E3 is not the only game in town any more. Back when I was getting into the gaming world with a passion, E3 was the convention for gaming. It was the one event of the year everyone talked about, the event around which our gaming watches were set. Times have changed. Other conventions have moved in and taken a lot of E3’s fire.
Despite this, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) maintains that E3 is still relevant to the modern gaming industry, and even asserts it is still vital. The reasons they give are the news E3 brings us, the attendance at the famous event, and the participation it still brings.
I, however, counter this argument with a different one. The reason E3 has lost much of its importance is because it is just a show. People arrive, they watch presentations, they go home. The show room floor closes at 5 and there is nothing else to do after.
Other events like Blizzcon and PAX are not just shows. They have contests, games, interactivity. People dress up in costume and parade around on stage, with people looking forward to showing off their work for months. A friend of mine came home from PAX East with almost $300 worth of board games he had never heard of before the event, games he and my friends and I have enjoyed ever since.
This game destroyed our regular gaming schedules for weeks. Thanks, PAX.
At E3, when the showroom floor is closed, everyone leaves. Other events sometimes have people still hanging around and having a good time long after midnight. The memories made during those extra hours matter, and knowing those extra hours will be there to use is a great draw.
E3 is important, and relevant as a presentation, but it is a series of presentations more than anything else. It has lost much of the unique power it once held because there are other options now that are not simply shows, but experiences. Those experiences are what people remember long after the news is no longer new.
