The
Electronic Entertainment Expo
, or “E3,” once the gaming industry's biggest convention, has officially ended.
On Tuesday, the
E3
convention’s website went completely blank, with a message reading, "After more than two decades of E3, each one bigger than the last, the time has come to say goodbye. Thanks for the memories." The organization posted the same message on its social media handles.
“After more than two decades of hosting an event that has served as a central showcase for the U.S.
and global
video game
industry,” the
Entertainment Software Association
(ESA) has decided to bring E3 to a close, said Stanley Pierre-Louis, president and CEO
ESA
.
E3 was first held in Los Angeles in 1995. For about two decades the E3 used to be the stage where gaming's biggest companies would debut their new titles and teasers, but it had been losing relevance for years as more and more gaming companies shifted to their own events for major announcements.
Pierre-Louis, the president and CEO of ESA, suggested that the main reason for E3's sudden decline and eventual downfall was that game developers and publishers had begun to distance themselves from the event. Instead, they opted to organise their own, less expensive showcases that were aimed at directly engaging with their fans, rather than the industry insiders and journalists that E3 had traditionally targeted.
In 2017, the convention tried to revive interest with an open invitation to the public. The final in-person E3 event in 2019 had around 66,000 attendees.
Nintendo
was one of the first big names to skip E3 in 2011 and broadcast its own keynote.
Sony
then announced it is also skipping the show in 2018.
The event was cancelled completely in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and in 2021, it was held online only. In 2022, the event was cancelled. However, it was planned to return to an in-person event in 2023, but the organizers have ultimately decided to cancel it.
English (US) ·