E3 is officially dead, announces ESA

E3 had been on life support over the past few years, but the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is finally retiring the long-running expo for good.

Earlier in 2023, we saw ReedPop and the ESA end their partnership, further diminishing the prospects of E3’s potential return. And with Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest and The Game Awards meeting the industry’s demand for content showcase between the two of them, that comeback was pretty much a lost cause.

Well, we’re now bearing witness to the final blow. As reported by The Washington Post, and further confirmed by the Entertainment Software Association, the biggest annual gaming festival in the world for over two decades is officially being retired. The company’s CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis released a statement acknowledging the upsetting nature of this announcement but noted that it was the right decision for the industry.

“We know the entire industry, players and creators alike have a lot of passion for E3,” he said. “We share that passion. We know it’s difficult to say goodbye to such a beloved event, but it’s the right thing to do given the new opportunities our industry has to reach fans and partners.”

Those “new opportunities” might be referencing more novel platforms. A host of new obstacles contributed to E3’s downfall, not least of which was the realization by juggernauts like Sony that they could simply stream showcases online and reach the same user base, dramatically cutting down costs.

E3’s cancellation was always inevitable

While we obviously can’t disregard E3’s nostalgic value and all the fun moments it created for us gamers, it was always going to come down to this. In fact, given the discernible shift over the past few years in how new games are promoted, we’re surprised by the staying power some other in-person events have maintained.

As noted by Jason Schreier, “A lot of folks will blame Covid,” but the show was dying before 2020, perhaps as early as PlayStation’s decision to ditch the 2019 press conference in favor of their own showcase. And these days, other companies are more than happy to follow suit.

Yes, we all knew this was coming, but I guess it’s one thing to expect something, and quite another to face the finality of its occurrence.