Forcing myself to wakeup before noon on a Monday during summer break; calling in sick to my part time job; taking a vacation day to stay home from my 9-5; It didn’t matter where I was in life, I was going to watch every second of every E3 press conference. I put it in my shared calendar so everybody knew to not make any plans and not to bother me. I looked forward to that day more than any other, and now I’ve come to the realization that I’m going to have to let it go.

When E3 started in 1995, the video game industry was still in its infancy. Years prior, the biggest video game trade show was a small booth at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) located next to the adult film booth- that’s how obscure gaming was at the time. As the industry started to pick up steam in the early ’90s, it was becoming clear that an industry trade event would be vital for publishers and retailers to coordinate the marketing and distribution of video games. In 1995, GamePro magazine founder Pat Ferrel, along with help from his parent company IDG, founded the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).

Since its inception, E3 has been the biggest video game event of the year, and the Monday before the show floor opened up has been the main attraction. The biggest companies in gaming, both hardware and software would take the stage and show off what they had in store. For years, Microsoft, Nintendo, EA, Ubisoft, Square Enix, and Sony would all share in a day packed full of press conferences. What more could a gamer ask for? Press conferences full of trailers to get you hyped for your favorite games, for 10 hours straight. Like I said, this day has been nothing short of a holiday for me.

For a while, this jam-packed conference day made sense. One day for all of the top dogs to share their most exciting announcements. It’s a foreign concept for most other industries, but for games it works. Typical TV spots and billboards don’t hit the target audience, so one event to unveil a roadmap for the industry has worked well. Now, these companies have been slowly starting to realize that this once important day might not be as relevant as it used to be. It’s not as if people aren’t watching, they definitely are. E3 numbers have steadily increased year over year both in attendance and online viewership. The reason companies may not need E3 anymore is simply because, with the rise of platforms like YouTube and Twitch, a live event on a day where you may very well be overshadowed by a competitor just isn’t worth it. Why not produce your own announcement video, on a day of your choosing?

Nintendo was the first to experiment with the idea of “pulling out” of E3 press conference day, but still have a virtual presence with their Nintendo Directs. These pre-produced announcement videos give Nintendo the flexibility to not only have a less costly presence at E3 (a live event is expensive) but to also sprinkle in more Directs throughout the year. In marketing, it’s all about controlling your message, and new media is all about controlling the day. A single day packed with announcements from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo is exciting for the consumer, but a random Thursday in which a new Nintendo announcement is the only thing on Twitter is much more valuable for the brand.

Microsoft was soon to follow in their own way, by pulling their conference from their usual 12 pm Monday time slot and moving it to Sunday morning. While still technically part of the E3 buzz, they now have the chance to completely own a day. They don’t have to worry about Halo Infinite being one-upped by The Last of Us Part II, at least not for 24 hours or so. EA shortly followed and moved their EA Play event to Saturday. So now, instead of one day with conference after conference, we’re left with a Saturday-Monday schedule of conferences and announcements spread out a bit. Not the end of the world, right? Well, Sony decided to throw another wrench into the E3 formula.

In the first time in 24 years, Sony has announced that they won’t be attending E3 2019. They won’t have a press conference during their usual 9 pm Monday time slot, and they won’t have a booth on the show floor. Sony is straight up ghosting on E3 2019. Not only will it be weird to not have the biggest console manufacturer at the biggest gaming event of the year, but Sony has been the source of some of the biggest E3 announcements in the past five years— it’s a bummer to think that we won’t be getting any updates from their first party studios. Of course, the third parties that usually attend Sony’s conference will make their way to another stage, so nothing to worry about there.

It is important to keep in mind that we know what just about every Sony first party studio is working on, and the company is shifting its focus to their next generation console. We can’t discredit those realities as the reasoning behind Sony skipping out on E3 this year. I personally believe that it has more to do with Sony relying less on E3 as a marketing tentpole, but I still figured it was important to note.

All of this change and shake up to the E3 formula just seems like writing on the wall. Shortly after confirming their E3 absence, Sony announced State of Play: a short form video presentation designed for them to give development updates and new announcements. Sound familiar? With Nintendo Direct, State of Play, and Inside Xbox, the question becomes: does it really make sense for these companies to have a presence at E3 anymore? Like I said before, it’s all about owning the moment and controlling your message, and it certainly seems like the major three players in gaming are starting to embrace that.

What all of this means for the future of E3 is still uncertain. As of now, Sony is the only company to truly drop out of the show, so we’ll still get a fun weekend full of announcements at E3 2019. In my eyes, E3 is going to evolve into more of a consumer-friendly fan event with a focus on show floor interaction. We’ll still get some announcements, but I don’t think it will ever bring the level of hype that it used to. At the very least, I guess I get to save a vacation day.

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