E3 2022 Cancelled; Do You Think E3 Is Finished?

[Moonface]

With the unsurprising news that the ESA has cancelled any form of E3 2022, and after E3 as a brand was an afterthought for all of last years presentations as they were all digital and practically independent of the ESA, do you think there's any future left for E3 now? The ESA seems adamant that the event will return with an overhaul for next year, but I feel like they've been pushing the whole revamp angle for the last few E3's now and have yet to do anything but a bad job with it.

If you do think E3 is completely finished, is there anything about the event itself you'll miss or hope gets translated over into the independent shows the publishers will likely host?

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For me, E3 almost had a chance to be a necessary thing after the debacle of summer 2020 and the turnaround that summer 2021 saw when it came to organizing all the big publishers into a decent schedule. However, that's really all it continued to serve as a purpose. If the publishers can still organize their events into a single week in the summer, then there's not much left for E3 to provide.

I guess we'll see how it goes this summer since the ESA aren't going to be doing anything, so everything falls onto another party or the publishers themselves to organize "E3 week". If it can be done without the ESA being part of it at all, I don't see why any publisher would bother to continue attending E3 itself. At least half the companies who do host conferences already do it independently of E3 and the ESA (or not at all in Sony's case) and it worked for them, and the remaining ones have definitely already seen it works too.

The only thing E3 provided that I miss is live audiences, but if certain companies like Microsoft decide to host their own live events during "E3 week" then that problem is resolved for me. I wish Nintendo still had a live audience for their big announcements but that's never happening again even if E3 and the ESA continue to exist for the next decade.

[ShiraNoMai]

I do think the era of E3 is done; they claim they'll come back next year with an overhaul next year but honestly, it won't be branded E3 anymore I don't think.

F in the chat for the end of an era. It went out in flames but ya know, when it was still bright and exuberant, it was enjoyable.

[Mr EliteL]

Well, surprise surprise. I'm not at all. I agree, E3 was become less and less of what it was overtime, after Nintendo set off to do it's own Direct approach was the beginning of the end, perhaps a bit before that even, then 2020 happened and that was the last nail coffin. The lack of an audience is so evident and makes watching alone almost dull, at least you can get hype with them. Remember feeling less motivated last year, true E3 returning after '20 was good and all but just their own streams and no atmosphere felt like a chore to watch. So in a way I'm OK with no '22 E3, an organised week for developers to get something out would be fine. I'll still have the same feeling though, but that's only me so that don't matter.

[Karo]

I personally feel like it finished because at this point you can really announce a game at any time and with everything being online you can also download gaming demos so at this point I'm not really sure what purpose E3 really serves beside just giving us that old tradition?

[Kyng]

Well, it definitely seems to be going downhill - with most of the big names hosting their own events instead. I guess it still has the potential to come back (if nothing else, it has the name recognition) - but, I'm not sure how that would happen.

I'd give it another year or two before we can say for certain that it's dead - but, it's not looking good.

[Dragon Lord]

E3 was dead long ago. Everything noteworthy gets leaked a week or two ahead of E3.

I guess E3 could still be good for developers who want to announce something 5-7 years before its even close to being released. *coughSquareEnixcough*

[Moonface]

I guess E3 could still be good for developers who want to announce something 5-7 years before its even close to being released. *coughSquareEnixcough*

It's funny reading this when SE announced a new Tomb Raider today but have literally nothing else to say about it other than it's happening.

I do wish the super far-out announcements didn't happen though. When it's maybe for big demand stuff like a new Elder Scrolls or KH3, I can kinda get why you'd tell people really early it's happening just so people shut up about it, but stuff like Starfield could've been kept quiet until there's more to show off and a more solid and closer release window for it.
Unfortunately whether E3 the entity continues or not, I don't think these far-off release date announcements will go away because they probably get done to drum up hype and interest in a new game which pleases and attracts investors and stuff.

[WR91]

With the recent announcement that E3 is coming back next year I guess myself and others were incorrect but I still believe that E3 should have stayed gone and just let Summer Games Fest and the individual companies release their gaming news online.

[Moonface]

With the recent announcement that E3 is coming back next year I guess myself and others were incorrect but I still believe that E3 should have stayed gone and just let Summer Games Fest and the individual companies release their gaming news online.

E3 as an outlet for conferences going away for good wouldn't be bad, but as I said in the thread about ReedPop taking over E3 I think the show floor aspect still needs to remain because of how useful it is to the industry. Not having a collective space for the industry to showcase their stuff and interact probably wouldn't be good.