E3 2022 Canceled - Like a dying dog being put to sleep, really

[Nguyen Van Phuoc]

https://kotaku.com/e3-2022-canceled-digital-physical-esa-video-games-expo-1848733770

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E3 2022 Canceled​

Gaming's biggest stage skips another year as it struggles to stay relevant​

By
Ari Notis

Pour one out for the “world reveals” and “world exclusives.” E3 won’t happen at all this summer, the Entertainment Software Association said in a statement to Kotaku.

The news, which was first reported by IGN, confirms what some observers anticipated would happen. For 2022, event organizers with the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) didn’t plan on hosting an in-person event, citing health concerns from the then-nascent omicron variant back in January, though the org’s statement at the time never explicitly stated a digital event would happen this year.

“We previously announced that E3 would not be held in person in 2022 due to the ongoing health risks surrounding COVID-19. Today, we announce that there will also be no digital E3 showcase in 2022,” the ESA said today. “Instead, we will devote all our energy and resources to delivering a revitalized physical and digital E3 experience next summer.”

This is the second time in three years where the ESA hasn’t held its annual hype fest. In 2020, due to the pandemic, organizers called it off. The event returned last year, albeit as an all-digital affair. Rumors swirled as early as January that E3 wouldn’t happen this year. It’s a huge blow, as E3 struggles to stay relevant amid the proliferation of unaffiliated all-digital events, like Sony’s regular State of Play showcases and Nintendo’s immensely popular, yet frustratingly sporadic, Direct streams.

But it’s in line with trends around E3's dwindling relevance, as publishers move away from one singular week of hype and instead toward one-off events that happen throughout the year. Sony hasn’t taken part in E3 for years. Earlier this month, EA cancelled its annual E3-adjacent showcase, EA Play Live. Instead, it’ll reveal developments about its forthcoming slate of games—like Skate 4—in piecemeal announcements as details become ready for the public.

Minutes after word around E3's cancellation started to spread online, Geoff Keighley, the host of Summer Game Fest and the Game Awards, and the owner of a seemingly bottomless sneaker closet, tweeted out a winky-face emoji. The Summer Game Fest Twitter account, meanwhile, reassured followers that its event will kick off with a live showcase, with details to come.

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Canceled due to COVID-19. Sure nigga. I have a feeling it won't be returning in 2023.

 

[Cantercoin]

Good last years e3 was fucking awful

 

[Marissa Moira]

Good last years e3 was fucking awful

But the fucking idiots won't remember and next year they'll scream "WE NEED E3 AGAIN!" and then get all hyped up for this bullshit that hasn't been worthwhile since 1999

SO PLEASE

REMEMBER,REMEMBER THE SHITFEST OF JUNE

HOW BORING AND DULL IT WAS ALL AFTERNOON

NO GAMES TO BE SHOWN, ALL FOOTAGE WAS SCRIPTED

NO ANNOUNCEMENT WORTHWHILE, NO BABES WITH BOOBS

YOU COULD HAVE STAYED HOME AND WATCHED THE TRAILERS ON YOUTUBE

 

[Slimy Time]

Lmao, cancelled due to Covid when almost every government is in the midst of rolling back restrictions and opening things back up. Surely this has nothing to do with how utterly awful last year's E3 was. I may be misremembering or confusing it with VGA, but didn't they have a whole load of ugly cross dressers and trannies presenting at one point, and turned it into a political soap box?

 

[God of Nothing]

I hope Flashgitz does something still. Those are always fucking hilarious.

 

[Slimy Time]

Quick reminder what showed up last E3. Good fucking riddance to this shit.

I got my 1 game of the year (Elden Ring), doubt any shit the industry comes up with this year is going to get me excited.

Edit: Last year's thread for anyone who wants to dive a bit more into the shitshow that was E3 2021, California edition

 

[Breadbassket]

E3 is already one step into the grave, just push it in already and get it over with.

 

[I am vomit]

E3 is just a shadow of what it used to be. Can we just go back to showing new games instead of everyone trying to extend their e peen?

 

[OJ Simpson]

Good, and don't come back.

 

[trent]

So the Dorito Popes Summer Gamefest thing is the biggest western game conference now?

Western gaming is in bad shape.

 

[derpherp2]

Is E3 the DEATHLOOP IS EVERYTHING one or the weirdass pseudo-oscars one or the webcomics are retards one or the.... other one?

Seriously I never gave enough of a shit to differentiate between all the fou-
Wait it's the "Social Good is a currency we can use to sell shitty games" one I remember now. lmao. They're still going after that debacle?

Well. Were still going I guess.

 

[HiddenFist]

I'd rather have it cancelled than another repeat of last year's shit show.

 

[MrTroll]

Blaming Covid is an obvious face-saving pretext when the real reason is the big publishers who have been underwriting the whole thing all along no longer see any reason to pay the exorbitant fees needed to host a giant trade show in LA for 3 days when they can just put their shit up on Youtube or Twitch and hit all their metrics for a fraction of the cost. There will never, ever be another in-person E3 again, and if there is, it will be held in a Marriott conference room in some flyover state and attended exclusively by mid-tier and 'indie' publishers.

 

[Slimy Time]

I'd rather have it cancelled than another repeat of last year's shit show.

I think last year really was the final nail in the coffin for that show as it used to exist. It was as if they took a whole bunch of Californian hacks and got them to run it. Basically podcasting with Californian airhead stereotypes who admitted they didn't play the hottest games that year, to shoving trans and GG styled nonsense in our faces, to almost everyone of the big 3 pulling out, leaving a lot of the B side studios to carry the game announcements until Nintendo swooped in at the end.

It was so bad that it made Sony look like geniuses for disavowing and detaching themselves from that mess.

 

[Milwaukee Macho Man]

Good.

Just fucking post your shit on youtube, retards. E3 hasn't been needed for 15 years now. Out of all the things Nintendo has been behind on, they've been ahead of the rest on this for a while now.

And I don't mean make a shitty le epic skit show like Devolver does, just throw up the trailers and let it be.

 

[Martys_not_smarty]

Great another thing DSP has outlasted.

 

[Yellow Yam Scam]

E3 2006 will always be special for me because it was the first time i got pussy

 

[ChefKiss]

E3 is dead but so is the majority of the western game industry anyway. It's merciful for them to not have to try and shill the shit new Saints Row and similar garbage

 

[verissimus]

Nothing of value was lost.

 

[ThinkThankThunk]

What a shame, I was hoping the ESA could stop being garbage long enough to give me at least one more real E3 before croaking. Fuck the actual conference; the 24/7 E3 streams have consistently been the most fun I've had on the internet for years now. Knowing that there won't be a sea of shitposts, constant drinking games and a marathon of shitty video game movies and anime to crowd into this summer sucks ass. The closest thing there is to the unmitigated clusterfucks E3 provides are The Game Awards and those are ridiculously fucking boring, even when compared to the awful diversity panels and shit that made up last years E3.