E3 has had a foot in the grave for the last ten years. The availability of the internet kinda invalidated any need for expensive physical conventions. When they changed their rules to allow the general public to attend, that was a pretty clear death rattle, imo. And the Big 3 all pretty much pulling out entirely and doing their own streamed announcement events didn't help matters. Covid also ended up killing whatever momentum E3 had left. Basically everything was stacked against E3 for a long while now.
Super disappointing, but also super expected, honestly. See you in the next life, giant enemy crabs.
I honestly think it's all the in-house directs now that really killed it. The sad thing is now they all get to control their narratives and put on a pretty, but tightly produced/curated show and we all lose the little snipes back and forth and comparisons that happen at events like E3. It felt more...gladiatorial, I guess?
I think there's absolutely a space for an industry achievement/recognition award like the Oscar, Tony, etc. The Game Awards just seems like the most cynical attempt at forcing one into the video game space.
What I don't get about all the criticism lobbied at The Game Awards is that other gaming award shows do exist, and have existed, but people don't fucking watch them and then they criticize TGA for doing what other awards shows didn't: get millions to actually watch it.
It's a shame. The GamesCom in Europe seems to be doing quite well so it's not really a matter of "conferences are dead".
I know conferences are no longer a place for big announcements. There's no more need to gather all the press in one place, they can just do it online now, at a dedicated time when they're not competing with other announcements in the industry. But as a visitor I really enjoyed going to GamesCom. Never been to the US so the E3 is not a thing for me but I'm sure this will have knock-on effects globally.
I can't speak for Gamescom, but PAX East has been shrinking, too. Exhibitors don't want to show up. They've been doing that thing you did in high school to pad your essays by increasing the margins on the side to make it look you wrote more than you did. Except instead of an essay, it's a show floor.
Good riddance. E3 offered nothing over just watching trailers on YT except for the multiple hours of advertisements and marketing pushed throughout the convention.
I mean tbh at the height of the show the press conferences were awesome. The shows didn't have ads (unless you count the games themselves being ads which like, fair I guess). Idk I loved tuning into the shows and seeing announcement after announcement. Sonys 2016 show was a particular highlight. Having a live orchestra to do all the music even during the trailers was a really cool performance imo. It was more than just trailers
What's wrong with Keighley's events? I've been enjoying them, myself. This year's Game Awards was kind of a snoozefest, admittedly, but I feel like his shows have a pretty good vibe for the most part.
I had some fun going in 2018 with friends, but it definitely felt like a theme park with lines everywhere for demos. Maybe there's room for something to take its place focused on those demos or community events, rather than announcements that most visitors couldn't attend anyway.