We don't need E3 anymore

Fancensus head of analytics Ryan Janes analyses the media impact for the summer's biggest announcements

[potatoseal]

100% agree. I'm already starting to not miss it. I like this 'games showcase stream' thing. It's less talking and less cringe PR speak. It's just straight business and they can have as many of these 'video streams' as they want and at any time they want.

[EverydayJoe]

Not gonna lie, I miss Playstation Experience, was able to go the last 2 years they had it in Anaheim. Long lines to demo stuff but was a lot of fun. The Panel's on TLoU2 and Ghosts were highlights of the last show for me.

[Double_O_Revan]

When it comes to most people, the people that watched the events live on a stream from home, the current way is definitely better and more appealing. We get to watch meat of the conferences without all the corporate investor filler.

But the one thing that is taking a hit from the lack of these actual in person shows is the stuff that happens outside of just the streams. The hands on demos, the smaller teams getting attention to show off their games, even the deals that get made during these shows. I've heard many stories over the years of deals happening because the 2 important people met up in a bar/restaurant near the convention. You can't get those chance meet ups without all the decision making people in the singular location.

[Zeref]

Nah, I don't like it. I prefer having one week of straight up gaming news rather than this spread of news every few months.

Also it's way more fun to compare Xbox/Nintendo/Playstation directly.
E3 is basically our Superbowl.

I honestly thought I wasn't gonna miss it much and that we didn't need it anymore before all this but after seeing it happen in practice. It just doesn't cut it for me.

[Elda]

It was cute for a moment but time has moved on & things are being done differently now which folks have comfortably gotten accustomed to.

[King_Noctis]

Yeah we don’t need it. We need the events to scatter throughout the year and the publishers/developers to put fillers into each of their shows in order to divide one event into two or even three.

That is much better than just one big show per year where you can get almost every new announcement there. /s

[TheColbertinator]

They already do that. Press releases, magazine covers, interviews, Nintendo Direct, social media, other events (Tokyo Game Show, Gamescom, Paris Games Week, PAX, VGA), Kickstarter announcements and developer announcements.

There is a whole world out there for options on announcing your games. E3 is cool but necessary for the industry? Nah.

[GoodGuy09]

Honestly I do miss it. I liked that we had news back to back in a single week that we'll know we'll have. It was indeed a time of christmas for gamers. Now everything is just random and out of nowhere. Many of the events this year have been quite...underwhelming.
Ofc with whats going on in the world, we cant expect everything to be perfect and the inconsistency is reasonable.

[dumahim]

Yep. I'd take a few days off from work and take it all in. Shows, interviews, whatever. With stuff being online whenever, it just isn't the same.

[Z501]

Christmas, we got/get presents.
E3, we got commercials.

[rainslacker]

I always enjoyed the conferences, but I don't miss the "who won" arguments that tended to overshadow the content shown. What we havent lost is a few big things overshadowing 90% of the content

[sourOG]

Didn’t miss it.

[olorin818]

Industry goes through its trends and phases. I doubt large scale marketing events will be discontinued long term in post COVID world, every other industry is already looking how to bring them back. Gaming will be no different. Here's hoping if it comes back, it will be in better form. I personally enjoy it. There's something to be said about the reveal factor, showmanship, stage presence and hearing people's reaction.
What I don't miss is months and months of PR silence, followed by complete blow out of information about games coming in distant future.

[Fuzzybacon]

I have been saying this for years. E3 the show is only good for the press conferencing. Nintendo got out along time ago and the treehouses are usually pretty awesome. PlayStation some work that needs to be done but did a great job their first time. And for years Xbox showcase has been mediocre at best. The management of E3 is horrific. Used to be about networking and getting to know the industry players. Now it about TV or stream time with already known people. Some media outlets are overlooked. IE a podcast I know was denied press access. One person said not enough people on visiting their website even though other media outlets for their podcast totaled over 10,000 a week. When that was asked another E3 rep said they only need 50 reviews on iTunes that's all E3 cared about. So basically called everyone under there sun to review the podcast on iTunes. Inquired again and said that they are denied because they aren't trending. I say cancel E3 and just have developers put on the shows how they want.

[CrimsonWing69]

well, I wouldn't go that far, but a return to form would be nice. As it stands right now, no, it's not the E3 I grew up loving.

I will say that companies could do "directs" and make them as epic as they would at E3.

[AuraAbjure]

I would love to go to E3 one day. I hope they bring it back. I tried going once and was hired by Gamestop at one point but it didn't work out.

[Prubar]

I’m fine with people not interested in E3. I suggest they just don’t watch it and let the rest of us enjoy it.

[agent4532]

I may not have a very good E3 in person experience; however, getting E3 events like being part of the crew feeding the lighting and special events equipment or working at an E3 party is something that I don't want to lose. Also many indie game developers got a better in person E3 regarding deals, marketing, and really indie game developers would actually sit and talk with both gamers attending E3 and gaming media journalists talking about their game and willing to answer any questions you gave them. Were willing to provide their contact information. What I seen from E3 streams is a gaming reel of indie games

[Yodasfavoritesoda]

E3 is like Xmas for gamers. I’ve been lucky enough to go to 5 conferences and it’s amazing.
Plus the after parties can be a ton of fun. For a bunch of corporate stiffs Microsoft throws a great party

[neomahi]

We don't need E3 anymore. The Press can't be trusted anymore. Maybe they're not corporately bought off, but are driven by hype and public pressure. Look at what happened recently with The Last of Us: Part II and Ghost of Tsushima. (But don't get me wrong, the original The Last of Us on PS3 was a technical showcase and a masterpiece as was the Uncharted series) but Ghost of Tsushima is outselling The Last of Us Part II, Naughty Dog got too political and you see long before the game was released Sony and ND were going to have problems.

But, welcome to today's world and technology. People don't trust IGN anymore and those alike. Now, they're going to their peers on YouTube which is ever expanding. IGN us out while Angry Videogame Nerd, Happy Console Gamer, Mystic, Boogie2988, Console Wars, Gamesack, etc., are on the rise and they're getting review copies of games through digital media. Here's the deal:

Imagine you're on your PS4 or PS5 (if you have PlayStation VR you dawn that), you watch the scheduled PlayStation Showcase and now it's time to "Hit the Show Floor" so to speak. The Showcase App boots up and you enter an area that very much looks like PlayStation Home and there are kiosks. To your right there's a counter with items behind it, it's a way to order t-shirts, lanyards, hats, whatever based on the games at that show your order with your PSN account, just like buying games. But now, it's time to hit the kiosks. You walk up the game you wanna see and press the X button, a disclaimer screen appears that states this is a work in progress and not representative of the final product. After that another title card appears that says Powered by PS Now and then into the demo you go.

Back in the day, demoes were rampant and cheap at $.10 a CD, those don't happen now because developers are afraid. They're on their way back, with Microsoft anyway, but at a fee, this is called Game Pass.

The point is, Sony has PS Now, Microsoft will have xCloud, Google has Stadia, and Nintendo has Nintendo Online. It's possible but the big three are scared, theyre comfy and cozy with the media but consumers arent anymore. Get down on your consumers level and they'll respect you and you've won them over. If it's a new hardware reveal, do what SEGA did with the Dreamcast, send EB Games (GameStop) consoles early to let consumers try it themselves, not have to rely on the media but to make their own decisions, people are capable of making their own decisions and this is the future.

[ElementX]

It's not all about getting news out, E3 is a place for developers and industry people to meet, have discussions, and get to know each other. Business decisions get made, people talk in person, the media can actually sit down face to face with developers and conduct interviews.

[rainslacker]

E3 is a press event. It most certainly is about getting the news out.

But, over time, the need for things like e3 has diminished, as companies can go directly to the consumer with their new or marketing.

E3 was a time where deals were made, and people met with other industry professionals, but that was at a time when communicating with others in the industry was not as easy as it is today. The back room agreements and initial deals dont start at e3 anymore. They happen in forums or social outlets which are more suited for such a thing, and the big players already know how to make those things happen without needing e3, and spending millions of dollars to do so

[N2NOther]

After whatever the hell we've had this summer with these spaced out, nigh thrill-less, dry Direct style events I would say we need E3 more than ever.