E3 is officially dead.
It seemed like only a matter of time considering the cancellations of the past two years, due both to COVID and difficulties in ‘staying relevant’ as content remained largely digital in the post-pandemic age, but E3 officially announced the end earlier this week on Twitter/X.
It’s weird to imagine a world without E3, gaming Christmas that would happen in the middle of summer at the Los Angeles Expo hall, a centerpiece of the year in which developers would present shows, invite press to preview up and coming titles to help stoke the fervour for the future, and often announce brand new titles on top. E3 had been around since 1995, an accomplishment in itself, and as its notoriety grew, brands and publishers alike were keen to utilise the hype to announce their new projects, knowing it would get maximum eyeballs of the press and fans alike.
But things have changed in the intervening years, and while there was some decline in interest and a shift in focus around 2018-2019 with more emphasis on allowing the public to experience what was largely a trade show previously, COVID was truly the final nail in the coffin. We had already seen a shift in the way industry giants were operating and taking control of their announcements, XBOX moved their yearly presentation away from direct association with E3 and over to the Microsoft Conference Centre, conveniently located directly opposite the Expo Hall, and began offering fan access to their titles inside this centre instead, meaning there was no longer a need for floorspace inside the E3 Expo Hall. This must have been quite the blow monetarily, when an industry giant decides to take autonomy it often leaves others scratching their heads - why can’t we do the same?
As Twitch began growing in popularity a new zeitgeist began developing, rather than simply reading about the latest releases and announcements or watching trailers after the fact, there was now an opportunity to livestream the show in realtime, in a relatively painless experience for viewers. All of these conferences were now livestreamed digitally, your E3 week was hallmarked by your (if you’re based in the UK) midnight calendar of carefully scheduled shows, Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo Direct, Bethesda, Devolver Digital, Ubisoft, PC gaming show, all stacked one after the other in 3 or 4 days of copium fuelled hype.
It largely marked a shift in the way these companies began engaging with their fanbases. And, at least from my perspective, it seemed there was a change in attitude - why spend so much money on showfloor promotion to a limited amount of people when you can just control and record your own show from anywhere in the world to display to hundreds of thousands of captive viewers in the same timeframe? And once COVID hit and these remote liveshows became a necessity, the death knell was sounding. There’s obviously far more to it than this, and this is just the perspective of a person that attended a few E3’s and saw a dramatic shift in just those few years, I’d love to hear the experience of somebody with more insider knowledge as interest in E3 declined.
It is truly a shame though, there was nothing quite like going to a convention and experiencing all of those new games you’d be able to get your hands on soon… but things aren’t the same as they once were. You can watch somebody else play the closed beta of a game you didn’t get access to and make your mind up there, you’re bombarded with thousands of articles and opinions about every single title that’s announced in a way that feels exhausting, and honestly, conventions just aren’t what they used to be to me.
But what does the death of E3 mean to the average consumer? I think that’s the most interesting question to ask about all of this. What did E3 actually do for YOU? Will companies continue capitalising on the engrained habits and expectations of consumers to look towards new releases during the summer and continue a summer show schedule regardless of no anchor point? Or will they relax without the pressure of having vertical slices ready to go to adhere to the demands of marketers who need shows like E3 to feel confident in their market share? Are we seeing the slow decline of gaming conventions in general?
Will companies and consumers simply look towards another anchor date to share news and releases? The summer also sees Gamescom, Europes largest gaming convention which gets a litany of (admittedly fewer) news and release shows in its own right, and there’s also Summer Game Fest, which gets my guess as the most likely replacement for publishers/devs etc to schedule and hype up a show around. In fact, it almost feels as though Summer Game Fest was designed to be poised to scoop up what E3 leaves behind, a far more modern approach to video game marketing with a digital focus. While E3 may be gone, I think the essence of what it has become for most consumers will largely remain.
The real Dungeons and Dragons were the corporate overlords all along.
It has been a pretty damn big year for Dungeons and Dragons wouldn’t you say? A critical hit mainline movie [Dungeons and Dragons: Honor among Thieves released in March with 91% on Rotten Tomatoes], a hit game licensing the system [Baldurs Gate 3], many major projects and shows utilising D&D for play and profit, and a revenue increase of 40% overall cited during their Q3 revenue call.
Despite that, Hasbro [owners of Wizards of the Coast who own both D&D and Magic: The Gathering] have seen a consistent decline in share price, which must be partly what prompted them to layoff over 1100 staff, including some of those at WoTC, despite this portion of their business being reportedly the only consistently profitable part of the company. Are the relentless pursuit of profits to blame? The placation of shareholders who want to trim the fat? Difficult to tell really, but what is obvious is that 2023 has been a savage year across the board for every sector in gaming and tech on the whole. And let’s not gloss over the fact they chose to do this just weeks before Christmas, during a paricularly rough year with the cost of living rising globally. For the sake of the brand.
Last of Us abandons PVP plans
In an unexpected blog post earlier this week Naughty Dog let us all know development for their PVP project; The Last of Us Online, highly anticipated since being announced at the Summer Game Fest 2022 (ohwouldyoulookatthat), has ceased.
The original The Last of Us back in 2013 came with a PVP game mode called ‘Factions’, and that game mode starting growing quite a cult following, prompting Naughty Dog to develop it into something a little more substantial following the release of the sequel a couple years ago. According to ND, production has been cancelled due to the unavoidable damage continued development would do to their future single player titles, aka it would require too many resources for too long that they’d prefer to point in a different direction. And honestly, while this might be heartbreaking for fans anticipating the game, it cannot be underestimated just how much work a live-service game takes to both create and continuously prop up for years to come. You need a constant supply of content on tap in case gamers get bored, fresh creative ideas that help the game stay relevant, and a robust enough team to make that happen without the constant threat of crunch looming overhead.
Perhaps it would have been a hit. Perhaps it would have been another live-service game to fall by the wayside, noone has *truly* figured out what the secret sauce is, even king of the live service Fortnite has it’s ebbs and flows, and to me that’s because there is no secret sauce. A game can’t last forever maintaing a very high player base - eventually you’re going to run out of steam or people will move on to whatever the newest flavour of the month is.
Is it better for Naughty Dog to stick to what they do best, or is cancelling this a huge mistake?
House Flipper 2 releases!
If you know me you’ll know I love a bit of House Flipper. For some bizarre reason it itches the same scratch that Powerwash Simulator seems to, and it’s an unhinged and very enjoyable game to stream if you want it to be. House Flipper 1 was janky in all the right places, and while I haven’t played House Flipper 2 yet, be sure I will be, veryyyyy sooon…….
Oh, and Baldurs Gate 3 is now on Xbox, contrary to my previous writings, I just had some out of date information… enjoy!
finally…. It’s the Holiday Season (and I’m sure you can tell mentally I’m barely hanging on considering the absolutely shocking quality of writing in this issue, SORRYYY!!!), so the next issue of this will be a big huge Yearly Roundup, where we go month by month looking at all the biggest news, releases and dramas from 2023! I’ll see you then!
It sucks that people who worked on it won't see the result but I'm happy Naughty Dog chose the Single Player direction for their future. The original TLOU multiplayer was surprisingly good (fired it up a few months ago and I still found games) for a side dish and they should've done the same with this one if not at launch at least as DLC
The quality of writing is still excellent, Chief. I thought this stack was very well written and informative!
I will miss the idea of E3 but I think in the mass media marketplace of 2023, it’s just not cost or message friendly any more. Like you said, publishers and developers can have a lot more control and a lot more targeted audience with their own streams.