E3 Canceled — It’s as we should have expected…
The Electronic Entertainment Expo, more commonly known as E3 has been around since 1995 — a year before I was born — and early sources are claiming that the event is being canceled due a history of lowering attendance.
The news comes as no surprise to me, though it is still quite saddening.
For years, E3 has been like the old pet you know is on its last leg of life, but refuse to put down due sentimentality. It’s not that it wasn’t loved — it was loved too much. Just like a geriatric pet, even though it was loved, there are, ultimately, new distractions that come to take its place, and that is why E3 is dying the way that it is.
“But what is this distraction?” you may ask. The answer is simple — it’s been around for years now — streamed digital events.
This is by no means a diss towards digital events being streamed directly to consumers. As a matter of fact, I fall HARD within the “I’ll watch it streamed to my TV and play the demo once the stream is over, all from the comfort of home” category. I’ve never actually attended E3 in person — all my interactions with the event have been digital — though not for lack of want.
It’s just easier to have the information directly streamed to me. For example, I “Oooooed” and “Ahhhhed” during the last Nintendo Direct relating to Animal Crossing New Horizons while lying in bed. When the Game Awards were happening — and I was watching Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 get announced, — I was sitting on my parents’ couch drinking tea while.
And what’s more, the process is easier for the main game producers to do everything digitally as well. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony no longer need a large event hosted by some middle man to distribute information — they can do it all on their own, and have been for the last few years now.
That’s why this news comes as no surprise. The event has been dying for years. With its primary reason for hosting companies gone, due to those companies either going fully digital or hosting their own events at nearby venues, what do you expect?
However, at the same time, the news makes me upset.
Because when you think about it, events such as these are rare. Even as someone who participated only from a digital perspective, E3 was a week-long version of the Olympics for the gaming industry. The competition between the brands pushed developers to be better, make larger games with better narratives, better character design, and reimagined gameplay design.
Sure, I watched from my couch, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t engaged. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the next big things — waiting for the next new title to be revealed — cheering when Ori and the Will of the Wisps was revealed, and staring slack-jawed when Destiny 2 Forsaken's trailer revealed Cayde-6 being killed.
I guess what I’m getting at is that the spirit of E3 was more than just game announcements at a venue. There was comradery — and sure, definitely some toxic competition between platforms — but still a celebration for all these things we as gamers love. Because even if we don’t want to admit it, I think we even enjoyed the cringy moments.
I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this way, and I don’t believe this will be a permanent end to E3. More than likely, I see this year’s cancelation is probably, in part, due to the rise of Covid-19, more commonly known as the coronavirus.
That said, be it due to sickness or not, I believe that in the coming months and years, digital events and presentations will continue to take priority in regards to the game industry. However, just as a pendulum swings to one extreme, it will ultimately swing back the other, and I believe there will be a resurgence of gamers and tech enthusiasts ready to attend events such as E3 in person—this time larger than before.
