Culture E3 2023 has been cancelled - "We had to do what's right for the industry and what's right for E3."

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Source: https://www.eurogamer.net/e3-2023-cancelled
Archive: https://archive.is/J98qV

E3 2023 cancelled​

UPDATE: "We had to do what's right for the industry and what's right for E3."
News by Tom Phillips Deputy Editor
Updated on 30 Mar 2023

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UPDATE 10pm UK: The ESA, E3's owner, has now issued a joint statement with E3 2023 organiser Reedpop confirming the cancellation of this year's event.
"This was a difficult decision because of all the effort we and our partners put toward making this event happen, but we had to do what's right for the industry and what's right for E3," said Kyle Marsden-Kish, Reedpop's Global VP of Gaming.

"We appreciate and understand that interested companies wouldn't have playable demos ready and that resourcing challenges made being at E3 this summer an obstacle they couldn't overcome. For those who did commit to E3 2023, we're sorry we can't put on the showcase you deserve and that you've come to expect from ReedPop's event experiences."

A press release containing the statement concludes by noting ReedPop and the ESA will continue to work together on future E3 events.


ORIGINAL STORY 9.45pm UK: E3 2023 has been called off, following days of confusion over which publishers were still due to attend.

Word of the cancellation initially came via an email sent out by the ESA, E3's owner, as reported by IGN.

The show had been due to return as an in-person event in June, in its old home at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

This year's E3 had been hailed as the event's grand return as a physical show - a chance for it to reclaim its crown as the centrepiece of the video game announcement calendar, following several years of disruption due to the Covid pandemic.

It was also set to be the first for PAX and EGX organiser Reedpop - which also owns Eurogamer - as organiser.

In January this year, it was reported that Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony would not attend this year's event for various reasons. Sony, which quit the E3 showfloor after its last showing 2018, had not been coaxed back. E3 stalwart Nintendo, meanwhile, had little to show - since its biggest game of the year Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches in May. Microsoft, meanwhile, was reported to be cutting costs.

Without the console manufacturer Big Three on board, subsequent reports have focused on the status of smaller publishers. Ubisoft flip-flopped on its attendance, initially confirming it was on board before U-turning, amidst reports of a delay for key 2023 game Assassin's Creed Mirage. In the wake of that news, Sega and Tencent also confirmed they had backed out.

The ESA's email reportedly said that E3 remained "a beloved event and brand" but that this year the show "simply did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of our industry."

Eurogamer has contacted Reedpop for comment.
 
I only wish the ESA in general would die with it
It was formed around the time of Mortal Kombat, to prevent games from being censored or banned
These days they're one of the groups pushing for woke games and trying to get non-woke games banned
it was all downhill from banning booth babes
 
More accurately #metoo'd.

From what I've seen in the past, if you wanted to get a cushy job as a Women, just go into the gaming industry. It was such a sausagefest, with so much money floating around, they were looking for Women to do any kind of job. Youtube livestream preview host. Official Twitter account Manager. Managers for the teenagers that made up the esports teams. With the current downturn wonder where all these women are gonna go.

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With the current downturn wonder where all these women are gonna go.

Back to working at Walmart. I was there, fat as fuck woman working reception at a game company had flys to her like shit from all the nerds working there. The good women working there in sales or marketing already had husbands and it was basically a second income for that couple.
 
The last time E3 was fun to lol at was when Sony made everyone walk to a different venue mid conference for TLoU2.
Companies wised up that people were laughing at them and stopped having live conferences. No Fun Allowed
 
The last time E3 was fun to lol at was when Sony made everyone walk to a different venue mid conference for TLoU2.
Companies wised up that people were laughing at them and stopped having live conferences. No Fun Allowed
Which one was the one where they had some dude play a pan flute?
 
E3 is not coming back because it shifted from being a trade show for people in the industry and people with a more than average interest to being a show marketed towards consumers..
I think Microsoft were the first to figure this out, which was why people found their 2006 conference more exciting than Sony spending an hour talking about the technical specs and economics aspect of the ps3.
Later on though Sony figured out how to appeal the most to the viewers who were there for just the games, and it was the beginning of the end when they figured out they could skip all of it in 2018
 
End of an era and there were some quality shows back in the day.

E3 was like the World Cup for gamers. A short period of time where the best of the best came out to compete on top form.
 
So let me get this straight:

2020: Cancelled
2021: Online
2022: Cancelled
2023: Cancelled

Why even bother at this rate? Just end it completely.

or just do online at the very least.
I think it's over. Everyone of value pulled out on their own accord this year.
Besides just being pointless and having nothing substantial to really show because of development times, I think the economy probably is also a factor for the developer/publishers in this case. Xbox, Sony and Ubisoft pulled off some stupidly elaborate sets and rented out big spaces for their glorified direct showcases for a while now IIRC
 
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