E3 has had a rocky past few years and the road ahead doesn’t look any clearer.
Earlier today, ReedPop and E3 both announced that they are no longer working together on upcoming E3 events. This already deals a huge blow to the already struggling convention, but it gets worse.
The ESA also let the Los Angeles Convention Center know that they would not be putting a show on there in 2024. While they have not outright announced that the event is canceled entirely, the LA Convention Center is where the show has been held since 1995.
This places the event in a complete stasis for at least another year. The ESA, the folks behind E3, also, according to GameIndustry.biz, are planning a “complete reinvention” of the E3 show in 2025.
There’s no telling what a complete reinvention would be. But, it’s possible that it could put a hard focus on a digital platform or just move to another venue and continue operation as usual. Or anything in between. It’s hard to speculate at this point.
E3 has been struggling for quite a while now, especially due to the pandemic making it harder for people to attend big events. But, they had some problems even before that with things like their entire 2019 press list getting leaked, and doxxing thousands of members of the press.
They partnered with ReedPop only very recently in July 2022. The plan was to bring back the E3 event this past summer using the folks behind PAX, New York Comic-Con, and other big conventions. Summer 2023 came and (now) went, with no E3.
“We appreciate ReedPop’s partnership over the past 14 months,” said ESA president and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis, “and support their ongoing efforts to bring industry and fans together through their various events.”
“While the reach of E3 remains unmatched in our industry,” he continued, “we are continuing to explore how we can evolve it to best serve the video game industry and are evaluating every aspect of the event, from format to location. We are committed to our role as a convenor for the industry and look forward to sharing news about E3 in the coming months.”
ReedPop’s statement was noticeably shorter and more concise.
“We have enjoyed our time working with the ESA and appreciate their commitment to the games industry as a whole," says ReedPop's Gaming Global VP Kyle Marsden-Kish. "While we will not be involved with the future of E3 we look forward to seeing its evolution and where the ESA takes it.”
While this departure is disappointing, it’s not unsurprising at this point in the venture. We hope E3 lands on its feet. But, it’s going to be a while before we know anything more.