How The Death Of E3 Changes Gaming Forever

With news of both Sony and Geoff Keighley backing out of E3 2020, it’s clear the influence once held by ESA’s convention is waning.

Based at the Los Angeles Convention Centre, it was gaming’s first dedicated trade show, first appearing in 1995 as a result of publishers needing an event to show off their products, finding themselves given little acknowledgement at events like the Consumer Electronics Show.

It quickly established itself as a gaming institution and became the go-to place for new announcements. To this day, publishers still choose it as the place for their biggest yearly reveals, be it games or the next generation of hardware. But E3 has suffered an identity crisis these last few years and what worked so well in 1995 doesn’t necessarily work anymore in 2020.

ESA's aimed to make it a show fit for industry officials and the public, but their strategy has brought the benefits of neither, contributing to former attendees exiting the event.

E3 is clearly in trouble, and its slow death creates a larger impact on the industry than first assumed.

In hindsight, Sony's withdrawal from E3 shouldn’t be as surprising as we first thought.

Whilst it wasn't widely noted until they backed out, Shawn Layden, former SIE Worldwide Studios chairman and the face of Sony’s conferences, made his concerns apparent. Talking about E3’s focus several times, he described it in 2017 as “stuck in the middle of the highway about to get hit by cars on both sides”, later saying "the trade show became a trade show without a lot of trade activity”.

Layden stepped down last year amidst internal company politics, but it’s a view still held within Sony’s leadership, considering E3 2020 is not in their plans either.

It seems odd to skip such a large trade show in PlayStation 5's launch year, and to many, this leaves Microsoft with an open goal when they’re planning to launch their next major hardware upgrade.

Still, this confirms that Sony no longer see E3 as an essential event for their business, focusing on other trade fares like the recent Taipei Game Show.

This presents wider ramifications for the industry, but there are more options available to Sony that didn't exist in 1995, the decision speaking volumes for how the event has changed, as well as its failure to adapt to a modern audience.