E3 suffers final death

 For real this time

When last we spoke of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, we were already sizing it up for the event's Mahgony lid coffin. Because what else are you going to do when all of the major developers either pull out or set themselves up with convenient E3 alternatives on the off-chance that you pull out? Covid changed a lot of the power dynamics of live event shows, and reminded the world of gaming that most all of it's audience live exclusively on the Internet: which therefore makes it the place to be if you want to reach and appeal directly to that style of person. What is the point of spending thousands renting out a booth crammed with others where you have to fight and vie for attention when you can take that time for yourself, only show off exactly the content that your studio is ready to show and save those marketing dollars for a trip to Vancouver or something. The point is that the ESA won't be hoovering up money for doing nothing more than renting out the convention centre that they themselves rented.

And you know what; couldn't have happened to a more decrepit and internally corrupt group of suits- and I mean that. For a board that was originally designed to help protect the industry during the rise of government scrutiny after the violence of Mortal Kombat, the ESA has grown depressingly partisan and fangless over the past decades. I'm not even talking about the accepting of various high level game studio executives into their ranks, because I understand the need to have relevant professionals to keep the discourse feeling relevant and up-to-date: I take issue more with the idea that ESA are somehow above the law and thus don't have to impart the same diligence to protecting it's consumers if it might hurt their bottom line. Who remembers their absolute refusal to stick to their own guns by labelling EA games that preyed on the addictive properties of psychological manipulation to make their FIFA money? Preying on a game that is categorised as playable for children, yet cranking down on Pokémon for having a fictional, virtual, casino depicted in game. Guess Gamefreak should have paid more bribe money, eh?

For a time the literal only thing that the ESA could do right was put together the E3 showcase, and that was largely because they didn't have to do much of anything but organise an itinerary and send out invitations. For the most part it was Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and whomever else was big enough to secure their own showcase, deciding on how to set-up their show, who to invite and where best to position themselves within the rented space. The only time the ESA decided it was within their prerogative to get involved was during the aftermath of the Cyberpunk announcement, where it was apparently their 'brilliant' idea to reach out to traditional world celebrities to host after the success of Keanu Reeves' surprise appearance. Unfortunately that was an inkling which lived on in Geoff Keighley- resulting in the Game Awards with Al Pacino. I mean I love Pacino's movies and all, but really?

But everything changed when the Covid nation attacked. That initial sweeping wave was far too sudden in the year for the ESA to react. The very concept of 'remote shows' was still looked on as a low-rent cost saving measure back then, not fit for the pretentious snobs who thought themselves irreplaceable in an industry that ran totally without them. The Game Awards had far less problems moving to the virtual space, which is how Geoff managed to neatly steal the crown of 'gaming event of the year' from the ESA due to their lethargy. When the ESA finally did manage to throw a show together, it was largely a disappointment probably best summed up by Randy Pitchford's appearance for his Gearbox showcase. You remember, the one which recycled footage that had already been revealed the previous month and existed simply to showcase Randy touring the Borderlands movie set squealing like a school girl at things he wasn't allowed to show the camera. Prime time E3, everybody!

We have the summer games fest to fill the void, a festival which actually manages to sync up to the gamers around the world in a very real way thanks to Steam integration, providing demos and early looks that anyone with a Steam account can play free of charge, which is of course something that E3 was never able to do. You see, E3 was very much a holdover from the old world of conventions, where the biggest interaction that the consumer could expect with the creators were in ESA's formal presentation standard. Now we have social media routes, and official Youtube channels and Twitter threads and Steam blogs and personal online event shows, and everything that the industry needed to totally blow past E3 and appeal directly to the people who love their games. The success story of titles like Vampire Survivors, Valhiem and other E3 absent games are proof that the grass routes can sometimes be all that you need.

The ESA, on the otherhand, were mere weeks away from the event before they had to cancel it, meaning that the LA convention centre was already booked in their name and it probably cost exorbitant fees for cancellation. But probably not as much as they were set to lose after literally everyone bailed on them, including the company so pitifully bad with it's business decisions that they've gone full Crypto of late. (Never go full crypto.) Of course, this decentralisation of the 'show' format is going to have the knock on effect of further segmenting and isolating fandoms of certain companies- (I can never figure out when those Playstation events are happening until the night after) but the relative release of load on the brunt of the actual studios making these games is probably better for the health of everyone.

As a culture we had begun to get sick of all those times when a company with nothing to show for an upcoming title has been forced to scramble about and haphazardly stick something together that they know is going to be a disappointment but they have no choice because E3 is a deadline that cannot be moved. Show everyone a pretty CG cutscene that you hired an external studio to put together and hope that keeps the wolves at bay and busy whilst the real work goes on frantically behind the scenes. Or maybe even cut out some time from real development to work on a vertical slice that is going to be pulled apart and dissected by a public audience as though they're a gladiatorial retinue deciding the fate of the game. Along the way, maybe you'll do a Ubisoft and create a slice of game far beyond what you've already made and probably beyond what you're even capable of achieving on current hardware- still, you'll have won over the ravenous crowd for today; and that's good enough, right?

I already buried E3 in my heart back when it was delayed following Covid, because we all knew the direction it was going. When Microsoft and Sony pulled out of the 2023 event, it was without a batted eyelash that we all just accepted the news, because of course they did- who even knew it was still happening? It's honestly quite galling that the ESA waited for so long to pull the plug on every one else, as though Ubisoft were the only glue holding the event together. "Oh no, it can't possibly be a successful show without the obligatory too-long 'Just Dance' showcase that Ubisoft always pulls! Guess we're going to have to cancel it..." I don't feel sorry, and I don't like the ESA so I don't feel bad. I actually look forward to reading about E3 as the historical footnote is should have been 8-10 years ago. Good riddance.