E3, the legendary video game show, permanently closes its doors

It was the global meeting place for all video game lovers. For almost twenty years, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has been making young and old alike dream by presenting the latest developments in the sector in Los Angeles.

In a message on X (formerly Twitter), the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), organizer of the event, announced its definitive end. “After more than two decades of E3, each one bigger than the last, the time has come to say goodbye. Thank you for the memories,” we can read on the show’s web page.

Why the abrupt ending? Each year, the show brought together more than 65,000 visitors who flocked to the halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center. Over three days, during the month of June, E3 highlighted both console manufacturers, such as Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft, as well as video game publishers such as Ubisoft, EA or Activision. E3 was an opportunity for major companies in the sector to lift the veil on their upcoming productions in a real American-style show. In the days preceding the opening of the show, they each organized spectacular conferences broadcast on the Internet and followed live by millions of spectators.

But in recent years, E3 has seen four cancellations in a row. In 2020, it was canceled due to concerns surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic. The following edition is only broadcast online. In 2022, the show is canceled again without the organization specifying the exact reasons. A year later, despite the lifting of restrictions linked to the pandemic, the event was canceled again, having “failed to generate the necessary interest”.

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The collapse of E3 can be explained by “the arrival of new competitors, the withdrawal of partners, the evolution of public habits and the disruptions linked to the pandemic” explains Stanley Pierre-Louis, the boss of the ESA, in an interview with the Washington Post. For more than ten years, E3 was considered to be losing momentum.

The giants of the sector presented their new products less and less and this year, they announced that they would not participate in this edition, now preferring personalized launches and their own events. “Companies now have direct access to consumers and business partners through numerous channels, particularly through their own presentations,” says Stanley Pierre-Louis. In 2018, for the first time in its history, Sony did not attend E3, triggering a domino effect on other companies who also withdrew from the event.

This is an unexpected turnaround after promises of “reinvention” of E3 mentioned in September 2023. Initially reserved for professionals and journalists in its first years, the show gradually opened up to the general public. An audience always present, ready to queue up around the show under the baking Californian sun. It was during this event that we were able to discover future great industry successes such as the Nintendo Revolution, renamed the “Wii” upon its launch.

“An event that I have always wanted to go to at least once, but I never did” writes James, an X user under the organizer's post. Regrets shared by the entire community of fans of the show. "It's the same for me. I was in the military for almost the entire duration of E3. Once I retired, I was able to travel freely, but I was never able to go there after Covid arrived. I knew they would probably close shortly after, once everyone started to retire. We are there,” regrets another Internet user.