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12/12/2023: The Bittersweet End of E3

Today as I was still recovering from the cold that my older sister gave me, I read the news online that the Electronic Entertainment Expo (known as E3) is now 100% dead. This made me sad. The event was basically Christmas for gamers as it’s where all developers and publishers come to Los Angeles to introduce and advertise upcoming games and consoles. Memes were made, cringe was included, jokes were laughed at and people cheered on game trailers or the new console that they just saw. It was the biggest and most important gaming expo of the year. But now, it’s gone.

Some say the downfall of E3 started in 2013 when Nintendo announced that they'll stop doing press conferences at the event and instead, show a pre-recorded presentation of their famous Nintendo Direct. Others say it was in 2020 when Covid shut everything down and all the developers realized that Nintendo was on to something when they do their presentation: how about we save time and money by recording the upcoming games, published it online and still make the news on what people saw on the presentation with going to E3 and risk our data being leaked (that actually happened in 2019)! Some even said it was in 2017 when E3 allowed the public to join in event, instead of being invited by them, which caused problems at the venue. But either way, the death of one the biggest gaming event of the year is never coming back.

For me, I feel bittersweet that I never get to go. I never even heard about it until 2015 when I got into video games and start paying attention to any gaming news. Then I remember in the summer of 2016, the son of a family friend of ours was staying over for a bit. He stayed in the entertainment room (before we convert it into a bedroom for my nephew) that was next to my former bedroom (which I gave up to my older sister, but traded it for the guest room, which has its own bathroom) and I remember hearing him watching an E3 presentation on Sony or something. Of course, I never watched any of the E3 presentation at all and the only time I did, it was in 2019 and 2021 and they were both for Nintendo.

It was at the E3 2019, is where Nintendo announced the sequel to Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a new Animal Crossing game and it was where we found out in the upcoming Pokemon Sword and Shield, they were limiting how many returning Pokemon they're going to have in the game, which pissed off the fandom that then led to the #Dexit, trending on Twitter. Then in E3 2021, they try to do a virtual event that every publisher did in the past year, thanks to the pandemic. Of course like in 2019, I only watched the Nintendo Direct and on the final day of the convention. I remember watching it in my bedroom in Texas as it was the first time I been back there since 2019 and remember all the things that Nintendo announced in that trailer. That Metroid Dread is a real game and it's coming in October, that Danganronpa is finally coming to the Switch (based on a meme that the fandom ran for years) and for the first time in years, more information on the sequel to Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which was delayed...again! Of course, the Internet said that out of all the presentation, they said Nintendo was the best. But even with the virtual event, it wasn’t enough to bring them back to the actual stage.

They tried again in 2022, but couldn’t do it. They even hired ReedPop, whose know to operate convention such as PAX and New York Comic Con, to help manage event. Nope, they couldn’t do it in 2023 and later ditched them. People knew E3 was toasted when all three major gaming companies (Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft) announced that they won’t attended E3 in 2023, as they said that it didn’t fit into their plans. Same thing with the major gaming publishers, like Sega and Ubisoft, who decided that they won’t go either as they don’t see the need to attend the event. With online presentation, why bother as it’ll save money and word of our product was still be spread out.

So at the end, E3 had no choice, but to shut down. Now while they have relevance back in the 90s’ and 2000s’, but thanks to the advance of the Internet and social media, there is no need to hold one as you can do a presentation online and get noticed without having to fly to Los Angeles to present it yourself. As a gamer, this made me sad that it’s an end of an era for E3. Even if I stick to only Nintendo games, it’s sad to hear it go. Now the only time people come together to celebrate gaming is the Summer Game Fest and the Game Awards, which the latter is more of an excuse for Geoff Keighley to cozy up to celebrities. Now, that’s just annoying.