by James Lancaster
E3 – one of the world’s biggest video gaming events – has been cancelled. The event – formally known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo – was due to be held at the Los Angeles Convention Centre, in June, the first in-person edition of the show since 2019.
The last event in 2021 was digital only. Last year’s scheduled in-person event was officially cancelled due to ‘ongoing health risks’ associated with Covid-19, with the digital event also cancelled to allow organisers to focus on a ‘revitalized physical and digital E3 experience next summer’.
Show Losing Relevance
But industry experts were already warning that the show was losing relevance and now organisers ReedPop and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) have announced the conference will not be going ahead this year either, stating that ‘both parties will re-evaluate the future of E3’.
Reasons for the cancellation are varied, but a lack of major exhibitors was chief amongst them. IGN, who broke the story, obtained an internal memo, which stated that the 2023 version, ‘simply did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of our industry’.
Ubisoft told trade media it would livestream its own showcase, while Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony were reportedly set to miss it.
Pandemic Played Havoc
Piers Harding-Rolls, video game industry analyst at Ampere Analysis, told BBC News the cancellation reflected, the ‘declining relevance of a huge in-person trade show in the middle of June’.
He said the event had ‘struggled to remain relevant and reinvent itself’ in line with industry changes, including the growth of mobile gaming and the rise of more frequent digital-only showcases livestreamed online.
The pandemic played havoc with gaming production schedules and saw gaming companies focus more on making their own livestream events to promote new games or devices.
The event used to attract tens of thousands of visitors and reportedly generated $88 million in revenue for Las Vegas.
