It's Official, E3 2023 Has Been Cancelled

Well yeah, with the three biggies out, kind of an obvious conclusion. I doubt it'll ever happen like it used to.

Have such wonderful memories of E3 back in the day.
The suspension, excitement and revealing of consoles and games.
The cheers and gasps of the crowd the euphoria.
RIP E3 I shall miss the old days shared with you.

Unfortunate, but expected. I'd be surprised if we ever got an E3 again for that matter. Unless they manage to find a format that works in the present day better.

This was inevitable at this point. For me, I found E3 to be really convenient and fun. I don't have time or maybe not even the interest to necessarily watch a bunch of individual streams for each company scattered throughout the year. So E3 was a way to stay informed about the major games from companies I don't necessarily follow that closely and get a big picture snapshot of what's going on in the industry this year. I don't see anything at this point that can replace that, so I don't know I may miss some things from now on. But this has been coming for a while now. And for a lot of people it won't even be a big difference - all the separate streams work fine for them.

Hope this doesn’t lead to a video game industry crash like 40 years ago.

Not surprised by this news.

Hahahaha, yeah E3 at this point is completely obsolete. There’s no need for it, and the past couple have been terrible anyway. Can’t say I won’t completely miss it cause it was still an event to look forward to, but I think the industry as a whole is moving past it.

@sd7232 Not the same that doesn't compare.

@sd7232 video games are a completely different beast with a completely different place in the society and culture as compared to 40 years ago. The "crash" (which, for all its intimidating name, was relatively localized and short-lived in practice) has no more odds of reprisal than it does for happening to other Fiction media.

@sd7232 No reason to believe this will cause a crash. E3 is an obsolete format now that publishers can livestream news whenever they feel like. Be real, why do we care about Nintendo showing up at E3 when they can air a Nintendo Direct at any time of the year?

Maybe next year. I think maybe I am wrong. Nintendo, Microsoft, Ubisoft and the others they do not have very good games to show on the E3 this year. To show it on the E3 you must have a level to show it on the E3.

cancel it for good the world has changed since covid ...

No point acting all surprised about it, E3's been on a decline in relevance for a while now

not relevant anymore

This has been a slow decline starting long before covid forced the world to adapt. There are plenty of other shows devs can hobnob in person, the media and fans can get all they need from said shows and fully online "Direct" showcases. E3 is going to stay dead if they don't think of a good reason to justify it's presence besides being another show.

Imagine if your job title was "Global VP of Gaming". What a chad

But we still get a summer direct. It's rubbish E3 isn't what it was but honestly wouldn't want it to be the "YouTubers" event that it's been aiming for.

E0

@Dev9417 Yeah, I'm not getting my hopes for for a Direct until September at the earliest.

Well, that's sad. E3 is officially dead.

When I was in the game industry, I heard from all the larger rep firms how they hated E3. It was so ridiculously expensive. The floor space was bad, but then you were almost contractually committed to a massive display set piece on top of just having the space. The logistics were always a nightmare too. It was tied to an era, and it served that era. Times have changed, and PAX and other events are more relevant now; not to mention so much of what can be done with a Direct style showcase. That social media in general. Even smaller studios and publishers don't need the event as much thanks to social media platforms, as well as being included in larger publisher's support for indie.

Yup, figured this was gonna happen. Not that I'm really bothered by it considering that we normally get showered with gaming news during the summer anyway.

@sd7232 If another, and hopefully greater, video game crash happens, I hope it's because of practices such as lotboxes, microtransactions and battle passes in full price games.

As for E3 being cancelled this year, am I supposed to be surprised?

This is unfortunate but also very much expected. Too many big name companies decided they didn't want to have a booth this year. What I am curious about, is if an E3 showcase will be announced at all next year. Judging by the rapid trends over the last few years, it is seeming doubtful, unless some of the major companies have big name games that they want to show off on a grander stage.

I figured this was going to happen. Once Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo all announced they weren't going to show up, it was only a matter of time before everyone else pulled out.

You just can't have E3 without the Big Three (as in, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft). The whole show is basically geared around the latest games coming to their systems.

If they don't show up, there's no point for anyone else to show up, either. That's why we've been seeing this exodus of third-party developers pulling out as well.

I can only hope that next year will be different, but the way things are going, E3 2021 may be the last E3 to ever be held. We may never get E3 again.

If that's the case, then Rest In Peace, Electronic Entertainment Expo. In the immortal words of the venerable Douglas Adams, "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

Yep. I knew this cancelation was inevitable. Companies are just dropping out of it in droves.

I have fond memories of Nintendo at E3, especially during the Wii era. But I always watched online so the the Nintendo Direct videos kind of make up for it. Just wish we could have had the same demos as on the show floor on our consoles.

"We appreciate and understand that interested companies wouldn’t have playable demos ready and that resourcing challenges made being at E3 this summer an obstacle they couldn’t overcome."
They're seriously out here trying to pin the blame on the publishers.

Very sad imho.. We will never see another reaction like that of The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess unveil in 2004. This is and always will be the single greatest authentic reaction of pure elation from real fans who weren't afraid to just burst into tears of joy!! This video gets me every time!!

Not surprised, a lot of companies weren’t going to attend unfortunately.

I use to love E3. Over the past 5-7 years though it’s been a real meh event compared to others and Directs. Granted the pandemic really put the nail in the coffin, but I honestly never expected it to make a comeback before the pandemic. The last big E3 was overshadowed by Bethesda’s own event across the street, and that was a far better/more entertaining event!

At this point I’m not really sad to see it go, because I mourned it’s loss years ago when it faded into a minor show multiple years in a row.

I think the first time it suffered was when it restricted its in-person audience from 100k down to 20-30k journalists only. Granted that was probably necessary, but, that’s also when I saw the devs/publishers scale back their spaces, designs, kiosks, and such. RIP Booth Babes, you are missed.

Alright, I think I'm finally ready to let E3 go. Seeing them keep dragging it out of the grave just to throw it back in is too depressing.

sadly 2023 will mark the end of E3

@sd7232 “40 years ago”

40 years ago was 1983, that’s before Apple’s famous 1984 Mac commercial when people started buying home computers, so even before AOL and dial-up modems when phones were wired into people’s houses and cable tv was just getting started with CNN in 1980 and The Weather Channel in 1982. So 40 years ago is before all internet, websites and social media. So we basically had to rely on paper magazines once a month, almost all of which from 40 years ago are now deceased. As is E3, perhaps for the last time.

Congrats on only being here for a month and getting half a dozen replies on 1 comment though.👍

It's just the right thing to do, with covid and all that. Conventions and such are gonna be heading the way of the dodo, unfortunately.

No surprises here, I guess it's just time to move on. Go enjoy a PAX event instead!

@sd7232 You're pretty forward thinking, so I understand what you're saying. I think on that often, wondering how the VG industry can even sustain itself at this point.

Trade shows are still a thing and they aren't going away anytime soon. GDC, PAX, CES, Comic Con, all still very much alive and events that gaming companies attend. So the whole "COVID changed everything" narrative is in the past. Most people have "moved on" from it (despite the fact it's still a thing, but ya know...)

It's just this one is too expensive, in an inconvenient location, and mostly announcements that are much easier to do for a lot less money via streaming.

Yeah no **** lol rest in pepperoni 🍕

I'm glad it's dead. I'd rather companies release trailers or make announcements when they're ready instead of waiting for E3. It's also better for companies to not have to feel the need to prematurely announce something too, just so they would have a presence at the show.

I also hated wading through tons and tons of news articles during and after E3 just to find information on games I actually care about. Some games would get straight up buried and over shadowed by others too, and you might not even notice something was announced until a week later.

@sd7232 Not sure if a crash is going to happen, but it feels like the video game industry is heading for a "correction." The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S have been overall disappointing, despite a few good games, and the audience for online free to play games is starting to crater. eSports is realizing that the audience for people to watch others play video games isn't as large as they might have thought. More and more, studios release a handful of AAA titles over the years, with many of them not landing with players. Consolidation, such as the Microsoft acquisition of Activision/Blizzard, which WILL happen, don't kid yourselves, only continues to stifle creativity, choice and variety.

I'm still enjoying the hobby, but I do see all the red flags as well.

@Dm9982 Nothing screams pre 2015 trade shows than "booth babes." Amazed at how long that was a part of the trade show experience before #metoo put that concept to bed.

And with that, we are one step closer to the Wall-E generation

It was nice to view E3 , a week of all releases and news, even with the directs and streams. I loved all the coverage of the show floor and the goodies on sale. And i was only watching via youtube or Twitch. I was hoping that Reedpop was organising it that it would be a stellar show. shame if you ask me. But then I used to go to all the Computer and Video game shows in the UK back in the 80's , they where so much fun. I once traveled ages to go to a Atari show , which tunred out to be the size of a peanut. But it was still a good time. I love the BUZZ!

Sad. Used to really look forward to E3 each year. There were always some really great surprises and reveals. I like Directs and things like that, but nothing compares to E3 in it's heyday.

E3 had been dying for years now, so I'm not surprised. The world and the industry have moved on from this event. Not sure if it's for the best, but it is what it is.

The only news about E3 I ever hear about is that it's dying or not happening. I have vague recollections of news I read being sourced from E3 but other than that it's really non-existent to me.

@Dm9982 almost forgot about booth babes. The early 2000s, what a time to be alive.

Never really been super fond of E3 to start with, but any relevance it did have died a long time ago.

E3 was one of a kind when it started. Now, there's no shortage of better alternatives. The writing was on the wall before the pandemic started. That only hastened the realization that the industry had bypassed E3's necessity.

@FredsBodyDouble @kingbk Lol, yeah I’m indeed showing my age there. Pretty sure I’ve seen every E3 since it started. The 2000-2010 era was much more exciting for e3 just because the companies wanted to put on grand displays, full send it! It def started winding down around 2013-2014, and the shows became much less fantastical events. For performances, and announcements the VGAs started to more interesting, however those are plagued by the filler of the awards. 😂😂

Once Nintendo started doing Directs, and other companies started doing livestreams, I knew E3 was on its way out. Sadly it just couldn’t compete with that stuff plus the other expos of the year - GDC, Pax, Tokyo, etc…. It’ll be missed, but it already was missed long ago.

Not sure why they couldn't just turn the event into an indie or third party expo event. Sure the big three and some other big names won't be there but there's still more to gaming than just Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Valve now. Capcom, EverCade, Limited Run Games, Strictly Limited Games, Intellivision Amico, Razer, Tencent, Atari, Bandai Namco, Konami, Level-5, Square Enix, From Software, Activision, etc., these guys will still be there so why cancelled it when there's still room for the small guys?

I was waiting for this to happen, considering all of the big devs skipping it this year. I don't really mind as long as Nintendo still has an annual Direct around June. And it was not like I'd ever be able to attend the event in person anyway.

Nothing of value has been lost.

Times change, and I get that. Still, it’s a sad end to an era.

@Serpenterror a few of those could host their own shows/directs, and reach a much broader audience for way cheaper than attending E3. Limited Run, Capcom, Konami, Square, Bandai, Level-5 and FromSoft could easily do it. Any indie company would benefit more from gathering with other indies and doing their own collective Direct style show as seen in the past. Unfortunately E3 just doesn’t garner the attention it once did, largely because of lack of showing. So the cost of attending and showing off doesn’t typically get offset by increased sales. This applies triple or more if the big companies won’t attend, a lot less viewership then. And this has been a repeating cycle since about 2015/16…. Big devs come, don’t gain much, reduce their presence the following year or bail completely.

E3 has honestly felt like a sinking ship for years, and people keep trying to bail out the water, but nothing is patching the leak so it’s an endless cycle.

Without going full send again like they use to, it’s not going to get the attention it needs. And I highly doubt any companies are going to stand up and do the full send without some sort of insurance that they’ll gain back all the money they invest into attending the show.

As an old saying goes, “Times, they are a changing…” or in FromSoft translation, “Adapt or perish.”

Edit - Meant to add I’d be all for an indie expo in replacement of traditional E3. I buy more Indies than retail (and than I should! 😂). They should do that, and bring back the grandeur of it. That could truly be the reboot it needs.

Not a surprise, sadly. I'll miss what it was, but not what it had become.

I mean it makes sense this type of press announcement is a huge expenditure for companies and other shows such as PAX still thrive for indies to get their games out. But it still will be missed because old E3 shows are the most unintentionally hilarious things ever. RIP.

Definitely a sad day. I miss the old days of E3 where the big 3 all took the main stage. It was like Christmas for us gamers.

It probably looks like that at this point, Summer Game Fest will effectively replace E3.

@sd7232 Why would it?

@Dev9417
It is pretty crazy to think that Nintendo opting to go with a “digital presentation” with an E3 Direct back in 2013 essentially killed E3 a decade later. They had the foresight for sure. It’s another industry innovation of Nintendo’s as it evolved how companies communicated with media and gamers. I will miss E3 as it was like a massive poker table where the Big 3 and Devs would sit down and show their hands so to speak. It was the biggest public celebration of video games for some time so that annual gathering of nerds will be missed 😆. Just a matter of time before E3:The Documentary is released tho. Gotta wonder what Reggie’s body will be ready for now?

@Rainz
Yep, the one time Ninty got the internet right.

@k8sMum

Fact! 😂

@Dev9417 Well they have the tree house direct in the Summer during E3 time.

@kingbk I feel the exact same way. That's why in 2021 I got into visual novels and sold my Playstation stuff for a Switch OLED since all the story heavy, weeb-centric games are on it or PC, lol. Also love my old school FPS's which there's plenty of those on the Switch as well.

@MSaturn I share your exact sentiments. I totally won't know basically anything Sony or Xbox is making anymore, except the series I already followed. I don't really watch their throughout the year showcases.

When it was big it was annoying. Print magazines used to gloat about their access. Have pages devoted to their free loot. More articles about regs trying to sneak in.

Good riddance.

Pretty sure Stevie Wonder saw that coming.

I have been tuning in since the beginning of e3, and yeah I will miss it...but I've already moved on. All of the great magazines are dead, most of the great sites and forums are dead, and a lot of my favorite people that covered e3 just cover news as it comes.
...besides, the ESA is rotten.

Bummer. What else could I mercilessly shred into with my friends on Discord

@Cashews I never took any of the rags covering e3 as gloating. That sounds like insecurity.

@JustMonika Interesting. Visual novels give me hives, and it is VERY rare that I care about a story in my games...but old school fps is my jam.

@LikelySatan Some of the best experiences I've had living in the past 40 years were from visual novels, lol .. I honestly believe that Island is the best piece of fiction that humanity has ever made. It should be in a museum.

Game companies will still release games before they're ready, though. Ironically.

We thought it might be the end of an era, and this seals the deal. Covid killed the world and we're all just living in a zombified universe now.

even as expected is not good for game industry, other media industries still have massive events doing showcases and big announcements, I still remember when there was much more excitement for an E3 than a Comic-on.

@FredsBodyDouble ...and nothing ever will. We must count ourselves among the fortunate generations who were able to experience such a spectacle. It was fun while it lasted!

@FredsBodyDouble What a time to be alive and young! We were the lucky ones!

Really hoping it comes back. Would be deeply sad if I never get to go to an e3. Thank goodness we have summer game snooze to look forward to 😒 (it was legitimately the most boring thing to watch last year)

Good, crappy ass event anyway

That's a shame. It's always something to look forward to, E3 season. Granted, never been to an event but it's a loss for the hobby.

@JustMonika ...I mean, Dream Daddy was dope. Maybe I should grab some. I have a pretty mint Vita.

Do we know the reasons why the big companies don't want to attend to E3? The past years, yes it was not so great but still it was THE event where we had a chance to see all the new titles that will come in consoles/PC etc

Such a shame! I loved the excitment of reveals and gameplay events.

@LastFootnote exactly, they got f*ck all to show off so we're down to 2 news moments a year!

Too bad, E3. Maybe next year then.

Or maybe an event in Europe if the game developers do not choose to go to E3. Perhaps two events at the same time. There could be like a european E3 and an american E3 at the same time. (Obviously, you could not get the same game directors to both events, but the same games could be at both shows.) Maybe one event in Vancouver and another event in Paris or something. It would require a lot less travel but on the other hand, european and american game developers could not meet.

E3 is maybe a bit too soon in the year, it is in june, maybe there should be an event in september when many of the fall releases are almost finished? A lot of big games have releases in september and october, right?

E3 has been dead for a while now, and sad as this is, it should hardly come as a surprise.

Fairgrounds ary dying all over the World. Here in Germany we lost the CeBIT, for years. Maybe there Time is over....

Summer games fest. Ugh...

Not surprising really, it had been on life support for quite a few years now. All the big platform holders were holding their own events and simulcasting them online and the big publishers were starting to follow suit.

The reach of those online events was much greater than just the people who can physically get to LA for the event. Then there's the cost of having a booth which was going through the roof. I've seen the same in the car industry, shows just don't generate the sales the way they used to and aren't worth what the organisers charge to attend.

Then there was the fact that your game could get lost in all the noise of all the big releases being announced at once and even small publishers were starting to see it as pointless.

Don't think this is a sign of a decline in the gaming industry. It's more a decline of gaming journalism and now companies have direct communication routes to customers instead of relying on gaming magazines and websites.

Not surprising considering the utter self obsessed cesspit it has become for the most part (with a few notable exceptions).

This is sad sad day for the industry, the big companies acting like their too big for this. As much you can probably blame E3 for no doubt asking for too much money, in reality the big companies couldn't wait to move away from it.

We are the losers here, and in my opinion so are they. I have not watched a single presentation from microsoft or Sony but when we had E3 I watched EVERYTHING.

@Bolt_Strike where was this energy in 2013 and 2014?

I think that's a big L for everybody. I really can't remember to watch any presentation from Sony or Microsoft, maybe only a handful of trailers after, while I watched everything from E3.
The only presentation that I watch is Nintendo direct and the video game awards.
#bringe3back

Geoff Keighley must be tired dancing at the feet of E3's grave each year lol

@ nintendolife
Now we need 5 different articles about E3 (or just one good one) that talks about the history of E3 and its decline.

E3 dying is for the best.

E3 back in the day had terrible antiquated/toxic practices that are not representative of where video game culture is now with its wider public perception.

Some of these things include:
>Console Wars
>Booth babes (which could have also been male but I only ever recall female)
>long lines/traffic
>being overshadowed (especially if you were a smaller developer, indie, or niche game genre)
>boring sales talk/ industry jargon
>toxicity towards casual gamers and women (cammi dunaway e3 2009)

For all these negatives there were also positives such as:
>Reggie memes
>Seeing various game devs like Miyamoto playing xbox or other competitors
> zelda twilight reveals as mentioned by another poster
> swag if you were lucky to attend
> sense of community especially back then since video games hadn't gained widespread acceptance yet and online games weren't as prominent.

E3 is not necessary to see all gaming news for those that don't want to be bothered looking at multiple directs. That's what websites like ign, kotaku, nintendolife and whatever their other sites are called for. They can aggregate all this information for you.

@Serpenterror I agree with you there.

Oh no! No more loads of cool free crap for journalists that could be influenced in their reporting of said givers of cool free crap!

@serouj2000 I was fine with it back then. I wished they had done a big show, but the format itself wasn't really bad. In fact 2014 was one of the best E3s I've seen from Nintendo. As for 2013, I was more disappointed in the content than the format, especially with how Iwata teased what they were revealing which got my hopes up sky high. He teased they would reveal 3D Mario, Mario Kart, Smash, and "a beloved IP by Retro", and I thought "awesome, we're getting a new sandbox Mario and Metroid Prime 4". I was utterly crushed when it was just 3D World, a samey looking sequel to 3D Land, and Tropical Freeze, a samey looking sequel to DKCR. Now I probably still wouldn't have liked that E3 because it didn't quite have the games I was waiting for (in fact I would have to wait until the Switch in 2017 for the games I was waiting for, which was even more crushing and disappointing), but Iwata's tease made it sound like 2013 was going to be what 2017 was and then the actual presentation pulled the rug underneath me and made me feel worse. Not very smart PR there.

I'll admit I like other here have some nostalgia for E3, however getting passed that, it was clear this show was dying a slow dead years ago. The fact Sony hasn't been there since 2018 kinda tells you that. A lot of the companies saw what Direct like presentations could offer in terms of controlling the messaging and keeping costs down. I think a lot of people just sick of the hype culture that had gotten out of control with E3 as well.

@Bolt_Strike Ok, I may have been wrong about assuming your stance on the thing, but I look back and see some people genuinely salty about the format used as late as 2017