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The Rise and Fall of E3

If you’ve been playing video games for a long time and lived through the 2000s and 2010s, then you would know what E3 is. It is called the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Video game companies, journalists, and the regular gamers would look forward to the hype and what took place in these events, but sadly, that is no more.

The early beginnings of E3

E3 1995
E3 at 1995

The very first E3 was held in Los Angeles back in 1995. It was just a small-time event, think of it as a press conference where video game and electronic companies (i.e., video, digital, etc.) presented their new and upcoming goods. For the video game side, they presented new games, and the big one was the reveal of the PlayStation 1’s price. The console was already out in Japan, and they introduced the price with the famous line “TWO NINETY NINE,” which meant the console would come out for the price of $299.

Rise to prominence

The 1995 E3 success paved the way for it to continue. While we don’t have a lot of memorable moments from the late 90s to the early 2000s, it was the mid-2000s when E3 rose to prominence. The mid 2000s brought all three console companies at each other’s throats. Nintendo, Sony (PlayStation), and Microsoft (Xbox) had to outdo each other. This led gamers to consider what each company would do.

E3 2004 announced the Nintendo Wii, and we all know how that succeeded. The console itself launched and sold over 100 million units today. Wii Sports was a monster in the community, and even casual to non-gamers bought it.

E3 2005 announced the Xbox 360, and that system demolished the PlayStation 3 after its own failed presentation. It wouldn’t be until E3 2013 that Sony would demolish the Xbox One with the reveal of the PS4 and their legendary “HOW TO SHARE USED GAMES ON PS4”. That’s because of Microsoft’s Kinect requirement and its always online.

All of these memories and moments led to E3 being the place to be. That’s the other thing: regular people can enter E3 and witness those presentations. They had to pay a ticket, but the point is, there were game demos, and anyone could get a taste of them. It is like a big convention with the big names involved.

Slow decline and eventual death

By the mid 2010s’, E3 has slowly been changing. One thing is that they wouldn’t sell tickets to regular people anymore. This means it was an invite-only event, and people who were there were chosen after a grueling application period. It also became less about video games and more about pop culture.

There’s nothing wrong with that, but video games were always a huge deal. They slowly catered celebrity appearances and promotions who don’t really game a lot. Slowly, around 2018, a lot of video game companies stopped going to E3. They were having their own presentation online, like the Nintendo Direct, where Nintendo did their own thing.

By 2020, when COVID-19 lockdowns were happening, that was the nail that closed E3’s coffin. With people not being able to travel, E3 was cancelled that year, or at least a digital and online version came.

E3 Cancelled
Official announcement from 2020 Twitter (X) that E3 was cancelled

The legacy E3 left behind

E3 officially died in the year 2023. No more conventions and announcements, and it never had a digital platform left. The legacy of E3 is that it was always the go-to place for all of your video game announcements and things. It hyped up games and gaming events until it eventually died. Today, there are some events that slightly mimic E3, like the Summer Games Show, Tokyo Game Show, and even the Game Awards, which show some video game announcements. Remember the days and moments when E3 was still around, because it’s never coming back.

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