E3 has been cancelled, long live the summer showcases
Game Conference Guide Insights - April 2023
I am sure you have heard of it. ESA with ReedPop (mostly known for PAX, EGX, New York ComicCon etc.) officially cancelled plans for E3 this year. Ever since the announcement has been made, articles, memes about its demise and weird moments produced by many cringy press conferences started populating commentary pieces.
I believed in the team and their vision to deliver a show that could adapt to fast moving natures of news cycle on the internet, be open about embracing fans and opening a trade show in its core to a wider audience. It was one of my predictions on how the events will look like in 2023 and I was wrong.
E3 was many things.
As a journalist for me it was incredible source for interviews, networking with developers and seeing projects behind closed doors before they were even announced. It was also one of a kind event that everyone had to attend including those who wanted to make a bold statement. It was also a show where you could interview hi-profile creators in a private box in Staples Center overlooking the court just a few hours before the arena hosted last game in the NBA Finals, or meeting Steven Spielberg while waiting in the Xbox lounge or casually chat with Tony Hawk. The concentration of talent, high-profile developers and their variety was higher than at Gamescom or GDC.
It was before the influencers and streamers took the priority and traditional press had to develop very sharp elbows to get to the source. E3 was one of my favourite shows from the professional perspective, same as GDC and gamescom are nowadays in terms of making business. The amount of news and breaking stories published during that week was incredible, and sometimes you have heard about obscure game that in the end “won the E3” in the middle of presentation of another potential GOTY contender.
E3 was also very tiresome. Eating overpriced food on stairs, running between West and South halls, cutting down the time by taking the route via 1st floor, making mistakes by booking back-to-back meetings, feeling completely drained from the near deafening presentations and scraping enough energy in the evening to write some stories for the editors when they wake up next morning.
And yes, for many E3 ended with the Monday’s broadcast of Nintendo Treehouse later developed into Direct which spawned a whole new genre how to get fans and gamers excited.
The middlemen (= press) were no longer needed to carry that message. But this shift has started way before when companies realized they could produce in-house behind the scenes videos and communicate with fans directly via multiple social channels and keep them engaged with new screenshots or concept art.
This was exacerbated when pandemic put a full stop to all in-person events and companies started to produce their own “Nintendo Directs”. On top they didn’t have to face the hard questions coming in from the press when some executive was making “smart remarks” or comments. With own showcase they are in complete control of the environment and the message, while saving tons of resources not pushing teams to deliver E3 playable build, invest in expensive booth and staff it. This was very much visible in 2020 with the significant drop of previews, hands-on and interviews.
We have changed how we access news, learn about new games, products, and sample demos. There are multiple alternative avenues (Steam Next Fest, LudoNarraCon, ID@Xbox etc.), but most importantly, there are virtual showcases. And they are here to stay, as for now.
PARTNER OF THE MONTH
In its 8th edition, Reboot Develop Blue is set to feature another stunning Reboot Develop Blue signature, 150+ speakers big, super unique, high-end lineup in 8 tracks.
Super early bird and Early Bird passes have been sold out completely and now the All Access Conference Pass pricing has switched to the Standard one. A large number of incredible speakers are waiting to be announced in the following days on the conference website as well as a lot of other interesting news and content related to the conference program.
Even with its vastly extended capacity, April edition of the conference is set to reach the limit of maximum attendees allowed (while the conference is set to be huge, impressively bigger than ever before, it aims to retain the unique boutique networking atmosphere) so be sure to book both your passes and accommodation on time.
I do miss crowded places, in some weird sense. The minute I would set foot in there, I would regret it. No one wants to line-up before the gates are open and run into a station to play a 20-minute demo otherwise you would have to queue up for 3 hours. With one click, I can download a fresh gameplay demo and go hands-on in few minutes during Steam Next Fest. You can’t beat this.
I am aware there is no single culprit that “killed” E3. The most obvious is the show fell behind the fast-developing market and simple couldn’t keep up. Bringing Reedpop on board delayed the inevitable. I understand this was a monumental task for everyone involved and tough call to make. E3 was not just a simple trade show, nor a conference, nor just another showcase. What it brought to its knees was sleeping behind the wheel for many years prior the pandemic.
To bring it back would be a massive undertaking, especially resource-wise and persuading the key stakeholders to join the show again. As of now it seems almost impossible. EA for years have been hosting EA Play at a secondary location, PlayStation withdrawn their attendance, Microsoft was hosting their showcase and demoing games across the street, same as punk outfit Devolver Digital. Nintendo as mentioned is focusing on their Directs broadcasted exclusively digitally.
And not to mentioning the growth Geoff Keighley is getting with its own Summer Game Fest, scheduled to happen (on accident) week earlier as E3 to steal all the thunder.
Last year there has been 16 big showcases during the Summer Game Fest / E3 week and this year I expect we will see more or at least they will be spread around the whole summer. As before, Game Conference Guide will be tracking all of them on a special Summer Page, but you can access all of them by searching “summer” or “E3” if you are feeling nostalgic via the search bar.
Summer of Games Week schedule include showcases:
6 & 13 June: MIX / Guerrilla Collective Showcase
8 June: Summer Game Fest
11 June: Xbox Summer Games Showcase
12 June: Ubisoft Forward Live
19 - 26 June: Steam Next Fest
29 June - 13 July: Steam: Summer Sale
TBA Future Games Show
TBA PlayStation State of Play
TBA Day of the Devs
More to be announced.
DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO BE PART OF A SHOWCASE?
Evolve PR team did amazing job and crunched data how many games are showcased during each press conference during the E3 week and how much buzz they generated in 2022. You can clearly see from the graph above that E3 and Summer of Games were the busiest and loudest.
What is scary though, from 759 games presented a whopping “24% of games receiving no coverage whatsoever and 30% receiving 10 or fewer articles for their showing.“
The article has lost of graphs and breakdowns based on publisher, long tail in the press and some good advice at the end to answer your questions if it makes sense to be part of a showcase or just skip it. Go and read it.
[Game Conference Guide is tracking games industry & game developers events, trade shows, festivals, conferences and events around the world.]
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Pavol Buday, curator @ GCG