You know the worst thing about E3, towards the end? It felt so false. It was the event equivalent of that Steve Buscemi ‘how do you do, fellow kids?’ meme – corporations rocking up and asking you to ‘hang out’, watch some ‘rad gameplay trailers’, and engage with its ‘poggers’ branding. Opening up to the public, the show didn’t really know what it wanted to be: was it a mega-serious B2B corporate fair that excelled at meetings and behind-closed-doors secret handshakes? Or was it a hip, young, and cool game fest that understood what it was to be a Gen Z gamer willing to spend megabucks to get to downtown LA for a few days and soak up the vibes?
In 2023, E3 was supplanted – at least somewhat – by Summer Game Fest. One big show, leading a flotilla of smaller publisher-run events, it’s like the failed clone of E3: less impactful, less impressive, less prestigious. It’s getting there, sure, but after talking to a lot of smaller publishers, Summer Game Fest is seen as something of a walled garden; a place where only the ‘select few’ can get in if they know the right people (or have a big enough checkbook on hand).
I was at Summer Game Fest a few weeks ago, and a lot of people there – journalists, publishers, developers, creators – all felt the specter of E3 hanging around, an unexorcised phantom. Its influence can still be felt, and with good cause; it was Gamer Christmas, and had been for years. Whatever happens with it in the future, E3 has a long tail, and it will continue to exert its pressure in some form, alive or dead, for years to come.
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