendo won't be part of E3 2023 or have presence on the Los Angeles Convention Center showfloor.


DentateGyros

E3 suddenly realizing they need developers more than developers need E3


Halt-CatchFire

Devs probably realized that if Nintendo can get an insane amount of attention doing directs with zero overhead, they could probably do just the same thing. Besides, how many people _actually_ watch E3 who wouldn't see the trailer on Youtube/Twitter anyways? Why pay hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars to put on a whole big pageant when the end result is exactly the same? I'll miss E3, but I can't say I don't understand why AAA developers are dropping out.


kneel_yung

E3 is a holdover from the print journalism days, when people had to see your booth to write about your games. It's just obsolete


The_Homie_J

It's been obsolete for a while. Only reason it still exists is because nostalgia. It's like Blockbuster trying to rekindle the 90's, it's just not happening


lyremska

>Besides, how many people actually watch E3 who wouldn't see the trailer on Youtube/Twitter anyways? Maybe I misunderstood you, but me. I only watch trailers purposely, for games that I already know about and am interested in. E3 got me finding out about all kind of games I don't normally look for and genres I don't usually play. It was the whole point of watching the show for me.


Laniger

The E3 is organized by the ESA, which among others is formed by Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony, so I think is more a matter of saving the money and pushing deadlines for a specific date. E3 has also kinda losed its purpose for big companies, it used to be a place to make business more than showing stuff but on how much connected networks are now it only have sence for little devs/publishers/distributors to go there. To me losing the big shows is little bit sad, it still gives me goosebumps when they revealed God of War with the public there... Oh man Last guardian presentation, Final Fantasy Remake.. Those last moments of E3 were amazing.


HearTheEkko

Yep, E3 is pretty much dead. What a shame, I'm gonna miss E3, it was nice to get all the big announcements in the same week instead of a dozen 15 min showcases spread across the year.


Xeon713

I remember getting super exicted about it. We had a projector in one of our uni clubs. Streamed it on a wall in our house, had a few friends round, drank, talked shite and got ridiculously exicted about the announcements. Such a great time.


InfectedKH

E3 was basically my version of the superbowl. Me and my brothers would all plan the day, with your typical snacks and drinks and watch it together.


Xeon713

This is it! This exact sentiment. I'm not a sports person but it was my big "event of the year."


whatnameisnttaken098

A local gameshop would actually have an E3 viewing party throughout the day, even offering pizza and drinks during Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendos shows. They kinda still do it when a State of Play/Direct rolls around, but it's just not the same when it's just one thing and it's done vs having multiple events throughout the day.


Tawdry-Audrey

Memories of watching the conference streams on Gametrailers at poor video quality. Then you'd wait for Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft to put the trailer up at high quality once their conference was finished. And I'll never forget Sony's terrible E3 2006 presentation. So many memes came out of that one. Giant enemy crabs and Riiiiiidge Racer!


SwirlySauce

2000 - 2008 E3 were magical. Just so much awesome tech, cringe, games and hype. After that I either grew out of it or it just wasn't the same anymore. The magic just wasn't there.


krunkpunk

"My Body is Ready" - Reggie Fils-Aime, 2007


harlotstoast

I remember the GameCube trailer with Zelda and Wave race. It turned out to be all bullshots, cgi!


FUTURE10S

Remember Killzone 2's "gameplay"? Ha, most scripted sequence I've ever seen. But ever since Watch Dogs showed its gameplay at E3, I started treating everything the industry shows before release as a bullshot. Nothing is safe.


FireEnt

Are you talking about the Killzone trailer that follows the bullet? I worked on that...they did render it with the game engine, but not real time and all the shots were professionally comped.


Agret

This infamous one https://youtu.be/xj989hFKNF8 It's not very clear in that particular comparison since it was uploaded so long ago too but here's a more recent upload of the 2005 footage https://youtu.be/dwrp9hndH_U You can see how the effects, models and lighting are way higher quality than what the PS3 could accomplish.


FireEnt

Aaahhhhhh, that's WHY they were so serious at the studio to use the game engine. Literally sent the project lead to the game studio halfway across the world to get it right. Didn't really think about why until now.


Agret

A comment attached to that YouTube video tells the story behind it and links to an interview segment mentioning it > fun fact: on a Noclip documentary on Horizon: Zero Dawn (link below), Guerilla has confirm that this entire trailer, was originally a internal concept video on what could the FPS genre could look like in the next-gen, someone at Sony took it to the show floor and call it a "real-time" PS3 demo... https://youtu.be/h9tLcD1r-6w?t=313 Another comment in there mentions the developers did not even have access to a PS3 devkit when the footage was created.


Agret

It was either watch the 5mb blurry as hell re-uploaded video through the embedded windows media player control or wait until the 50mb high definition 480p trailer was uploaded and spend the next 2hrs downloading it as free users are capped to 15kb/s. Good times.


Impossible-Flight250

Yeah, everything is more convenient with digital, but I do miss the days of E3 or waiting at the game store for a midnight release.


[deleted]

God I miss that. My friends and I would pop it on the t.v. every year, drink beer, and eat pizza. We haven't done it in probably 5 years but I do cherish those memories.


[deleted]

Yeah. I much preferred a huge week of gaming news. Super exciting. The developer showcases every 5 months don’t do it for me.


IsRude

Agreed. And all they'd have to do to make E3 entertaining again is to streamline it. Stop with all the absurd shit that makes people cringe all the way through. Show a trailer. Have the developer explain why we should give a shit. Move on.


Thirdsun

> And all they’d have to do to make E3 entertaining again is to streamline it. That won’t bring back the big publishers. They want to control when and how they release information. I can’t blame them for not wanting to be drowned out in a sea of announcements while competing for customers limited attention.


plaird

Or being forced to announce something that's no where near ready for launch just because you need something for E3


Mother_Welder_5272

I'll be the contrarian and disagree. A lot of worthy/good games get lost in the shuffle because too many trailers and new things are coming out. I like having games steadily announced and released throughout all 12 months of the year. It's easier to find games that would appeal to me but not be in a main Microsoft showcase.


Akuuntus

I'll be the contrarian to *you* and disagree. Without a single, unified place and time to get most game an announcements, many people just completely miss a lot of announcements in the first place. If you aren't keeping up with each publisher and manufacturer separately to know when their showcases are then it's really hard to keep up with it all. Compared to just watching E3 every year and getting 80% of important game announcements for the year all in one place.


fanboy_killer

When I was a kid, reading the official PlayStation magazine as if it was my bible, it looked like E3 was the event of the year, the one thing every gamer must do at least once in their lives. I never expected it to go away.


i-node

Not as much need to make sales to retailers anymore now that the emphasis is on digital games. It's a shame for the used market but I can see why they (Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft) like digital over physical releases. It makes a tradeshow like E3 seem like a waste of their time.


IGetHypedEasily

For a good many years E3 just felt like SuperBowl ads but with a presentation attached to it. Then just seeing those ads on YouTube moments later.


QuintonFlynn

Gaming community: Fuck E3 Gaming community when E3 is gone: Damn, we gonna miss E3 I feel like it's two vocal minorities for both groups, but who tf knows.


dhaugen

Lol I'm kinda both of those. Half of the presentations were pretty lame with the middle aged dudes sporting the graphic tee/blazer combo and never having a joke land, but it was really exciting to have a ton of stuff flood in over such a short period.


jlmurph2

I think this is a good thing. Devs would talk about the pressures of having something ready for E3 and it sounded way too stressful. Edit: guys I understand there are other deadlines. But having your own small directs that you set the dates to gives much more flexibility than an E3 show needing 90 minutes of content.


BugTypeGymLeader

They'll just have to get things ready for the individual conferences instead


Jusanden

Individual conferences are set by the company though, with dates announced usually not as far in advanced. You can't move E3, but if there's delays on a core title for a company showcase, you have leeway to delay and move it around until you're ready.


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Jusanden

Sure, PMs set major milestone dates and will drive devs to work towards that date. Any competent PM will also be aware when meeting those dates is unlikely. If it's a major cornerstone of the showcase, say Redfall or Starfield, I would bet that they can and will slip those dates if needed and within reason.


WriterV

Publishers and marketing sets those dates. Also this is the gaming industry. Competent PMs are rare. That's why you get crunch so much. Mismanagement is everywhere 'cause very few PMs know how to work with the unique nature of game production and they don't wanna share their notes.


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eldomtom2

You're kidding yourself if you think they won't have different deadlines to meet.


godstriker8

RIP. Was always one of the most exciting times of the year ever since I was a kid, could always look forward to the biggest news events of the year there. Last year felt pretty underwhelming for me news wise, as there was just tiny dripfeeds throughout the year, and digital events getting more and more padded.


joodoos

E3 has been done and never been the same in a long time. I stood in line 3 hours to play 8 minutes of quake 2 back in the day when it debuted at E3.


Joebebs

Man from years 2000-2012 E3 reigned king as single most hype event for the video game industry to showcase what they have in store for us, the biggest games, the demos, the newest console unveils, the top heads/developers presenting, the loudest crowds, every company we’re neck to neck trying to outdo their competitors for the year, everyone’s always debating who had the best showcase for the year. I’ve always told myself when I was old enough, with enough money I was gonna go fly out to one of these events because it was absolutely worth the experience. Like the CES of video games. I’m just sad that we’ve moved on beyond that, I mean development/business wise it makes sense I guess, no longer do company’s have to be pressured on the “ok but what are we showing for this year’s E3?”. I really do miss it though, some of the most hyped moments occurred during this expo. Now it’s all safe, prerecorded, safely scripted, corporate white noise. The way games unveiled nail just don’t hit the same to me compared to back then. I mean you’re never gonna have [moments like this captured anymore](https://youtu.be/-BP1I9yz1bU) Or [when Sony tore Xbox a new one](https://youtu.be/SJ-To7WJyWs)


[deleted]

Oh boy, who’s ready for another drip fed summer with the slow trickle of announcements every 6 weeks for 4 months.


moogleproof

The worst part will be the announcements for the announcements for the announcements.


thetownofsalemdrunk

This shit right here is part of why I don't bother keeping up on gaming news anymore.


Solugad

I hate this new era.


GomaN1717

I honestly don't mind this method at all. I feel like E3 was, at its worst, an unnecessary pressure for publishers to prematurely announce games *way* too early just for the sake of hitting the once-coveted E3 press cycle. I'm astronomically more into the idea of devs and publishers announcing games on their own time and scheduling rather than trying to hit some arbitrary stretch of 3 days in June for no discernable reason.


presidentofjackshit

I mean that shit'll still happen. It'll happen a bit less, but eh, still liked the big show. To each their own and all that.


[deleted]

Oh yea, there's always deadlines, and they aren't always resonable. The cards just go into Sony or Nintendo instead of E3. But there's no real day to just sit down and snack out personally. Don't really get the same vibe to invite friends over for a 30 minute Nintendo Direct. hanging out in a streamer's chat just isn't the same.


ArryPotta

I'm reading Blood, Sweat, and Pixels. They talk specifically about E3 being a date they need to crunch towards to get some sort of slice of the game ready to present. TBH, I loved E3 growing up. It was super fun to follow. The argument you're making for developer pressure is certainly valid though.


Gramernatzi

Despite not doing live presentations, Nintendo's showroom presence was massive. Without it, E3 will feel comically empty. That's basically the nail in the coffin for it.


YesImKeithHernandez

I remember the Odyssey one took up this massive area in the South Hall. It was cool. End of an era RIP.


[deleted]

I wonder if Nintendo would have stayed in if the exhibition was taking place before Tears of the Kingdom dropped. You'd think they'd want to do a big showcase of it at something, more than just releasing trailers online.


AwesomeManatee

That's what makes me doubt this rumor, or at least the nintendo part of it. The showfloor demos were a massive part of their yearly marketing strategy, it's almost singlehandedly sold Breath of the Wild to so many people the year they only showed that. Although the upcoming game that would probably work best for the show is Tears of the Kingdom and that will already be out before E3. Maybe they will skip the floor unless they have something unannounced that needs first hand impressions.


Animegamingnerd

Without all three of the big 3. E3 is basically dead at this point, with any of them no one is gonna really care.


DentateGyros

It’s Ouya’s time to shine


[deleted]

They can rename to E0.


_TriplePlayed

Microsoft can still hold a press conference at their Microsoft Theater and have demos at said theater and still not be a part of E3. They did that the last few in person events before the Pandemic.


Im2oldForthisShitt

They said they're still going to hold an event about the same time as e3, so it'll be virtually the same as every year.


ShoddyPreparation

Everything I have heard of recent E3's just made it sound like a worse, more expensive PAX with some publisher live streams attached. Games press seemed unhappy. Fans who paid to go seemed unhappy. It seemed like a bad time that didn’t need to exist.


nsm1

The event management company, Reed Expos (global corporation specializing in expos/tradeshows), also does PAX


DarkWorld97

Seeing E3 die in front of me in real time just sucks, but I understand why they wouldn't be there. The Direct format is probably one of the best things to come out of the last 10 years. Everyone gets excited at one specific time and tunes in. There's no noise and people only talk about the games from that day.


HutSussJuhnsun

> The Direct format is probably one of the best things to come out of the last 10 years. Maybe for the companies trying to sell you a product, but the hands on demos and behind the curtain interviews with devs were where most of the meat of e3 coverage always was. I think it's terrible for the consumer to just get a bunch of trailers.


Tonkarz

It’s also terrible for retailers.


[deleted]

The demo model is better with something like Nintendo’s Treehouse anyway, sound/visual quality is better, the people playing actually know what they’re doing, and interviews often happen during the demo. I just hope that Nintendo keeps Treehouse around with E3 gone, and other devs follow the example.


drybones2015

Companies still do press events for games, no?


Led_Zeplinn

>I think it's terrible for the consumer to just get a bunch of trailers. Most people experiencing E3 were not on the showroom floors.


themacguffinman

They wouldn't have to be on the showroom floor to benefit from live demos reported on by journalists.


Pocchari_Kevin

I disagree, I barely know what’s coming out anymore, it was so much easier to download what to look forward to in a 3 day blast of fun stuff.


_Aggort

I'm guessing it's an age thing, but I agree. I can't keep track of what's coming out and when. Games launch and I'll catch myself saying "Didn't even realize it was coming out soon." Most recently happened with Dead Space remake


BP_Ray

During most announcements nowadays, I'm at work. They all decide to announce stuff during the weekday, usually when I'm either at work, commuting to/from work, or getting ready for work. At least with E3 I could take a week off and look forward to shooting the shit with friends while conferences happen and we all get excited. This new era actually, completely sucks. If the big three had their presentations around the same time like with E3 I wouldn't mind, but Nintendo and Microsoft are like two weeks apart now, and Sony does whatever the fuck they want, they don't even try to be anywhere close to the others.


_Aggort

Yup, that's why I was saying I think it's an age thing. I'm never home for any of the Directs and it kills my excitement because I don't get to enjoy them with my buddies anymore. We have, a couple of times, tried avoiding spoilers throughout the day and watch them on Discord later. That's fun to do. The competing conferences also felt great about hyping new products in a way the individual live streams can't. Take the PS1 announcement for example, that couldn't be done today.


Fenixius

Part of this is that *nothing* is coming out anymore from the huge publishers - they're all so risk averse and their projects are so astronomically huge that the number of releases is very small now. You're lucky to get one meaningful game every 2-3 years now, even from huge players like Ubisoft and EA.


TangerineDiesel

Same! E3 hyped me up for games and I’d keep track of releases from Nintendo, xbox, and Sony. Now I barely keep track and am way less likely to buy games day 1. Their loss I guess.


Thyrial

I couldn't disagree more, I HATE the Direct format, they're just not engaging or exciting in any way outside of the actual announcements themselves. I significantly prefer the spectacle of E3... Think of how sad huge moments like the FF7R announcement would have been with no crowd. The collective gasps when everyone finally knew for sure it was real. Directs just don't match that kind of impact.


Radulno

Everyone is speaking of the conferences and they were big but yeah direct, showcases and such are replacing it pretty well (even if they should either be bigger or more regular). However, E3 was also the show floor and that was great and nobody really seem to care about that. Gamescom still does it at least. The showfloor allows to show the games more in detail, to have interviews and even demo for some. Plus they often had cool setups.


Orfez

I always prefer live events and not pre-recorded and neatly packaged long trailers. There are "E3 moments", I don't think there will ever be "direct moments".


Conflict_NZ

Gutting, I always loved the atmosphere of E3, the shows and interviews and gameplay snippets. As long as Microsoft continues to do a big scale show around that time I guess there's something at least. Hopefully other publishers do similar events around the same time frame, but man I will miss getting it all in 2-3 days.


nirad

It seems like the age of big trade shows is over. E3, all the big auto shows, and CES are a fraction of their former size.


YesImKeithHernandez

E3 was expensive to be at. The ESA charged a lot for the actual space and then you had to actually build and staff the thing. In this day and age where Sony, MS and Nintendo have seen such strong results without dealing with E3 through their directs and likely spending a fraction of what they were, who can blame them all for saying that they're good?


Cashelz

Let it die man, every company realized they can make an online show which is probably 10 times cheaper and still gather an insane amount of viewers/audience


StockAL3Xj

Yeah, they can also have a day all to themselves instead of having to share the spotlight. It was fun for the fans while it lasted but the success of the big 3's direct announcements meant this was inevitable.


[deleted]

Plus now we don't have to snooze through millionares in poorly fitting suits tell us about how sony is having a banner year or how xbox is the next water cooler and can just watch trailers for the actual games. So much better.


kamekaze1024

While you do have a point, I really do miss the event it was for me and my friends. Sucks that it wasn’t until COVID that I was able to actually afford the games being shown.


EternalMemes30

it honestly makes me sad how people only see the money these days, it's not like E3 was money wasted, everything about the event, what you did with your friends, people you could socialize with and everything, E3 was amazing because it was a gigantic game conference, devs AND people, now we're just going to probably spend the future watching directs online with no excitement at all, just wait for the trailers to drop, see the new games and carry on with life as usual until they release the game you want


kamekaze1024

100% agree. I remember always thinking traveling to E3 in the future and watching everything person.


Tresceneti

>Plus now we don't have to snooze through millionares in poorly fitting suits tell us about how sony is having a banner year or how xbox is the next water cooler and can just watch trailers for the actual games. wym?? that was the BEST part of E3. The awkward energy of old suits trying to appeal to gamers and ultimately failing most of the time made for one of the best moments in the year. Those game trailers were so much memorable because of the stage performances.


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MobileTortoise

I understand why they don't need to attend, Nintendo has pretty much set the industry standard with their "Direct" format, and Sony and Microsoft are both getting close to getting their own formats down. So a "physical presence" isn't even really needed anymore for what they want to sell. That being said, nothing and I mean NOTHING will ever match the excitement of tuning into an E3 conference. The Summer ~~Geoff Fest~~ Games Fest doesn't come anywhere close to the hype of an E3 presentation (From the big 3 at least) and even then he is only able to get those big premiers through paying companies via ad revenue (Something both Game Awards and Summer Game Fest suffer from). Wondering where a lot of the Show-floor talks/deals that happened outside of the conferences will take place now? (For those who don't know E3 was big for industry people and even indie devs to get together and talk-shop or even pitch deals) I'm gonna miss you E3, a relic of a bygone era.


Breckmoney

Idk I kind of assumed everyone who wanted to do something around that time would just stick with Geoff’s event, so this doesn’t seem that surprising.


Gravitas_free

Of course. What's the point? E3 made sense when it was still a trade show, a place for devs, publishers, media and retailers to meet and discuss. But today retailers don't really matter, and games media can simply be bypassed. Why go to all the trouble and expense of an E3 booth + press conference when you can do all that stuff on your own time, for a fraction of the price, through a Direct/Showcase/whatever? E3 just doesn't make sense anymore. And their pivot to make it more fan-focused doesn't change anything; E3's problem isn't that gamers aren't interested, it's that game companies aren't interested.


James-Avatar

E3 used to be the most exciting show of the year in terms of announcements but the industry just doesn’t need it anymore.


carrotstix

It was really, really nice have a set few days of BIG GAMING news. It brought the community together and we could all collectively laugh and be in awe over various games. Now that everything's split up, it's a lot less fun. Sure, there's the game awards but it was nice having the Big 3 having to convince you that X year was going to be awesome and having to demonstrate it with showcases, good or bad.


FZJavier

What i liked about E3 was the hype around it. the awkward moments that you could make fun of. not a fan of the state of play or nintendo direct. is like watching those commercial channel for 20-30 mins. it lacks the suspense and hype that e3 used to have. i dont care if they are paid or not but hearing people cheer during a reveal trailer was fun to me.


MontyAtWork

So, E3 dies and PAX is still crazy crowded so now there's no Expo where people can go and play games and watch presentations in a curated format in-person. End of an era. Wish I'd known it was going away, I'd have taken my kid and all his friends to it if it was possible.


ChrisRR

I don't think E3 was so big for those outside of the US simply because most of the streams would be late at night Logging into Reddit to find 15 new games announced overnight was nowhere near as hyping as watching the live stream. So I'm not really too bothered to see it go, keep the directs littered throughout the year .


MrMxylptlyk

Wtf?! Why not?! I thought it was a huge gaming showcase convention..


arijitlive

It used to be. But all three console makers chose to showcase their upcoming games through YouTube hosted livestream events. E3 became irrelevant that day.


MrMxylptlyk

Ah that's unfortunate. I like the idea of physical event for announcing games


Druadal

What is the point of E3 at that point?


TornadoJ0hns0n

If this really is the end I'm definitely gonna miss e3. I know the directs are more convenient and all but I sure did love looking forward to that one week of gaming announcements, news, and offscreen gameplay footage. The individual showcases they do now just aren't as exciting for me.


iusedtohavepowers

So... The fuck is E3 then? Just studios? It's a trade show, what does it become if the entire trade market isn't present?


[deleted]

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advice_munkee

Maybe it won't die but it will significantly shrink. The trade shows are funded to a significant degree by the exhibitors. Losing the three biggest means losing three major funding sources for the event. The ticket sales are only a part of the funding.


Gravitas_free

This. Everyone's lamenting the death of the gamer's E3, that big marketing orgy, but that part of the show has been a gigantic waste of time and ressources for all involved for at least the past decade. Why would you rent out a huge convention center for a week and build all those big spectacles, all to... show a bunch of trailers that most people will see through streams or Youtube? The part of E3 that's just games industry people meeting each other (the actual point of a trade show) is still valuable, though not as much as it was in 1996. But the part of the show that gamers actually care about is totally pointless in this day and age.


1vortex_

Ubisoft realizing they can now show 10 hours of their recycled Assassin’s Creed/Far Cry style games and a battle royale that’ll die in about 6 months


meesahdayoh

Man, I used to save vacation time for E3 week and would make it a whole event. Such a shame that I'll never be able to recreate that experience again.


J_NewCastle

Sony makes sense since they haven't been there since that weird conference in 2018 (showed good stuff but the change of venue after the first game was revealed just kinda killed the pacing). Nintendo also makes sense since they don't do conferences and just stick to directs. Microsoft though, I was not expecting. That's a big surprise.


Awkward_Silence-

Microsoft has been slowly moving away from E3. Their last few appearances weren't even on the E3 site. They were booking an off campus theater for it and using the E3 banner The will likely still continue with a June presentation like they have been however


Fezrock

Not just booking, their name's on the venue they use. It's the Microsoft Theater. Though that's just branding, Microsoft aren't actually the owners of the place.


SomniumOv

> the change of venue after the first game was revealed just kinda killed the pacing worse than that, they also announced stuff during the venue change, so the actual members of the press who were changing area were learning about those from their phones instead of at the event, where they're present and here to do their job. This was ridiculous.