The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) believes that a show "like before" has a chance of success.
Due to Covid-19, the 2020 edition of E3 was cancelled by its promoters, who were forced to organize an exclusively "online" edition the following year. Last April, the ESA confirmed that this "remote" format would not be repeated this year and indicated, in the wake, that E3 2022 was purely and simply cancelled. The entire video game world felt that the event would never recover from this terrible blow and that it was now a thing of the past.
"The whole world of video games" except for a village of die-hards who have just confirmed this. Indeed, the Entertainment Software Association confirmed to the Washington Post that it was indeed planned to organize an E3 next year. Stanley Pierre-Louis, president and CEO of the ESA, says he's " very excited about coming back in 2023 with a digital and in-person event. As much as we love these digital events and the way they reach out to people around the world, we also know that people have a strong desire to come together to connect, see each other and talk about what makes games so amazing."
Doesn't E3 sound familiar? Well, you should know that the first edition of this event dates back to 1995. From the beginning, the show has been the most important gathering dedicated to video games with all the professionals of the sector. Most of the publishers and manufacturers linked to the video game industry want to be present and, more importantly, they keep their announcements for these few days in June, gathered at the Convention Center in Los Angeles.
However, little by little, with competition from the Internet, the most important publishers are beginning to find the organization of such an event a little complicated, costly and not necessarily in phase with a medium that is renewed all year long. A central event, in June, is perhaps no longer the most efficient formula and even before the Covid-19 pandemic publishers had started to go their own way. Since 2013, Nintendo no longer holds a press conference, but broadcasts a pre-recorded video presentation. For its part, Electronic Arts had organized its own presentations on the sidelines of E3 and Sony had simply decided not to attend E3 2019.
While the Summer Game Festival occupied the vacant slot of June / July, the question arises today of the need for an event like E3. For individuals, it will probably never have the same flavor, but for professionals to have the opportunity to meet in the same place remains a golden opportunity to build relationships, to promote their work.
