I’E3like many others events in the world from the start of 2020 has been obligatory of drastically change the formula to adapt to new sanitary conditions. For the year 2022, theevent organizer, ESAhas decided to make a sweeping announcement regarding theElectronic Entertainment Expo.
E3: Between physics and demat’
Maybe some don’t know it, but E3 has become for several decades the major event not to be missed in the world of video games. Historically created in 1995 in Los Angeles and only intended for journalists and professionals, it has become since the 2000s the main reference for the most important big video game announcements of the last 20 years, creating the hype for many games. Maybe you remember the announcement of games like Starcraft 2 in 2007 or The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess in 2004 who are part gaming’s most powerful momentsalongside other very ridiculous ones, like the conference related to the release of Wii Musicwhich is part of of the funniest and most ridiculous moments of the event. And because we never get tired of it, we let you get back in the mood by yourself with this little video.
But for a few yearsthe E3 suffered greatly from its popularity, as well as from the competition. For a publisher, a stand was horribly expensive and the indispensability of E3 somewhat ruined other fairs, such as the CES in Las Vegas, ECTS in London or TGS in Tokyo. So much so that some of the biggest publishers have even decided to organize their own event on their side, like Nintendo, Blizzard or Sony. All that remained for E3 were small publishers and announcements that interested few people. And to make matters worse, a small Coronarivus pandemic came to decimate the world of events for more than two years, from which it resulted in 2021 an E3 in digital version but complicating even more the presentation of certain titles. In January the organizers of the ESA announced that the event would not take place in physics because of sanitary conditions. But as June approached, an email sent to publishers confirmed the worst: E3 2022 will also not take place digitally either. This is Will PowersHead of Communications at Razer who spilled the beans first, quickly followed by other industry players.
Just got an email… It’s official, E3 digital is official canceled for 2022. Lots of mixed feelings about this…
March 31, 2022
I just got an email, it’s official, E3 digital is canceled for 2022. Lots of mixed feelings about that…
E3 had low morale?
Thereby E3 2022 will not exist. As in 2020, the conditions do not allow to manage the event. However, it is a blessing in disguise, since other organizers have jumped at the chance to promote their own events, such as Geoff Keighley, producers of the Summer Game Fest which is organized on the sidelines of E3 each year, now having the free field to carve out the lion’s share. We must however put things into perspective, E3 is not buried for the moment and the ESA announces that the year 2023 will come back stronger than ever. We don’t have any details yet, but it is to be hoped that it will be via a new formula which can reconcile small publishers and behemoths. The appearance of PC Gaming Show in 2015 was a first step in this direction, as was the growing role of Developer Digitalspearheaded by independent gaming.
But that’s not all, since the publisher of E3, the Entertainment Software Association is also singled out in the United States for its very aggressive policy. The organization is there to serve the interests of large producers, and giants like Nintendo are active and influential funders and members. Recently, an American association for the preservation of video game heritage accused the ESA and Nintendo of wanting to destroy an entire section of the history of the medium by removing access to the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U digital store without offering an alternative to the consumer to find the games available only on this medium. We came back to this case in an article right here.