Though the writing was definitely on the wall for a hot minute there, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has now confirmed that the annual E3 event has officially been put out to pasture.
The message on the E3 social media pages and website reads:
“After more than two decades of E3, each one bigger than the last, the time has come to say goodbye.
“Thanks for the memories.”
— E3 (@E3) December 12, 2023
The ESA’s president and CEO, Stanley Pierre-Louis, also confirmed the news in a statement to The Washington Post:
“We know the entire industry, players and creators alike have a lot of passion for E3. We share that passion. We know it’s difficult to say goodbye to such a beloved event, but it’s the right thing to do given the new opportunities our industry has to reach fans and partners.”
E3 has long been a staple event for the gaming community, once an industry-only affair it eventually began opening its doors to the public. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the show to adopt an online-only format before struggles in recent years saw E3 not go ahead at all in 2022 or for its planned return to an in-person event in 2023.
ReedPop, the same folks behind PAX and who had initially signed to produce E3 in 2023 and beyond, parted ways with the ESA this year, and the ESA had confirmed with the Los Angeles Convention Center, where E3’s in-person expo once took place, that it wouldn’t be taking the show there in 2024. At the time it was believed that the show might be looking to reinvent itself in a year or two year’s time, but naturally now that won’t be the case.
With Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest event still grabbing attention during the same mid-year period as E3, and the most recent Game Awards seeing some criticism over its format, it’ll be interesting to see how Keighley and his team respond to this news or whether we see any new players attempt to fill the void left by the lack of a public-facing event in LA in June.
