E3 canceled: Will E3 happen in 2024?
ESAE3 is the biggest event in all of gaming, but will the Electronic Entertainment Expo happen in 2024 – or even ever again?
Starting back in 1995, E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo) has been a summer gaming conference where the biggest developers and publishers take to the stage to reveal their upcoming slate of games and hardware. People tune in to the event from all over the world to catch a glimpse of the trailers and gameplay from some of the most exciting games. It’s also where huge announcements have taken place and an event where those in attendance can play titles that are yet to be released.
However, since 2020, E3 has been on shaky ground with the global pandemic forcing the event to take a year off. Some fans and game publishers were already considering abandoning E3 in favor of their own digital-only shows, and the cancelation of E3 that year only expedited their plans.
Since then, some of gaming’s biggest names such as Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have either been non-committal with E3 or have simply not attended subsequent events. E3 2021 went ahead but with a reduced line-up of publishers, and since then, the show has been canceled every year.
E3 / MicrosoftWill E3 2024 be going ahead?
No. Like E3 2022 and 2023, the 2024 Electronic Entertainment Expo has been canceled and will not be going ahead.
The organizers of E3 have also officially confirmed that E3 will be coming to a permanent end, with 2021 being the last-ever event.
Why was E3 canceled?
E3 has been canceled for a range of reasons. The first has to do with the show’s attendance figures steadily dropping over the years but it mostly has to do with the changing landscape of the industry.
Publishers like Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Bethesda, and various others no longer need the event to draw attention to their products and can simply host their own digital-only shows.
Not only is this cheaper, but it also allows each publisher more control and achieves the same result. Most people watch E3 from home, enjoying the trailers and presentations from industry giants. Publishers have realized they can still offer this experience as a digital-only show – and don’t need to share the spotlight with competitors.
Essentially, it boils down to E3 no longer holding the benefits it once had, and the writing was on the wall for E3 even before the 2020 show needed to be called off due to the pandemic. This forced publishers to pivot and try something different, which they ultimately found more suitable.
However, E3 may be gone, but Sony, Microsoft, and others are still likely to hold summer shows like the PlayStation Showcase or the Xbox Games Showcase. Nintendo also holds its Nintendo Direct shows.
While these events are now unlikely to happen around the same weekend, they’re still just as exciting. Each publisher knows that this is an ideal time to hold such a show, as many gamers will miss E3 and this allows them to capture the spirit of it in a way players enjoy. E3 may be over, but what it represents will live on.
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