https://www.theguardian.com/games/2023/mar/31/e3-2023-cancelled-video-game-industry-expo
I think it's time to have a funeral
I think it's time to have a funeral
Gaming E3 is cancelled forEv3r
- Thread starter horsechoker
- Start date
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
It was pretty much expected with developers and Sony / MS / Nintendo having their own livestreams. And the game awards too. E3 lost its relevance some time ago.
I still look badly fondly on it. There was a time when that one event was the most important days of the year in gaming. Used to love downloading all the clips of the trailers on my slow as feck dial up connection.
I still look badly fondly on it. There was a time when that one event was the most important days of the year in gaming. Used to love downloading all the clips of the trailers on my slow as feck dial up connection.
I hear you. I go back even further though I remember getting all the Playstation magazines the month after E3 and scouring through all the previews and being hyper excited about it.
Was a great time for gaming.
What games do you even play Horsey? I may have missed it but I rarely see you in the gaming threads
It's been dead for years. This has been coming for a long time. I did enjoy it in its heyday when all the major gaming news and reveals were condensed into a few days; it was exciting to watch.
However, even then, the major players didn't really need it. I think they just went with it because it was the status quo. Ultimately, it's not going to be missed, because it's been struggling to maintain its relevance for so long.
However, even then, the major players didn't really need it. I think they just went with it because it was the status quo. Ultimately, it's not going to be missed, because it's been struggling to maintain its relevance for so long.
I am the game
What did he mean by this???
That's he's Triple H?
HHHorsechoker
Underchoker sounds better.
Horse choking simulator
Can you guys be serious please? This is a horsechoker thread, not some spurious meme club.
Sorry mate, no more horsing around.
With no PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo and lesser extent Ubisoft it's hardly surprising.
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E3 began to die when they booted fans out of it
E3 was a good idea before gaming companies got their own PR departments. Once that happened it was just a matter of time before it died a death.
E3 was awesome back in the day, now I never watch any of these events because there's several each year and the amount of good content shown at the events have dwindled. The gaming awards is always a bit of a farce.
E3 is mostly only good for those awkward, unscripted moments that make you laugh. These days I think publishers and devs just announce stuff when they feel like it, thanks to social media.
Sony have their State of Plays. Nintendo have their Directs. Capcom have their Spotlights. Valve just casually announce their stuff with no fanfare.
I’m guessing Keighley is still doing his Summer Game Fest which is the closest thing to 2010s E3.
Sony have their State of Plays. Nintendo have their Directs. Capcom have their Spotlights. Valve just casually announce their stuff with no fanfare.
I’m guessing Keighley is still doing his Summer Game Fest which is the closest thing to 2010s E3.
Do those work as well in gaining traction though? The companies must have run the numbers, but I know I'd keep an eye on announcements at E3 as I knew it was the event of the year and most things worth playing would be announced during it. I can't be bothered to watch all of the specific company ones so mainly pickup information about games from a couple of forums.
Had some great times at them back in the day, but yeah trade shows really are a thing of the past. Shame because a huge event where they all come together would still be a brilliant yearly event for gamers, but none of the big guys want it anymore so it's all but done.
I think if you’re one of the big players like Sony, Nintendo or Valve, you’ll still get the traction. People are becoming more aware of these quarterly (on average) showcases from Sony and Nintendo (not sure if Microsoft have one), and rumours pop up in gaming media about stuff and how something will be formally announced at an upcoming stream.
Any time I’ve been on YouTube, there’s always a link on the homepage to go straight to a stream link to a Sony State of Play or Nintendo Direct, whether it’s half a day in advance or it’s live at that time. Since Valve runs Steam, you can guarantee any time you log into Steam, the homepage will have a new Valve product front and centre.
All the other players outside of the biggies typically jump onto either Sony or Nintendo’s streams for that initial exposure. An example would be Capcom who usually do their big announcements with Sony like RE4 Remake and their in-depth detail for RE4 Remake was done via a Capcom Spotlight.
I think the closest thing to 2010s E3 is probably PAX: https://www.paxsite.com/ which was made by the guys who do penny-arcade.net after E3 stopped gamers going.
What do you mean by "stopped gamers going"? Are you talking about when they stepped up industry credential checks?
Yeah I think that's probably what I mean. It got taken over by just any old person attending for a bit, and then they made it a bit more strict. That's all I recall to be honest
To be fair I never really had an interest in E3 outside of Halo announcements in those days.
Yeah I attended a few times in the early 00's and it was great times, but then they went into the "publisher" realm and tried to go all corporate. It was always an industry event, but most of us who went were developers and gamers showing off to each other and teasing things coming backed by the hardware guys showing us new toys and classic presentations. Then they backtracked and tried to make it a full on tech expo.Yeah I think that's probably what I mean. It got taken over by just any old person attending for a bit, and then they made it a bit more strict. That's all I recall to be honest
To be fair I never really had an interest in E3 outside of Halo announcements in those days.
Basically they completely fecked it up by trying to get the money men with no idea buying into the whole thing. So it became stuffy and more like every other "expo" which are mostly dull and lifeless. The whole industry at that time went that way, it was becoming increasingly more about investors and feck the the gamers (both consumers and people making the games). E3 simply tried to follow suit and cater to what they thought these people wanted rather than care about what made the event so big in the first place.
I care more about ECTS ending, which whilst it went the same way, at least they always allowed people in who perhaps shouldn't have been there going strictly by the rules. Especially "indie" (or as we were known as then, "homebrew"
) companies.I also believe that these big, formal presentations that were all the rave in the 2010s can negatively affect people’s perception of the companies and therefore affect sales performance.
Ubisoft and Bethesda particularly used to put on some grandiose E3 presentations, and people used to make fun of them when the games failed to deliver or they took themselves way too seriously. Ubisoft are the kings of bullshotting and scripted gameplay trailers. Bethesda never deliver on lofty promises they initially made or introduce things that annoy their community (namely things to discourage third party mods to games, which have prolonged the lifespan of their games).
Ubisoft and Bethesda particularly used to put on some grandiose E3 presentations, and people used to make fun of them when the games failed to deliver or they took themselves way too seriously. Ubisoft are the kings of bullshotting and scripted gameplay trailers. Bethesda never deliver on lofty promises they initially made or introduce things that annoy their community (namely things to discourage third party mods to games, which have prolonged the lifespan of their games).
Yep. The hayday of trade shows was pre-early internet. Mid 90's-mid 00's. They had plenty of cheesy presentations, but it was about fun and not simply the buzz words. Hell, even Miyamoto showed up at one point and then gave an impromptu lecture on game design just because. Not planned, nothing stupid, just pure gamers talking games.
Ubisoft, Bethseda and all that stuff, you are correct about. But they came up in various ways making decent games led by decent people and then went that way exactly the same as the trade shows. By mid 00's it became an investment game, and we were flooded with "producers" and "directors" who knew feck all about gaming or development and because the industry was so big and only growing they ended up getting their way and dictating.
It would be easy to blame the likes of Sony for dumbing down games (they did start that) or Microsoft for the American investment angle (they did start that), but ultimately nothing would stop the industry going this way. Where there's money there's going to be scavengers. But when you are talking about the fastest growing entertainment industry in the world, then of course it's going to go all Hollywood and be flooded with people who don't care about it they just want a piece.
BTW "bullshots" was a thing long before that though, well before in fact. One of our most beloved and esteemed gaming magazines was largely responsible for that shite spreading too. They loved it on their glossy pages. Scripted sequences (including people pretending to play a game) became so clear in the late 90's. There were even 3DS Max plugins written for Renderware and wildly distributed on developer channels that simulated prompts to convince people live it was more real.
One of the nicest things I've heard about the pre-modern internet E3 is that they used to invite random employees of Gamestop or wherever to attend who would go on to tell their customers about all the new games coming out. Those people eventually got replaced with gaming journalists and finally influencers/streamers, which is probably when the fun of E3 died completely.
Apart from Devolver conferences, the last few E3 were fairly garbage on top of actual gaming industry garbage.
Not a surprise.
Been heading this way for years.
Been heading this way for years.
Shame really, but it's been dying for a while since pre-Covid. This just seems like they made an effort but couldn't make it work.
One of those things that I'll miss, like PlayStation magazines, etc. but times move on sadly!
One of those things that I'll miss, like PlayStation magazines, etc. but times move on sadly!
Past its peak for sure, but i do like picking up the E3 edition of Edge magazine and browsing through pages upon pages of titbits of new titles on the way.
It's true, not just them, but up and coming journalist students and all that too. Proper gamers wanting to make a career in it in any way. ECTS used to let us sneak in if we had any kind of gaming presence. I got to my very first one because I made a homebrew demo that got into the Playstation magazine and they told me to make up a company name and I'd have a proper pass. When I got there, too young to be travelling to London by myself for the first time, I had an official badge. They were absolutely brilliant with me and everyone else there. Of course being that young and having page 3 girls walking around helped too I guess! I still have a picture somewhere with Leilani (google her) in an England football kit for something like Fifa or that year's pro. E3 always needed more credentials (I remember my first one, the company I worked for gave us such a lecture on behaviour then when we got there...wow did that go out the window, including the heads!), but they'd still invite people to it from "outside". They were never exclusive in terms of keeping people out, they were just picky about it being about the games/hardware in the early days and who came in being a part of that. That all changed in the mid 00's.
Of course, that all lead up to the paid dinner/drinks/studio tours/playtest credits then and worse that we now get. People find a way to corrupt everything
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67695639
Pour one out but this has been coming for years. The moment the big 3 started doing their own showcases the writing was on the wall.
Still, E3 gave me some great memories. Will never forget looking at the Nintendo revolution for the first time and being outstanded.
Pour one out but this has been coming for years. The moment the big 3 started doing their own showcases the writing was on the wall.
Still, E3 gave me some great memories. Will never forget looking at the Nintendo revolution for the first time and being outstanded.
End of an era.
As soon as they started rolling out celebrities on to the stages, and pop stars like Bobby Dipshit wandered on to talk about their new album whilst some shit dancing game logo was behind them we all knew this was coming.
At least we'll always have the memories.
At least we'll always have the memories.
Ironically, the company that the people in this video made ("Easy Allies") seems to be one step behind E3 in shutting down. At the risk of appearing like an old man shaking his fist at clouds, why does everything fun get ruined?
Honestly, I feel a bit gutted. E3 was the highlight for a computer game nerd. All the huge announcements happening in one place in one event.
Now it's just a bunch of shitty stand alone events.
Now it's just a bunch of shitty stand alone events.