In the end, the industry just didn’t want this E3 | Opinion
"It's possible that people have already made their mind up about E3. Perhaps all of this is a little too late. And when my bosses come back from meeting all the big games companies (with a presentation that will inevitably get leaked), perhaps we'll hear how everyone was indifferent, and it's just not what the industry is looking for.
"But I hope not. I hope they'll sign up and come back, so that together we can make E3 2023 a week to remember."
That's how I concluded an opinion piece I put together about E3 back in July last year. Back then I'd been asked to feed into the E3 project from my bosses at ReedPop, and I've been kept abreast of what was going on with the show periodically since.
And at the start, oh that glorious start, it seemed so positive. Companies were talking about taking up huge spaces… the E3 team was looking at how we could expand into the car park and use the extra areas that hadn't been used for years. Back then all bar one of the big games companies were enthusiastic about the return of E3. Or at least, they said they were. Or at least, their events teams said they were.
As the months dragged on and contracts remained unsigned, the mood changed. And they gave good reasons for pulling out. "Our games aren't ready", "We don't have code", "We can't be seen to be extravagant in this economy", "The timing isn't quite right", and so on.
It doesn't matter how true those reasons were, it all amounts to the same thing: the games industry didn't want it after all.
Not that ReedPop's first stab at E3 was flawless. Things moved a bit slower than anyone would have liked, and perhaps the communication strategy should have been different. But that's all detail. The pitch, I felt anyway, was good. It had
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