E3 is officially dead – ESA confirms the trade show is no more

thesixthaxis.com:

Ding, dong, E3 is dead. The Electronic Entertainment Expo has officially been brought to a close by the Entertainment Software Association that organised the show, it has been confirmed.

“We know the entire industry, players and creators alike have a lot of passion for E3. We share that passion,” said ESA president and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis. “We know it’s difficult to say goodbye to such a beloved event, but it’s the right thing to do given the new opportunities our industry has to reach fans and partners.”

It brings to an end what was once a landmark gaming event each and every summer, ever since the ESA founded it in 1995. In the decades since then, it played host to defining moments for the games industry, punctuated by game console announcements and big game reveals during the frenzy of press conferences.

Truth be told, the writing has been on the wall for a long time. One-by-one, publishers were dropping out of the show, keen to avoid paying the ESA for a space in the LA Convention Centre and experimenting with online only showcases like Nintendo Direct, but 2018 was really the tipping point as Sony dropped out entirely.

Then there was 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic wiping out in-person events for at least a year. 2021 was turned into a digital-only event amidst more waves of Covid-19 variants, before dysfunction and difficulties in organising with production partners saw 2022 and 2023 both cancelled outright. 2024 was also at risk as the ESA and ReedPop chose to cancel their partnership.

Yet there’s still press conferences and flurries of announcements in the first weeks of June. Previously a partner of E3, Geoff Keighley founded Summer Game Fest off the backs of his The Game Awards platform, and there’s still a