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The end of an era: E3 is officially dead. “After more than two decades of E3, each one bigger than the last, the time has come to say goodbye,” the official E3 account posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Thanks for the memories.”
Tweet may have been deleted
The reaction was immediate. E3’s post received more than 100,000 likes and 38,000 reposts on the platform within 3 hours.
The Entertainment Software Association, the nonprofit video game trade organization which ran E3, also came forward with their own statement. “After more than two decades of serving as a central showcase for the video game industry, ESA has decided to end E3,” the Entertainment Software Association wrote on its official account on X, formerly Twitter.
The ESA shared a link to the Washington Post story which broke the news, and quoted the organization’s president and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis.
“ESA remains focused on advocating for ESA member companies and the industry workforce who fuel positive cultural and economic impact every day,” the statement concluded.
Once the biggest event of its kind, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, has seen a dramatic end. Starting with its first event in 1995, it was the place where the year’s biggest video game news was revealed. The expo ran annually until 2019, the year it held its final in-person event. E3 2020 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, E3 returned as an online-only event due to the ongoing concerns surrounding COVID-19. E3 planned to hold an in-person event once again in 2022, but that was soon also canceled due to the pandemic. There was no online event in its place that year.
E3 had announced a return in 2023, partnering with ReedPop, the group behind other successful conventions such as New York Comic Con and PAX. However, months before the scheduled June 2023 event, E3 announced it was canceling the event yet again. This time, though, it wasn’t due to COVID-19 but lack of interest from the industry.
Major video game companies like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft had all planned to skip E3 2023 in favor of hosting their own events. It appears that during the years in which E3 was unable to host its usual showcase, these companies found that running their own online events, focusing on their own lineups, to be more successful.
In his statement to the Washington Post, the ESA’s Pierre-Louis explained that the industry has evolved to the point where E3 was just no longer a necessity.
“We know it’s difficult to say goodbye to such a beloved event,