8 Video Game Revolutions We Don't Need Anymore
1. E3
At the time of writing, we are days out from the announcement that E3 2023 has been cancelled. Even before the pandemic, the Electronic Entertainment Expo had lost quite the same lustre and in the last few years, with publishers pulling their presence, it only seemed a matter of time.
There’s a sentimentality to E3 that is hard to decouple from the current situation. That letter and number are synonymous with a kind of community in gaming, whether in person or online, as fans worldwide came together every year to revel in the good reveals, the bad reveals and the awkward presenters. E3 is home to some of the most legendary shared moments in gaming history.
But with it becoming steadily more expensive for publishers to set up shop there every year, and streaming negating that, it was only a matter of time until enough of them pulled out to cripple the brand. At first, Nintendo hosting Directs rather than stepping on stage seemed unthinkable. Now, as Xbox and Sony follow suit, it’s so obvious.
More than this, the Video Game Awards has essentially all but replaced E3. Gone is the show-floor, but developers still get the space to drop their big reveals. More than this too, parts of E3 always had an undercurrent of corporate marketing, where the Video Game Awards (whether you agree with its choice of winners or not) is all framed around the positivity of celebrating gaming.
Gamers can all absolutely mourn the apparent death of E3 but it's hard to argue that it's something that we need anymore.