Every year, it is the most anticipated event in the world of video games. However, the cancellation of E3, the world’s largest video game trade show, comes as no surprise. The organizers announced this Friday that the 2023 edition will not take place. A choice that confirms the lack of “necessary sustained interest”.
Strongly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the meeting had not been held in person since June 2019. A digital edition had tried to take over in 2021, but without much success.
Opening to the public in 2017
Actually, it had already been several years since the great mass of video games lost their luster. Back in the 2017 edition, journalist Sean Hollister (now at The Verge) urged players to stay home when the show first opened to the public. “Trust me, you better watch the event from the comfort of your couch,” he wrote.
However, the transition from a trade show, since its launch in 1995, to a show open to the public allowed the E3 audience to explode, with a record attendance in 2018 of 69,200 people.
But this novelty did not prevent Sony from abandoning the event the following year. The PlayStation maker skipped the 2019 meeting. As early as 2015 and 2016, Bethesda and then Electronic Arts, two major industry publishers, had decided to hold their own event on the sidelines of E3. And it’s these back-to-back defections of crucial players that brought out the best in the show.
In April 2022, the organizers announced the cancellation of the planned edition a few months later. If the hope of a 2023 episode had been maintained, a return already seemed difficult.
Individual and digital events
These comments from last year still aptly sum up the current situation. In January, the arrival at the 2023 edition of the big names in the sector -Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo- had been ruled out. But in recent days, companies have signaled their intention not to participate in the industry’s annual consolidation. Thus, the Japanese Sega, the Chinese Tencent (number one group in the market) or the crazy American Devolver Digital have indicated that they would not make the trip.
Beyond simply skipping E3, French publisher Ubisoft has given gamers a date on June 12 for a presentation of their upcoming games. A first edition of this online conference was held in September 2022.
It is towards this type of more personalized encounters that video game players have turned. First, for reasons of restriction in the midst of a health crisis, but then for economic interests. Nintendo also hosted one of these Nintendo Direct sessions last week to extensively introduce the upcoming Zelda due out on May 12.
The answer to this question seems to be known today. Consulted by the specialized site GameIndustry, the organizers of the fair could not say that a 2024 edition would be launched. If the structure remains determined to offer a sectoral platform for marketing and meeting companies in the market, it considers that it must evaluate the community needs. A medium that seems to have already found alternatives.
Source: BFM TV
