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Is E3 days numbered? Metaverse and digital events mortgage a 50 million business

1 year ago babelfish

Is E3 days numbered? Metaverse and digital events mortgage a 50 million business

E3 was supposed to take place in Los Angeles from June 13 to 16, but due to the high number of defections, it was cancelled. Will the 2024 Edition be a multi-million dollar business or will it vanish?

In its golden editions, well before the pandemic, the Electronic Entertainment Expo , better known as E3, the main video game fair of the year, managed to attract something like 50,000 journalists, hundreds of thousands of passionate gamers and dozens and dozens of exhibitors, with the main brands (Nintendo, Sega, Microsoft and Sony) jostling for the most beautiful spaces, even investing considerable budgets in collateral activities. Not an Oscar night, but we were close, also considering that the historic venue for film awards, the Dolby Theater, was often used by the most prestigious brands precisely for their presentations reserved for the press.

THE E3 CRISIS

The ESA fair, the Entertainment Software Association that takes care of the organization, has entered a crisis with the pandemic, which has blocked all events and has had the coup de grace from the metaverse and similar devils, which have pushed the great gods video games to move their presentations of the year to virtual stages.

After all, why fly to Los Angeles, occupy limited spaces, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on sets, artists, dancers (some Microsoft presentations were particularly theatrical, while one year Nintendo even hired an orchestra), when you can do everything from the convenient showcases offered by social platforms, perhaps anticipating your opponents and monopolizing attention?

A DIFFICULT EDITION

E3 2023 will take place in Los Angeles from June 13 to 16, 2023. The first two days will be reserved for business meetings and the press, while the rest will be open to the public. The event will open its doors in about seventy days, but we still don't know who will participate. And, given that the list of exhibitors who forfeit is getting longer by the hour, the hypotheses of those who argue that it will be canceled are also gaining ground. But let's proceed in order.

EXCELLENT DEFECTS

The first to withdraw from E3 2023, an edition that was supposed to represent the relaunch of the event after the sad years of the pandemic, was the Japanese Nintendo, which announced at the end of February: "We take into consideration our involvement in any event by evaluating case by case and we always think of various ways to keep the interest of our fans high”, reads the press release that arrives from Kyoto. “Considering that this year's E3 does not fit our current plans, we have made the decision not to participate. However, we have been and continue to be strong supporters of ESA and E3”.

A decision similar to the one made closely by Redmond: “We can't wait to present our Xbox Games Showcase on June 11 and will share more details later. We will be co-streaming our events as part of E3 Digital but will not be on stage at E3,” a Microsoft spokesperson explained to IGN . The Xbox House also confirmed the strategy of the proprietary event in conjunction with E3.

WHAT THE ESA SAYS

And given that Sony has disdained the Los Angeles fair for several years, ESA has tried to stop the hemorrhage of exhibitors by explaining that "reviving a fair after a three-year break and a global pandemic always has its challenges to face, which is why the which we conducted an extensive search (in collaboration with ESA companies) to identify the best partners with which to produce the E3”. Choice fell on ReedPOP , main partner for the organization of the event, also responsible for various other fairs such as PAX and Comic Con.

A choice perhaps not the happiest given that reality is experiencing a period of profound internal transformation. Lance Fensterman, the company's president for the past 14 years, is preparing to make way for the current vice president, Michael Kisken.

E3 2023 DOES THE SAME. OR NOT?

“We have made great progress in reformulating the event and have received great support from industry companies of all sizes and we are not only thinking about E3 2023, but also early plans for 2024 and beyond,” they initially assured from Esa.

In its press release, ESA had hinted that it intended to make the event survive despite the difficulty of bringing E3 2023 home. “It is important to note that, even if the show evolves and adapts, this will not have an impact on the main part of ESA's work for the companies that are part of it. Our priority remains to advocate for policies affecting this industry at the state and federal levels."

LAST MINUTE GOODBYES

But then the list of defections got even longer. Within a month, Ubisoft first declared its participation, then, also probably due to the ongoing spending review , withdrew it, preferring to independently organize a Ubisoft Forward Live, which will be held on June 12, 2023 in Los Angeles.

The French software house to the VGC magazine declared: “Over the years, E3 has created unforgettable moments for the whole industry. While we originally intended to officially attend E3, we have since decided to move in a different direction and will hold a new Ubisoft Forward on June 12 in Los Angeles. We look forward to sharing more details with our players soon."

From the East, the Japanese Sega made it known: “After careful consideration, we have decided not to participate in E3 2023 as an exhibitor. We look forward to sharing more information on announced and unannounced projects in the future."

China's Tencent said its Level Infinite division won't be at E3 2023, but said it attended Play Days in 2022 and that it "was an ideal experience to showcase our games to the media." I Play Days is the event managed by Geoff Keighley at the same time as E3.

Thus we arrive at the present day. According to Andy Robinson, owner of the VGC portal and ex-developer of Playtonic, usually well informed on the rumors concerning the world of video games, the official announcement of the cancellation of E3 2023 should arrive within hours.

“It's often difficult to separate fact from conjecture about E3, but it's no surprise I'm not hearing good things about it,” said Robinson. “I wouldn't be surprised at all if it gets canceled this week, but I hope it isn't. I feel so sorry for those working the event who did everything that was asked of them. […] I was feeling super positive about it but there are too many rumors at the moment for me to be hopeful.”

UPDATE: E3 2023 CANCELED

And just as the piece was going to page, the news arrived from the east coast of the United States that, predictably, E3 2023 will not take place. It should have represented the return of the main video game fair with great pomp, instead first the pandemic crisis, then the economic one that is gripping video games by reducing the budgets of the communication software houses have called into question a now obsolete formula. Will the 2024 edition take place?

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/e3-crisi/ on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 05:25:38 +0000.