The going theory seems to be that if all these developers go a year without E3 and realize they don't actually need it to do their jobs, E3 will probably not come back next year, regardless of any public health crisis.
All of the problems with E3, all of them, are self inflicted by the games industry.
E3 got too big, too showy, and too much of an "experience"
E3 stopped being a week long event and is now more of a month long event that starts way before E3 proper
E3 is no longer the biggest games announcement showcase. Other conventions like PAX, GDC, Gamescom, and TGS have stolen a lot of E3's thunder.
E3 is no longer a consolidated event. With Nintendo participating, but with Nintendo Direct, and Sony going to a similar thing with "State of Play," two of the 3 big players aren't even a part of the event proper anymore.
Ultimately E3 is a casualty of digital streaming. It lost its relevance to the superior methods of direct publisher communication years ago, and what we've seen since then is just a prolonged process of the rest of the industry catching on.
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AxenMy avatar is Excalibur.Yes, the sword.Registered Userregular
Or the ESA could be like, "You guys want your games rated or what?"
I want to say I doubt they would. I want to say that.
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
Dang, that sucks for them. Hopefully they can still do a digital one or something and people still tune in. I imagine if they do a digital conference during that E3 week that everyone else is doing theirs, they should still get that bump in viewers that E3 would've afforded them (though probably not quite as many).
Is that the plan for Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft? Go ahead and just do digital press conferences or whatever during that week?
I'm honestly in favor of E3 becoming a digital event, with no physical presence at all.
Just have all the publishers and studios do their own thing, but during a defined week. But then just upload it all to Youtube and skip the awkward live show thing.
The live show is basically just the Todd Howard verbal masturbatory show anyway, right?
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SnicketysnickThe Greatest Hype Man inWesterosRegistered Userregular
Dang, that sucks for them. Hopefully they can still do a digital one or something and people still tune in. I imagine if they do a digital conference during that E3 week that everyone else is doing theirs, they should still get that bump in viewers that E3 would've afforded them (though probably not quite as many).
Is that the plan for Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft? Go ahead and just do digital press conferences or whatever during that week?
Phil Spencer is saying that Xbox at least will be going digital
Sony and Nintendo were doing that anyway so the variable is whether everyone is sticking to "E3 week" or if there will be separation. I'd expect that most companies will stick to the same dates for this year though as that's what their pipeline has been aimed at. Pretty sure that no-one will go dramatically early though.
Dang, that sucks for them. Hopefully they can still do a digital one or something and people still tune in. I imagine if they do a digital conference during that E3 week that everyone else is doing theirs, they should still get that bump in viewers that E3 would've afforded them (though probably not quite as many).
Is that the plan for Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft? Go ahead and just do digital press conferences or whatever during that week?
Phil Spencer from Xbox has already announced a "digital event". Considering Larry Hryb, the long-time Xbox spokesman, had been talking about E3 preparation for a few months now, that's not surprising.
Presumably not much change for Sony and Nintendo, since they did not have large venues reserved (whereas Xbox had the Microsoft Theater), and will just lean more on their online presentations.
I'm honestly in favor of E3 becoming a digital event, with no physical presence at all.
Just have all the publishers and studios do their own thing, but during a defined week. But then just upload it all to Youtube and skip the awkward live show thing.
The live show is basically just the Todd Howard verbal masturbatory show anyway, right?
It's not the worse idea. I wouldn't mind the VGA's moving away from Geoff Keighley's verbal masturbation show, personally.
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
Really the only reason I could see E3 sticking around is because of Ubisoft's conference and that alone.
But seriously yeah...I think at this point E3 is more for the business side of things and "networking" more than anything else.
This isn't really a problem at all. Sure, they might not be on the E3 main stage or anything, but this is the digital era. They can put out a carefully curated video that would probably be way better than any stage performance. Stuff always goes wrong live. Audio problems. Video problems. Live-play demonstrations failing. Controller batteries dying. Powerpoint clickers not clicking. So many things can go wrong, and always do. I think you can probably count the number of E3 presentations that went off perfectly on one hand.
The point being, this isn't really a major setback at all. It might actually be a blessing in disguise.
I'm honestly in favor of E3 becoming a digital event, with no physical presence at all.
Just have all the publishers and studios do their own thing, but during a defined week. But then just upload it all to Youtube and skip the awkward live show thing.
The live show is basically just the Todd Howard verbal masturbatory show anyway, right?
I saw a bunch of devs on Twitter saying E3 the show is the least important part of E3. The important part is backroom meetings and networking and whatnot that gets games pitched and made, and that the impact of E3 being cancelled won't be felt for a while.
I'm honestly in favor of E3 becoming a digital event, with no physical presence at all.
Just have all the publishers and studios do their own thing, but during a defined week. But then just upload it all to Youtube and skip the awkward live show thing.
The live show is basically just the Todd Howard verbal masturbatory show anyway, right?
I saw a bunch of devs on Twitter saying E3 the show is the least important part of E3. The important part is backroom meetings and networking and whatnot that gets games pitched and made, and that the impact of E3 being cancelled won't be felt for a while.
Interesting.
I guess as consumers that's the stuff we don't see.
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
I'm honestly in favor of E3 becoming a digital event, with no physical presence at all.
Just have all the publishers and studios do their own thing, but during a defined week. But then just upload it all to Youtube and skip the awkward live show thing.
The live show is basically just the Todd Howard verbal masturbatory show anyway, right?
I saw a bunch of devs on Twitter saying E3 the show is the least important part of E3. The important part is backroom meetings and networking and whatnot that gets games pitched and made, and that the impact of E3 being cancelled won't be felt for a while.
damn that would have been quite the string of announcements. i'm guessing all those projects are next-gen focused based on how tight lipped WB have been. they've been teasing a new Batman game for what seems like forever, folks have been wondering what Rocksteady have been up too since Arkham Knight released, and i have to admit i had completely forgotten about that Harry Potter leak so that would have seemed to have come out of nowhere if things have gone to plan.
Isn't that the ESRB? Also, that was basically a way to self-police the industry so that the government wouldn't step in.
And then they all fucked it up with lootboxes.
ESA controls the ESRB. They're the parent company.
the ESA and the ESRB also exist entirely at the pleasure of the large publishers as their political lobbying arm. If the publishers decide E3 no longer serves their purposes, E3 just goes away.
I'm honestly in favor of E3 becoming a digital event, with no physical presence at all.
Just have all the publishers and studios do their own thing, but during a defined week. But then just upload it all to Youtube and skip the awkward live show thing.
The live show is basically just the Todd Howard verbal masturbatory show anyway, right?
I saw a bunch of devs on Twitter saying E3 the show is the least important part of E3. The important part is backroom meetings and networking and whatnot that gets games pitched and made, and that the impact of E3 being cancelled won't be felt for a while.
Obviously deals can be hashed out over emails and phone calls, but someone on Twitter was saying deals have been made over casual hangouts like in the green room of the GB nightly shows.
There must be something else those people can do, if both sides are looking to make deals this year.
The main issue I think is that basically everybody has a presence at E3. There's never a more efficient place to work out plans and deals than a trade show. We've lost two major industry trade shows this year, and TGS is at best up in the air (can't recall on that one)? If it was just E3 they could meet elsewhere.
I could see that. Schmoozing with devs is kind of like how some great movies come about. Big names with meet each other for the first time, pitch an idea, and wonder why they never collaborated on a thing before. If the chemistry (and money) is there, a thing happens and you get game deals made.
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reVerseAttack and Dethrone GodRegistered Userregular
Or the ESA could be like, "You guys want your games rated or what?"
I want to say I doubt they would. I want to say that.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure blackmailing is illegal, even in America.
It wouldn't be blackmail at all.
In fact exactly this happens more often in the corporate world then you'd think. The ESRB is a business. Publishers pay to have their games rated and the ESRB can chose not to. Hell, Disney does something similar to movie theaters all the time.
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
Or the ESA could be like, "You guys want your games rated or what?"
I want to say I doubt they would. I want to say that.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure blackmailing is illegal, even in America.
It wouldn't be blackmail at all.
In fact exactly this happens more often in the corporate world then you'd think. The ESRB is a business. Publishers pay to have their games rated and the ESRB can chose not to. Hell, Disney does something similar to movie theaters all the time.
OctoberRavenPlays fighting games for the storySkyeline Hotel Apartment 4ARegistered Userregular
I'm not too dissappoint. Give me any trailers for VTMB2, Cyberpunk, Watch_Doge, and I'm good. Bonus points if more Yakuza on the PC is announced.
Currently Most Hype For: VTMB2, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Alan Wake 2 (Wake Harder)Currently Playin: Guilty Gear XX AC+R, Gat Out Of Hell
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
E3 stopped being a gaming event years ago, it has just devolved into a pathetic mess of overpriced advertising that desperately tried to get a hold of exclusive content to try and convince people it was relevant anymore.
There are so many other options out there now and game development has bled into so many other spaces that I don't see this as any kind of loss to anybody but advertising types just dying to blow millions on absurdly-overdone one-shot displays.
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OctoberRavenPlays fighting games for the storySkyeline Hotel Apartment 4ARegistered Userregular
E3 stopped being a gaming event years ago, it has just devolved into a pathetic mess of overpriced advertising that desperately tried to get a hold of exclusive content to try and convince people it was relevant anymore.
There are so many other options out there now and game development has bled into so many other spaces that I don't see this as any kind of loss to anybody but advertising types just dying to blow millions on absurdly-overdone one-shot displays.
I mean... E3 has always been a platform for advertising. Only recently have they tried (and, IMO, failed) to be a more community-based convention, but it's clearly just a ploy to get people to pay attention to the advertising. The real problem for E3 is that the industry titans don't need E3 anymore. The more big name publishers decide "nah fam, I'm gonna do my own thing on YouTube", that's another nail in E3's already assembled, painted, and upholstered coffin. And once the Devolvers of the world realize they don't and never needed E3 either, that's the end of the road.
Currently Most Hype For: VTMB2, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Alan Wake 2 (Wake Harder)Currently Playin: Guilty Gear XX AC+R, Gat Out Of Hell
There's something to be said for watching videos/trailers with a live audience though. I know people say "oh they can toss it up on YouTube and be done with it" but stuff like in this video just gets you extra hyped:
I don't know... I'll miss that sort of interaction that publishers had with the fans.
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
edited March 2020
I think people forget...E3 started as a trade show.
It just became this tradeshow/gamer event/three day advertisement chimera somewhere along the way.
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OctoberRavenPlays fighting games for the storySkyeline Hotel Apartment 4ARegistered Userregular
I mean, they can have that interaction with the fans at other, community-focused events.... events that boast higher attendance, to boot.
Also, that video is from 2015, before E3 started their general admission experiment. And even then, E3 had 15000 general admission passes available in 2019, meaning less than a quarter of the people attending were 'the fans'.
Currently Most Hype For: VTMB2, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Alan Wake 2 (Wake Harder)Currently Playin: Guilty Gear XX AC+R, Gat Out Of Hell
I mean, they can have that interaction with the fans at other, community-focused events.... events that boast higher attendance, to boot.
Also, that video is from 2015, before E3 started their general admission experiment. And even then, E3 had 15000 general admission passes available in 2019, meaning less than a quarter of the people attending were 'the fans'.
Okay it was just an example of what I was referring to. It wasn't meant to be the last good one lol.
E3 would have been literally 3 months away from now, there's no way they can use the coronavirus as an excuse for cancelling it this early.
I don't think it's gonna be any better in 3 months, tbh.
Not to mention, publishers have to make logistical decisions well ahead of time. You're talking hotels, travel, booth space, etc.
Hell, even things like vans for transporting people around can be a pain to procure in advance.
I'm fortunate enough to have a contact in the board game industry that has gotten me out to work with them at a couple of events each year, and some of the stuff they do is prepared well in advance. Booking for a booth likely happens a full year ahead of time, and things like flights, hotels, and whatnot are often several quarters out. This company had a local convention get rescheduled for the summer, and also had an industry event see enough vendors backing out to decide to follow suit. We're hoping Gencon isn't impacted (~5 months away as it is), but it's entirely possible this is still rebounding throughout the population for months to come, and at some point in time the vendors, venue, and city/state will need to make the call to go or not.
I empathize, and can only imagine it's similar for these companies. I applaud not needlessly putting people at risk of infection or proliferating it throughout their office/homes/communities, but as a time when they'd get to showcase their work to both journalists/gamers directly, and the world at large, this must be a frustrating setback.
You know what would be great? If something like this actually helped bring back the demo level. With digital distribution as large as it is, why not start showcasing a curated slice of the experience to anyone that wants it? I know the demo isn't entirely dead, though sometimes hidden away as a pre-order bonus. But if you can't put it into people's hands physically, maybe start doing so digitally again in a more common manner.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
There's something to be said for watching videos/trailers with a live audience though. I know people say "oh they can toss it up on YouTube and be done with it" but stuff like in this video just gets you extra hyped:
Perhaps this will be an unexpected benefit to the boom of VR gaming. Not that you'd want to allow hundreds or thousands of VR participants to add audio (so many racial slurs), but some kind of cheering option to simulate the roar of the crowd (with limits so people weren't assholes about it) might be interesting.
Not the same, but it might be better than 'this entire experience is now dead'.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
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E3 got too big, too showy, and too much of an "experience"
E3 stopped being a week long event and is now more of a month long event that starts way before E3 proper
E3 is no longer the biggest games announcement showcase. Other conventions like PAX, GDC, Gamescom, and TGS have stolen a lot of E3's thunder.
E3 is no longer a consolidated event. With Nintendo participating, but with Nintendo Direct, and Sony going to a similar thing with "State of Play," two of the 3 big players aren't even a part of the event proper anymore.
I want to say I doubt they would. I want to say that.
And then they all fucked it up with lootboxes.
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ESA controls the ESRB. They're the parent company.
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Dang, that sucks for them. Hopefully they can still do a digital one or something and people still tune in. I imagine if they do a digital conference during that E3 week that everyone else is doing theirs, they should still get that bump in viewers that E3 would've afforded them (though probably not quite as many).
Is that the plan for Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft? Go ahead and just do digital press conferences or whatever during that week?
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
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The best-laid plans of mice and marketeers...
Just have all the publishers and studios do their own thing, but during a defined week. But then just upload it all to Youtube and skip the awkward live show thing.
The live show is basically just the Todd Howard verbal masturbatory show anyway, right?
Phil Spencer is saying that Xbox at least will be going digital
Sony and Nintendo were doing that anyway so the variable is whether everyone is sticking to "E3 week" or if there will be separation. I'd expect that most companies will stick to the same dates for this year though as that's what their pipeline has been aimed at. Pretty sure that no-one will go dramatically early though.
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Phil Spencer from Xbox has already announced a "digital event". Considering Larry Hryb, the long-time Xbox spokesman, had been talking about E3 preparation for a few months now, that's not surprising.
Presumably not much change for Sony and Nintendo, since they did not have large venues reserved (whereas Xbox had the Microsoft Theater), and will just lean more on their online presentations.
EDIT:
It's not the worse idea. I wouldn't mind the VGA's moving away from Geoff Keighley's verbal masturbation show, personally.
But seriously yeah...I think at this point E3 is more for the business side of things and "networking" more than anything else.
This isn't really a problem at all. Sure, they might not be on the E3 main stage or anything, but this is the digital era. They can put out a carefully curated video that would probably be way better than any stage performance. Stuff always goes wrong live. Audio problems. Video problems. Live-play demonstrations failing. Controller batteries dying. Powerpoint clickers not clicking. So many things can go wrong, and always do. I think you can probably count the number of E3 presentations that went off perfectly on one hand.
The point being, this isn't really a major setback at all. It might actually be a blessing in disguise.
I saw a bunch of devs on Twitter saying E3 the show is the least important part of E3. The important part is backroom meetings and networking and whatnot that gets games pitched and made, and that the impact of E3 being cancelled won't be felt for a while.
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Interesting.
I guess as consumers that's the stuff we don't see.
That's what I've always heard as well.
the ESA and the ESRB also exist entirely at the pleasure of the large publishers as their political lobbying arm. If the publishers decide E3 no longer serves their purposes, E3 just goes away.
Yep:
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The main issue I think is that basically everybody has a presence at E3. There's never a more efficient place to work out plans and deals than a trade show. We've lost two major industry trade shows this year, and TGS is at best up in the air (can't recall on that one)? If it was just E3 they could meet elsewhere.
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I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure blackmailing is illegal, even in America.
Clearly someone needs to make the Tinder of game devolpment.
It wouldn't be blackmail at all.
In fact exactly this happens more often in the corporate world then you'd think. The ESRB is a business. Publishers pay to have their games rated and the ESRB can chose not to. Hell, Disney does something similar to movie theaters all the time.
Almost every time someone says, "That's blackmail!" in a book or movie, my reaction is, "No, it's extortion."
It's little details like this why I got disbarred.
But also the murders.
Bundling is illegal. Or supposed to be, anyways.
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There are so many other options out there now and game development has bled into so many other spaces that I don't see this as any kind of loss to anybody but advertising types just dying to blow millions on absurdly-overdone one-shot displays.
I mean... E3 has always been a platform for advertising. Only recently have they tried (and, IMO, failed) to be a more community-based convention, but it's clearly just a ploy to get people to pay attention to the advertising. The real problem for E3 is that the industry titans don't need E3 anymore. The more big name publishers decide "nah fam, I'm gonna do my own thing on YouTube", that's another nail in E3's already assembled, painted, and upholstered coffin. And once the Devolvers of the world realize they don't and never needed E3 either, that's the end of the road.
I don't know... I'll miss that sort of interaction that publishers had with the fans.
It just became this tradeshow/gamer event/three day advertisement chimera somewhere along the way.
Also, that video is from 2015, before E3 started their general admission experiment. And even then, E3 had 15000 general admission passes available in 2019, meaning less than a quarter of the people attending were 'the fans'.
Okay it was just an example of what I was referring to. It wasn't meant to be the last good one lol.
Hell, even things like vans for transporting people around can be a pain to procure in advance.
I'm fortunate enough to have a contact in the board game industry that has gotten me out to work with them at a couple of events each year, and some of the stuff they do is prepared well in advance. Booking for a booth likely happens a full year ahead of time, and things like flights, hotels, and whatnot are often several quarters out. This company had a local convention get rescheduled for the summer, and also had an industry event see enough vendors backing out to decide to follow suit. We're hoping Gencon isn't impacted (~5 months away as it is), but it's entirely possible this is still rebounding throughout the population for months to come, and at some point in time the vendors, venue, and city/state will need to make the call to go or not.
I empathize, and can only imagine it's similar for these companies. I applaud not needlessly putting people at risk of infection or proliferating it throughout their office/homes/communities, but as a time when they'd get to showcase their work to both journalists/gamers directly, and the world at large, this must be a frustrating setback.
You know what would be great? If something like this actually helped bring back the demo level. With digital distribution as large as it is, why not start showcasing a curated slice of the experience to anyone that wants it? I know the demo isn't entirely dead, though sometimes hidden away as a pre-order bonus. But if you can't put it into people's hands physically, maybe start doing so digitally again in a more common manner.
Perhaps this will be an unexpected benefit to the boom of VR gaming. Not that you'd want to allow hundreds or thousands of VR participants to add audio (so many racial slurs), but some kind of cheering option to simulate the roar of the crowd (with limits so people weren't assholes about it) might be interesting.
Not the same, but it might be better than 'this entire experience is now dead'.