The demise of E3 signals the end of the gaming era
The first six years of E3 were all we had hoped to play: When I saw Beyond Good and Evil 2, I couldn’t have asked for anything more
I had a plan back at E3. The annual convention always had a wide range of game developers in attendance, offering reporters like me the opportunity to talk to prominent folks from all over the world. I decided it would be the ideal place to chat with Japanese creatives about the then-resurgent mood surrounding the country’s video game efforts. The creator of the Yakuza series was the first person on my list. I asked the stylish director where he bought his shoes in an attempt to break the ice. He replied, very simply — and in a very serious tone — “very expensive.” The only words of English he spoke during our entire conversation.
There wasn’t and still isn’t anything quite like it — and for that reason, I’m really going to miss E3. Shows like Summer Game Fest have popped up to fill in E3’s role, and publishers continue to take matters into their own hands with regular livestreams. But these are online events first and foremost. They don’t have the mass of personalities in one location that E3 did. They’re better for disseminating news and trailers, but you miss out on getting negged by iconic game designers like Nagoshi.
Many of these meetings had enjoyable stories that never made it on the page. Like the time when, for some reason, I decided to ask two veteran designers what Gooigi would taste like. The entire room — not just my interview subjects, but PR reps and translators — erupted in laughter. (This would turn out to be a surprisingly prescient question.) I was invited to a secret room at an event by the company to see a very early version of Beyond Good andEvil 2, and they stated that they now really believe that they are going to make the game. Six years later, the sequel has yet to be released, despite Ancel retiring from game development.
When I asked Masahiro Sakurai about the reaction he got after telling the development team how big of a game Super Smash Bros. was, what kind of response he got? It is possible that ultimate would be. A fellow developer chimed in to say that he remembered everyone getting quiet, even though there was no response at first. Sakurai said from where he stood, all he heard was silence. I was writing a piece when it was made.
The end of E3 and the fate of the video game industry’s most prolific trade event (Memory Software, Vol. II, No. 1)
For good this time, E3 is finished. The Entertainment Software Association confirmed today that the video game industry’s most prolific trade event will no longer be taking place in any year in the foreseeable future.
