E3 2023 Cancelled. It’s over, baby.

[Strafe]

https://ign.com/articles/e3-has-been-canceled

 

Pretty sure it won’t be coming back after this.

[Thor]

Hope @Nate Dogg III didn't spend any money on prepping to go.

 

And yeah, this is a real shame. 

[cubik]

It's not a huge surprise, but sad to see a massive industry event like this disappear from the calendar.

I suppose these shows were made mostly redundant by streaming a few years back, and COVID really stuck the last nail in.

 

I always loved this and TGS as a way of finding out about loads of new releases and trailers in one glorious hit of information.

[Nate Dogg III]

6 minutes ago, Thor said:

Hope @Nate Dogg III didn't spend any money on prepping to go.

 

And yeah, this is a real shame. 

 

I did not (thank you for your concern though!) but I know plenty of people who did and are now hurriedly trying to get refunds on stuff. Real sorry state of affairs. 

[LaveDisco]

I get it. But it’s sad. 

[Popo]

Disappointing news. E3 has always been the centre of gravity around which even those who opted not to attend orbited. Without it, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will just spin off further in their own directions and the sense of occasion around video games Christmas will be gone. 

[Sarlaccfood]

It’s not a surprise but I’m still sad. 
 

I see Keighley is already jumping on the news, promoting his fucking 8 month long alternative where he manages to make every big announcement about himself.

[shirubagan]

I was so lucky to have been at the last big one in 2017 (18?). I was on my way out of the bathroom when that YouTuber cunt went in with his crew and ended up getting arrested. Good times. 

[Strafe]

There was always a lot of negativity around E3 which I didn’t get but that’s probably because I’m not in the industry and don’t appreciate the more annoying aspects of it.

 

What I did appreciate, however, was the 3 days of new game trailers to get pumped about. The writing was on the wall when Sony quit and Aisha Tyler stopped presenting the Ubisoft show.

[Qazimod]

A shame, but also sort of *shrug*. We already drown in so many previews, Directs, State of Plays and every other variety of thinly-veiled advertisement that it's just another part of me that. Although I do enjoy the concentrated blowout of reveals in the space of a few days.

[JoeK]

2 minutes ago, Strafe said:

There was always a lot of negativity around E3 which I didn’t get but that’s probably because I’m not in the industry and don’t appreciate the more annoying aspects of it.

 

What I did appreciate, however, was the 3 days of new game trailers to get pumped about. The writing was on the wall when Sony quit and Aisha Tyler stopped presenting the Ubisoft show.

Aisha Tyler was the best presenter ever. She is an awesome person and If anyone wants to clobber Keighley and pay for her to do everything ever, I’d be very happy indeed/

[Strafe]

Must be a pain for the indie guys. In between all the big announcements from the major firms I guess a lot of publishing deals get hammered out over that week.

[thesnwmn]

Whilst I realise there are impacts on jobs and I know many say it's good for industry publicity I'm not that sad about it.

 

It had its time. I enjoyed some of it. But mostly I think was a noisy and overwhelmingly muddled messaging machine. Like everyone trying to release stuff in the same few weeks of the year the news release all at once simply meant much of it got lost. And the live shows were long and terrible experiences. If you want that sort of time wasting content then there's anything and everything Geoff Keighley does. 

 

As it stands I don't think it changes much this year. We still have the big players doing shows in June which is all we broadly had and I paid attention to for the COVID period.

 

Next year I suspect they'll start to spread out a little and I hope it gets the presenters to think about what is really read to be shown rather than worrying about such direct one-upsmanship.

[HarryBizzle]

Sad, but it feels inevitable after the last few years. 
 

Weren’t Sony the first platform holder to pull out? I blame them, if so. 

[Sarlaccfood]

4 minutes ago, Strafe said:

Must be a pain for the indie guys. In between all the big announcements from the major firms I guess a lot of publishing deals get hammered out over that week.

Yep. So much interesting stuff (not just indies) would filter out through journos from the show floor too.

 

It was way more than just the press conferences, which the “can just all be online now” crowd always forget.

[Silent Runner]

Some of my best forum memories are around E3. Back when streaming wasn't as established as it is now, you'd be constantly refreshing threads to see if someone had a good feed for the Microsoft presentation or whatever. Gonna flip over a giant enemy crab as a memorial. 

[Strafe]

Let’s not forget this banger

 

 

[Siri]

It's definitely sad, albeit understandable. I really got into the ceremony of E3 once I started working - booking the week off, getting a shitload of takeaway and talking shit about the presentation with friends over the internet.

 

On the other hand, with everything digital and streamed directly to video sites, these days I'll just go to bed at a reasonable time and watch it first thing in the morning. And ultimately, there's still avenues to distribute demos and limited time tests. The periodical Steam Next Fest events is like having an indie game show at home, and it's fantastic as I don't have to listen to journalists over however many days of streamed guff from Gamespot or IGN - just digging in myself and reading buzz from others is much more palatable.

[Bucky]

[Nick R]

We'll always have the memory of this:

 

[Calashnikov]

2 hours ago, Strafe said:

https://ign.com/articles/e3-has-been-canceled

 

 

[R0b]

3 hours ago, shirubagan said:

I was so lucky to have been at the last big one in 2017 (18?). I was on my way out of the bathroom when that YouTuber cunt went in with his crew and ended up getting arrested. Good times. 

2019, apparently.

[James Lyon]

Sad times. To be honest, it was all downhill since the sublime Konami 2010 conference.

 

 

[shirubagan]

4 hours ago, R0b said:

2019, apparently.

That’s the one. Pandemic totally scrambled my comprehension of the last few years. 
 

The Pokémon Sword & Shield stand was ace. 
 

 

[Phantoon]

4 hours ago, James Lyon said:

Sad times. To be honest, it was all downhill since the sublime Konami 2010 conference.

 

 

That's probably why people do their own Directs now, to prevent hilarious disasters like that and the unexpected appearance of Giant Enemy Crabs

[JoeK]

4 minutes ago, Phantoon said:

That's probably why people do their own Directs now, to prevent hilarious disasters like that and the unexpected appearance of Giant Enemy Crabs

 

It was the wonderful ballet between the chaotic and beautiful most of the time. I mean, I can't say that I didn't tune into E3 primarily for all the fun trailers of things, but it was always car-crash viewing to watch some of these people shit the bed in weirdness when they were called up to speak. 

 

I think I'll miss the idea of E3 being this wonderful get-together of all the big names in the industry, but in reality I'm probably not entirely convinced it's been needed for years. 

 

 

[Alex W.]

I’m sadder that they fucked around with it this year and left people in the lurch than that it’s not going ahead. E3 has spent about a decade and a half struggling to figure out what it is in the internet age and became just a reference point in the calendar long ago.

[Harsin]

I know some people enjoyed all the pomp and circumstance. But personally I'd rather just view a trailer for a game I'm interested in than have to watch uncomfortable looking devs dressed in t-shirt and blazer combos, like Aldi own brand Crockett and Tubbs, stumble through a 10 minute preamble while an audience of shills hoot and holler at utterances that pre-orders get a golden gun as if the rapture has just started.

[Exit Chamber]

I'll definitely miss it, the announcement/trailer/fail overload was the gaming equivalent of crack, intense as hell and inevitably leaving me craving just one more hit.

 

It's been coming for years though, why would big devs make announcements at the same time as everyone else and lose valuable hype when they can drip feed that through the year? It's the little guys that can't just summon up easy online enthusiasm that I feel bad for.

[Clipper]

Personally I love the pomp and the awkwardness and the naked avarice of it all but I am the worst audience for this circus as I don't really like AAA games . Without E3 the FF7/Shenmue drops wouldn't have been so engaging and a shared experience - trailers that you click on whenever you like are boring and I rarely watch them (as I dont really like AAA games).

 

SO what I am asking for is the circus to continue so I can enjoy it on that level with all the awkwardness and megatons - for example FF7 remake I lost my mind watching that live then when it came out I played the demo and thought meh not as good as original and deleted it I literally got more entertainment from the e3 megaton. Probably won't help the industry though.