The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the organizer of the E3 video game industry expo, confirmed that E3 is dead and that it has no plans to bring the show back.
“After more than two decades of serving as a central showcase for the video game industry, ESA has decided to end E3,” The ESA explained on X. “ESA remains focused on advocating for ESA member companies and the industry workforce who fuel positive cultural and economic impact every day.”
E3, which stands for Electronic Entertainment Expo, was a massive in-person event most often held in Los Angeles from 1995 until 2019. There, game developers and publishers would network and announce the games they worked on to the public. For its final three years, E3 was open to the public. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, E3 2020 got canceled, and the show never recovered. In 2021, it returned as a lackluster digital event, while 2022 and 2023 iterations of the show were canceled after being announced. Earlier this year, The ESA and ReedPop ended their partnership to work on E3, but the ESA was coy about the show’s future. Now, it’s clear that E3 won’t be coming back.
ESA President and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis revealed more when speaking to The Washington Post. “There were fans who were invited to attend in the later years, but it really was about a marketing and business model for the industry and being able to provide the world with information about new products. Companies now have access to consumers and to business relations through a variety of means, including their own individual showcases,” Pierre-Louis explained.
Ultimately, the ESA’s comments show that the nonprofit believes E3 is less of a necessity now that companies can hold physical and digital events of their own to announce new games. After two failed attempts to bring it back in person, the organization abandoned the concept entirely. Although 2024 won’t have an E3, Geoff Keighley has already confirmed that Summer Game Fest, his E3 alternative that first emerged during the pandemic, will return next year.
