It seems E3 might not be back after all. 2023 was supposed to mark the convention's glorious return after skipping out during the pandemic, but the warning signs have been there for a while. Nintendo and Sony were 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:reported to be absent, and Xbox refused to commit, making supportive noises but suggesting it would instead host its own event in LA at the same time. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Nintendo conf�ꦗ�irmed it will skip the event, and now Ubisoft has announced it 168澳洲幸运ꦰ5开奖网:will do the same with a ꧑Ubisoft Forward, and it looks like E3 might be a thing of the past. The real killer was the fact the world got on fine without it, so why would it need it back? But it's difficult to see this sort of thing as not being a particularly damaging change for the worse across the industry.
Most of what you'll read about the fall of E3 is shot from the perspective of journalists, because it's journalists writing it. We talk about the great memories we have of E3, the friends we caught up with, and the nights at the bar. There's a little bit of talk about the exciting reveals down the years, but even then it's the random celebrity cameos or the rushing from one hall to the next - these reveals and cameos can be replicated with decentralised events, and the fun of running around breathlessly is very specific to us.
Sony isn't going to pay for the floor space at E3 just so I can meet up with some buddies for a glass of wine and tell them how I had to play 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ghost of Tsushima 2 while dripping in sweat because my interview with Phil Spencer overran at the otherꦓ end of the convention hall and I had to sprint to make my session.
E3 is a good time, but why should Nintendo pay for us to have a good time? When we discuss E3, we need to think a little wider. The fun times are a consequence of E3, not its purpose, but it's also not the only thing that's going away. Sony and Nintendo can make the world stop on their own. Everyone who cares about E3 will also tune in for a State of Play or a Direct at a moment's notice. It's significantly cheaper for these companies to just host a video stream than to send people to Los Angeles, put them up in hotels, and rent floor space, so that's what they do.
They miss out on interview coverage and can't promote their games with hands-on opportunities, but the thinking is that these benefits aren't cost effective when weighed against the price of attendance. Disappointing, but understandable. The reason I think Xbox has failed to commit one way or the other is because it badly wants to have the appeal of a Direct, but is yet to make it stick. Shadow dropping 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Hi-Fi Rush and following that up with a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Starfield event suggests Xbox is still chasin💖g that rainbow.
Let's say they eventually get there - where does that leave everyone else? Ubisoft's announcement has been met with hesitation because when Ubisoft tried to tag the previous Ubisoft Forward onto the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Summer Game Fest, it was all a bit of a mess. There was no substance whatsoever, just some devs playing an 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Assassin's Creed Origins patch that was already out. I'm hopeful the E3-adjacent Forward will be more interesting, with some Avatar details and probably more Assassin's Creed, but I'm still not sure there's enough for Ubisoft to deal the final blow to E3.
What we never talk about in all of this are the smaller studios. It's a much bigger risk and larger cost relative to their earnings for these studios to travel to E3 and other events, but at least it's a risk they can win. The most interesting games I saw at Gamescom last year were Afterimage, Cassette Beasts, Ad Finitum, and Friends Vs Friends. None🔜 of these games have studios or publishers that host their own digital showcases or would likely get many viewers if they did.
There are so many games these days, but another problem is that there just aren't enough. In the late '90s, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tomb Raider, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Crash Bandicoot, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy were some of the biggest games on the planet. between 1996-2000, we had five Tomb Raider games, three Crash Bandicoot games and two spin-offs, and three Final Fantasy games. Games take so long to make these days that nothing is as reliable or prolific. We have a lot more studios, but the biggest ones have fewer games. These major studios no longer need centralised events because they don't have a steady enough stream of releases to benefit from them, but the new studios need centralised events because they're too small to make a mark if everyone has to do their own thing.
While we talk about the good times E3 brought, the fact is these events are good for not only journalists, but also the public (who get to play the games), the major studios (who get to network and receive interview coverage), and minor studios (who can't promote themselves in a decentralised world). The only problem is they're too expensive for the major studios to pay for the benefit when they can do most of it themselves for free, and when they're removed, the whole thing tumbles. It's a short-sighted move, and I hope in time everyone can work together again.