E3 2023 has been canceled

[Perkilator]

Can’t say I’m surprised, but I’m a bit sad nonetheless.

[lenticular]

I'm neither surprised nor saddened. I don't know whether E3 still felt useful as a trade show to people within the industry, but from my perspective as a customer, consumer and fan of video games, I felt it had very little to offer. There are plenty of other ways for developers and publisher to get word out about their games these days, so all that E3 really did was lump all of the announcements into a single week. And while I get that some people enjoy the excitement of that deluge, I'd much rather have things more spread out with time to breathe between them. And at the end of the day, all this really effects (from a customer perspective) is the announcements; we're still going to end up with the same games in the end, which is the actually fun part.

[vanguard333]

 This was inevitable, given how many companies decided not to be at E3 this year.

I can't really say that I'll miss it, since I rarely paid that much attention to E3. But I do think E3 did have its benefits: having one place where game companies were obliged to show off their new and upcoming games every year enabled for there to be conversation and even sometimes a bit of competition as their presentations were being directly compared against each other in real time.

[lenticular]

1 hour ago, vanguard333 said:

I can't really say that I'll miss it, since I rarely paid that much attention to E3. But I do think E3 did have its benefits: having one place where game companies were obliged to show off their new and upcoming games every year enabled for there to be conversation and even sometimes a bit of competition as their presentations were being directly compared against each other in real time.

I generally feel that that competition might have led to better presentations, but that it didn't lead to better games. If it's vitally important to be able to be presented well, then that leads to games that are flashy and bombastic, not games that are deep or replayable. If developers are spending time making the best demos, then that's time that they aren't spending on making the best games.

[𝐍𝐲𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐥]

I won't miss it, E3 is kind of moot in this day and age when game companies can just post trailers to their upcoming games on websites such as YouTube and Twitter. E3 was useful back in the late 90's and the early to mid 2000's when the internet wasn't as widespread as it is now but it just isn't necessary anymore. 

[Jotari]

I haven't paid attention to E3 in almost ten years now, still, I'm a bit saddened if this ends up being the permanent death of it, as the weekend it's always scheduled on is my birthday, so I've always harbored distant hopes of attending in person some year.

[vanguard333]

On 3/31/2023 at 11:02 AM, lenticular said:

I generally feel that that competition might have led to better presentations, but that it didn't lead to better games. If it's vitally important to be able to be presented well, then that leads to games that are flashy and bombastic, not games that are deep or replayable. If developers are spending time making the best demos, then that's time that they aren't spending on making the best games.

I'm not sure about that, and, even if it didn't inherently lead to better games, I don't see how companies curating their game presentations is any better in that regard; whether it's an online trailer or an E3 trailer, companies will still adhere to the flashy and bombastic.

 

Anyway, another benefit of E3 that I just remembered: E3 was also a place that indie devs could attend to promote their games and make connections. An indie dev could make as many game trailers as they want but it will be meaningless if no one watches them; having a place where they could talk about their game and make connections helped. 

Also, this thread reminded me of Yahtzee's most recent video about E3:

Quote

 

 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

I like to think I've been on Team E3 AND Team Keighley's Summer Game Fest. But it's not a contest from our perspective. There's so many games out there that need showcasing that more events and streams could only be a good thing. The fact that E3 happens at a specific point of the year never seemed like a barrier. Every project involving multiple people needs deadlines to stay on track. Publishers would plan out E3 coverage up to a year in advance, which is more time than someone like Nintendo or Sony having openings with up to a month of warning. However, there are definitely a lot of issues unique to the trade show format. They ask for more than just uploading an mp4 of your trailer, you need an expert presenter. At the very least I hope we can keep events like PAX and GDC where developers can stand in front of a playable demo booth and talk about their game, watch people play it, take interviews from press. Those are what we're missing from digital showcases.