Do you think the E3 is still relevant?

[m76]

Because I highly doubt it. I haven't even checked it out. With gaming news coming out left and right all year long, what is the significance of such an event?  To me E3 was last interesting when I was relying on printed magazines to get my gaming news. It was the time of year when every major reveal and announcement happened. But now with the internet being as accessible as running water, there is really no need for such an event. And big publishers are realizing this, they instead opt to stay away and have their own events, when it is not drowned out by all the noise.

All in all, I think announcing a game during E3 can even be detrimental instead of being a marketing boon.

[Shagger]

I pretty much agree. E3 was ment to give journalists a chance to see, and possibly try, new games to then report about them to fans through the publication they worked for, whether it be a magazine, newspaper, website or whatever.

 

When they first started to let the public in it became that much more difficult for journalists to see everything they needed to see. To to fix the problem they themselves created, E3 started hosting presentation style conferences so everyone could see new announcements and trailers all at once. This turned E3 into more of a con' (Like Comicon), something the games industry didn't really need as such a thing already existed.

 

The final nail in the coffin came when, again E3 themselves, introduced the idea of live streaming these conferences. After that, it was only a matter of time until game publishers and console manufacturers thought, "Why don't we just stream our own announcements at a time and schedule to suit ourselves?". And, now they are.

 

I know how this is going to sound, but the worst thing E3 ever did for itself was try to connect more directly to the public. That set it on the path towards irrelevancy. Maybe E3's fate wouldn't have been better if it had stayed closed to the public and been for journalists only, it's hard to imagine what would have happened if they did, but either way I actually like things better the way the have turned out. Publishers use the internet as it is now and take charge of thier own announcements. They get better, more direct feedback and it means we don't have go through the hassle and expense to going through 3rd party journalists to get the latest news.

Edited June 19, 2021 by Shagger

[killamch89]

13 hours ago, Shagger said:

I pretty much agree. E3 was ment to give journalists a chance to see, and possibly try, new games to then report about them to fans through the publication they worked for, whether it be a magazine, newspaper, website or whatever.

 

When they first started to let the public in it became that much more difficult for journalists to see everything they needed to see. To to fix the problem they themselves created, E3 started hosting presentation style conferences so everyone could see new announcements and trailers all at once. This turned E3 into more of a con' (Like Comicon), something the games industry didn't really need as such a thing already existed.

 

The final nail in the coffin came when, again E3 themselves, introduced the idea of live streaming these conferences. After that, it was only a matter of time until game publishers and console manufacturers thought, "Why don't we just stream our own announcements at a time and schedule to suit ourselves?". And, now they are.

 

I know how this is going to sound, but the worst thing E3 ever did for itself was try to connect more directly to the public. That set it on the path towards irrelevancy. Maybe iE3's fate wouldn't have been better if it had stayed closed to the public and been for journalists only, it's hard to imagine what would have happened if they did, but either way I actually like things better the way the have turned out. Publishers use the internet as it is now and take charge of thier own announcements. They get better, more direct feedback and it means we don't have go through the hassle and expense to going through 3rd party journalists to get the latest news.

Totally agree with both of you - it's utterly irrelevant as of now because hardly anyone watches it anymore and companies can simply host their own event. Besides that, journalists can't try to persuade people to buy one game or shun another because of their biased views.

[Empire]

E3 is great! It usually provides a wealth of information about new games, including new title announcements. Shows us where the gamers general opinion on who "is winning" the console race in the post news blitz/analysis (which is interesting in the run-up to a new console). However at times they just repeat the some old thing to the point that we know what's coming before they even do E3 and when I watch I just skip and mute whatever they are showing if I'm not intersted into the game. That being sai that E3 is still very important to the industry, publishers, retailers, and media.

[Heatman]

Well, in my opinion I believe that with what's going on with the E3 project right now, it's almost irrelevant. But if they really push for it, it may recover its relevance.