E3, one of many world’s largest online game conventions, is shutting down completely, its organizers stated on Tuesday, ending what was as soon as an annual ceremony for gamers and creators after it struggled for years to stay related in a quickly evolving trade.
“After more than two decades of E3, each one bigger than the last, the time has come to say goodbye,” its hosts, the nonprofit Entertainment Software Association, introduced on its web site. “Thanks for the memories,” it stated, including, “GGWP,” or good sport, properly performed.
The Electronic Entertainment Expo, often called E3, had been held yearly in Los Angeles since 1995, besides when it was canceled in the course of the pandemic. It was one of the crucial high-profile venues the place sport makers showcased their creations to followers earlier than they went on sale, generally with dazzling demonstrations. Celebrities like Eminem and Rihanna appeared.
E3 was initially geared toward journalists and trade professionals. But the conference attracted so many followers that organizers scaled it all the way down to an invite-only convention in 2007. It nonetheless attracted as much as 50,000 trade members every June.
E3 later confronted competitors from fan-focused conventions like Comic-Con, the Penny Arcade Expo and MineCon that grew in reputation. It additionally misplaced companions, together with Nintendo and Sony, which diminished their presence and selected to disclose new video games elsewhere.
Players’ habits have additionally shifted. As bodily video games, with discs in containers, declined in reputation, cellular video games rose, overtaking PC gaming in income in 2016. The gaming enterprise shifted to digital distribution.
During the pandemic, organizers canceled E3 in 2020 and made it digital in 2021. It was canceled once more in 2022 and by no means recovered. E3’s everlasting cancellation was reported earlier by The Washington Post.
After saying the top of E3, the Entertainment Software Association stated on social media that it remained “focused on advocating for ESA member companies and the industry workforce.”