The Entertainment Software Association, the organization that for over 20 years has organized the E3 gaming fair, has via X notified that E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, has now been shut down for good. E3 2019 will thus remain the last “real” E3 fair, despite the fact that Sony, one of the “big three” in the gaming world, already then chose to skip the fair.
After more than two decades of serving as a central showcase for the video game industry, ESA has decided to end E3. ESA remains focused on advocating for ESA member companies and the industry workforce who fuel positive cultural and economic impact every day.…
— Entertainment Software Association (@theESA) December 12, 2023
The 2020 and 2022 fairs were canceled due to the pandemic, in 2021 the fair was held in digital format and this year’s fair was canceled due to lack of interest. In September, the organizers announced that even the fair in 2024 would not take place, but now they have decided that E3 will not return.
For a long time, the fair was a bit of a celebration in the gaming world, at the beginning of June we could all look forward to big announcements from the gaming companies, and also take part in some unexpected comedy on the stages and some well-caffeinated press conferences. In its last years, the fair ran into some problems, among other things the organizers accidentally leaked the personal data of over 2,000 journalists after the 2019 fair.
In recent years, E3 has been digitally replaced by a series of other events in early June, including Summer Games Fest, and the biggest game companies have for many years held presentations on the side of the exhibition floor. The German games fair Gamescom, which is usually held in August in Cologne, has for a long time been the largest games fair in terms of visitors, but has previously always lived in the shadow of E3 in terms of game announcements, with E3 now gone for good, Gamescom may get some more lavish presentations from the big companies.
2023-12-13 12:56:31
#gaming #fair #closes #good
