The most recent edition of E3 was held in 2019. However, due to the obvious problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which made it impossible to safely hold a massive event that attracts people from all over the world, it was canceled in 2020. A digital edition was held in 2021, which many who were able to participate felt like a glorified internet forum from the early 2000s, with practically nothing to show. There were several attempts to revive it after 2021, with planned editions for 2022 and 2023 that never materialized. And now we know there will be no E3 in 2024, nor ever again, because E3 as we knew it is over for good.
Yesterday, the ESA announced this decision to never hold the video game event again. The reasons? Times have changed and an E3 is no longer as useful as it once was.
If you want to know the history of E3 , we have an extensive article about it.
What's next now that there will be no more E3?
From being one of the biggest points of interest with magazines when VHS and DVDs arrived with trailers for future games to having identity problems, the death of E3 comes when there have been many substitutes for it. For many users, there will be no special difference, since the companies attending E3 have shifted to pre-recorded content broadcast directly on TikTok, Twitter, Twitch and YouTube to avoid having to go through the media. That is what the ESA has seen when making the decision to end E3.
After more than two decades of holding an event that has served as a central showcase for the American and global video game industry. We know the entire industry, both gamers and creators, are passionate about E3. We share that passion. We know it's hard to say goodbye to such a beloved event, but it's the right thing to do given the new opportunities our industry has to reach fans and partners.
Stanley Pierre-Louis, President of the ESA
Furthermore, it's not as if there aren't already alternatives for mass video game trailer presentations. Any publisher can premiere a pre-recorded video on YouTube . Even the current owners of Erbe Software made one to announce the arrival of more Mortadelo and Filemón games on Steam , using Artificial Intelligence to create a fake presenter. And if it's a matter of generating hype, we have Geoff Keighley with his Summer Games Fest and The Game Awards , or Wholesome Games' presentations with numerous announcements that aren't part of the major companies' big presentations.
