It was inevitable that E3 would end this way. Even before the pandemic put a hiatus on in-person meetings, Electronic Entertainment Expo was already on life support as the biggest developers had already put distance between themselves and the event to focus on their own presentations on their own time. And while the eventual cancellation of E3 was almost set in stone, I still feel a great sense of loss. Which is strange considering I’ve never been to E3.
I’ve covered it remotely before. It was my first year freelancing for a small gaming wiki site that no longer exists and I was excited because this was, in the eyes of my freelancer, the big leagues. I was covering E-damn-3. This was the event I had dreamed of when I first decided that working in an office was no longer for me. I was still at that desk job, watching the live presentation on YouTube, ignoring my actual work, while rushing to write short 200-word blogs about things like Hazelight Studios’ newest game. No exit. And I figured once I got a full-time game journalism job, I wouldn’t be doing this from a cubicle, but from the E3 auditorium itself.
But E3 was this monolith, my Everest, the one thing I felt I needed to do in order to call myself a “real” game journalist. And now it’s gone, possibly forever.
I’m sad not just because it’s a video game merit badge I’ll probably never earn, but because there’s so many little things to see and experience what in-person events like E3 facilitate. I just got back from GDC and I keep finding little indie games like 5 force fighters and moonstone island and having random, impromptu conversations with game developers and my own peers in higher esteem than walking the show floor or sitting through presentations and panels. E3 could have been that for 1,000.
I know my E3 idea was and is out of date. I also know that the event can be a huge burden on developers who have to take time out of their development schedule to produce the shiny demos and trailers that E3 demands, not to mention the costs associated with flights and accommodation for the event. people in Los Angeles. In that sense, the cancellation of E3 is a net good. But if he is brought back in the future as ReedPop’s statement suggests, I hope he finally gets a chance to go.
