How Did E3 Fall From Grace?
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on April 4, 2022, 9:13 a.m. by DemonDragonJ
With the news that E3 has cancelled all of its events for this year, people have been declaring that it is doomed, and will never return, which I feel would be a great tragedy.
Unfortunately, I have never attended E3, but I know that it once was the big event in the video game industry; companies and vendors would do anything to have a presence at it, and the players and fans who attended it regarded doing so almost as a religious expedition; being present at E3 meant that one was someone of great importance, and everyone enjoyed being present.
One could blame the Covid-19 pandemic for the decline of E3, but the convention had already been declining for some time before that, and I am wondering how that happened.
What does everyone else say about this? How did E3 fall from grace, will it ever be able to regain its former prominence in the video game industry, and, most importantly, if it does not, what shall take its place?
Metroid_Hybrid says... #3
Showing my age here, but as someone who's experienced the golden age of console gaming all throughout the 90's, I think everything about the industry has went downhill since the early-to-mid 2000's. That's a little after video games became a major mainstream phenomenon, and with the major mainstream money that came pouring in (to fund the larger & larger dev teams) came with it the all-too-predictable problems that come from being micromanaged by big-money corporate boardroom executives. Long-story-short: Innovation was killed off in favor of Call of Duty clones and "Press X to win" games with pretty graphics... along with a grocery list of other problems..
Need proof? Take a look at how absolutely baffled and/or offended many developers from other Triple-A companies were at the runaway success of Elden Ring...
Raz0rfist, aka The Rageaholic, has years worth of videos covering the precipitous downfall of E3 specifically, and gaming journalism as a whole, with absolute scaving detail.. He's a spicy one mind you (you've been warned)..
April 4, 2022 11:21 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
Metroid_Hybrid, did you mean to include a link in your previous post? If so, I cannot find any link in it.
April 4, 2022 1:34 p.m.
Metroid_Hybrid says... #5
DemonDragonJ: I didn't, but here's one for an example..
He also has a playlist called: "The Downfall of Gaming Journalism"
April 4, 2022 7:05 p.m.
Last_Laugh says... #6
I think the internet becoming more mainstream and printed media becoming a dated way to get dated news spelled the inevitable end of E3.
April 5, 2022 10:41 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #7
Last_Laugh, in that case, what shall be E3's successor? Surely, people will always enjoy attending conventions?
April 5, 2022 8:29 p.m.
Nintendo, Sony, and Devolver Digital (to name a few) have simply been doing their own online releases for years now. It saves them a ton of cash and save their audience a ton of trouble. I don't think there is going to be a replacement for E3. Maybe studios will focus more on other events or their sizzle reels instead.
Epidilius says... #2
In my opinion, E3's downfall began when they opened the doors to the public. It used to be an industry only event, which meant that the target audience for your expo was other devs and press. Introducing the general public meant that your expo now had to target them.
At that point, E3 was no longer the cool and exclusive games and tech show, but just a trailer fest. It costs so much money to show your trailers at E3, it takes a whole lot less to put them up on YouTube.
April 4, 2022 10:13 a.m.