Sony will not attend E3 2020, is E3 losing steam?

[Spirit]

Very recently Sony announced that they will not be attending E3 2020, citing that the current state of E3 does not match their vision going forward.

After E3 2019 many people lost faith with the event and recent announcements have stated that E3 will want to focus more in celebrities and influencers in the future, which won't please many people.


What do you think about Sony not attending E3 for the second year in a row?

Does E3 have much life left?

Do you think Nintendo will follow Sony and bow out of future E3 events?

 

[Fraxinus]

Maybe Sony isn't getting enough views on their Nintendo Direct echo fighter, and decided that if that the State of Play is the only time you'll get presentations from them, more people will watch.

 

[TheGreatCthulhu]

I... mostly just wait till games drop in price anyways....

If I'm gonna fund gaming, as well as my dozens of hobbies, something's gotta give.

 

[(◕‿◕✿)]

recent announcements have stated that E3 will want to focus more in celebrities and influencers in the future

INFLUENCERS

ACTUALLY THE WORST CONCEPT HUMANITY HAS EVER CONCEIVED WHEN WILL SOCIETY BE DESTROYED FOR THIS SIN

 

[Terminus]

What do you think about Sony not attending E3 for the second year in a row?

lol

Does E3 have much life left?

lol

Do you think Nintendo will follow Sony and bow out of future E3 events?

yeah probably

TBH nobody I know gives a rat's rotten ass about E3 and I feel like people are becoming more and more disillusioned with "le quirky megacorp" condescending at them, so maybe they'll wise up and do something new and creati--- hahahahAHAHAHHAHAHAHA no they won't they'll run their stale white-bread presentations into the ground until the planet catches on fire and we'll never be free

 

[Shroom]

I mean, E3 is sort of nice, but like... I just care about the games and systems... Nintendo sort of showed you can just show off the games and it be fine so you don't have to deal with whatever awkward train wreck a company wants to put in front of you to sell you a game about pettin TIGERS with a gosh dang CAMERA.

But not seeing the statues and art work seems to be a bit of a shame. I don't know. The mindset around e3 didn't really evolve as the times changed, and having more direct access to consumers seems to just cut out the middle man of E3. I certainly hope that companies use the time of year to continue being about big announcements because it's something to look forward to, but that's about it. A bulletin board could accomplish the same thing with way less cost....

 

[~Kilza~]

I haven't really cared about E3 much to begin with so this news is kinda just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ for me. It probably works out better for Sony to be the center of attention with their whole State of Play thing than having to compete with other companies at E3, anyways.

 

[the8thark]

Nintendo are honestly the best prepared. If E3 dies, the direct will still happen. Sony and co need to find some other venue for their big event. An XO or PS Experience or whatever. Those events though big are nowhere near as big as E3.

The fan community do most of the Nintendo Direct advertising. So it works really well.
The other directs likestate of play, are copying Nintendo but not entirely. They don't get why the directs are so good. The Directs focus entirely on the games and game content. Also they separate big studio and indie content also so the indies have their time in the sun. That's all we gamers care about. What's the new content, when is it being released and what's the cost. The other pointless chit chat in the State of Play and others, jsut bogs down their online videos and thus they are not as good.

 

[the8thark]

There is a precedent for this.

Remembering Macworld Expo: Why we went to the greatest trade show on earth

Chris Breen reflects on Macworld Expo as news comes that the show is going on hiatus.

www.macworld.com

MacWorld was an annual contention for everything Apple and Macintosh. It operated like a mix between CES and E3. The vendors that had stalls there and the crowds really enjoy it and it was a huge success. However the event was not run by Apple. Apple just attended every year. However the event organisers pushed Apple to be the most important thing at the event. So much so that the other vendors were pushed into the background.

One year all of a sudden Apple quit Macworld. Due to MacWorld being all about Apple at that point, MacWorld only lasted a few years without Apple before it closed forever.

The comparison is Apple for MacWorld is Nintendo/Sony/MS for E3. The event is really primarily focused on the big 3. When one doesn't show - like Sony, the other two take up the slack. If all of the big 3 decided not to show for a few years in a row, E3 as an event would close. E3 needs at least one of the big three there every year.

Note Well - WWDC is not a replacement for MacWorld at all, as it's a totally different thing.

 

[Cfrock]

It's not a huge surprise. Nintendo have had a lot of success with the Direct model and with so many more events through the year like GDC, Spaceworld, the Game Awards E3 just isn't as important as it used to be for getting the word out to customers. Streaming things directly, making use of platforms like Twitch and Youtube, basically The Internet.com is cheaper and easier for big companies to release information, and they have more control of when and how they do it, too.

E3 can be fun, but it's also kind of archaic to an extent. It's pure speculation but I imagine a fair number of people only still watch out of habit, or to see if there's any meme quality cringe.

Nintendo Direct echo fighter

Incredible

They don't get why the directs are so good. The Directs focus entirely on the games and game content. Also they separate big studio and indie content also so the indies have their time in the sun.

This is a great point. Nintendo don't just show trailers in their Directs, they show gameplay, they explain what you can and will actually do in a game with demonstrations, and they feature a lot of the developers themselves. On top of which, they just have a lot of character in the presentation itself. The Directs really helped make Iwata (RIP) a figure people could not just recognise but actually trust and care about. It puts a human face on the company without feeling like condescension. The spotlight on indie devs is also a good point. There're plenty of games a lot of people probably wouldn't have ever heard of if not for that spotlight.

State of Play doesn't have nearly the same charm, appeal, or information. In fact, when they announced REmake3 ( ) on State of Play they tried to play it off as a joke, saying "Let's take a look at RE Resistence's single-player." The joke falls flat because you don't have an actual host presenting it to you. You've just had trailers and a cookie-cutter voice over, so you aren't in a fun or excited mood watching. So when they then reveal REmake3 it's confusing before it's exciting, which spoils the reveal somewhat. Add to that the lack of the gameplay demo Capcom did later and you've got a much less engaging and hyped reveal than the game would have gotten in a Direct.

I also agree about the Macworld comparison. If the platform holders leave E3, it won't last long. They've always been the lynchpin of the event and without them it'll limp to an early grave. If Microsoft are the only ones still doing a big floor show a lot of people simply won't care anymore given how much more popular the Switch and PS4 are, and with the PS5 right around the corner Microsoft are going to struggle to pull in the big audience alone.

Honestly, I wouldn't miss E3 if it were gone. It's given me some good memories, but almost all of them are laughing at how bad corporate PR can get. It's not been fun for a long while, and in the words of the immortal Reggie Fils_Aime:

 

[Dio]

E3 has been bad for years and I think it could be just the state of gaming. They just show a lot of crap now as a lot of crap is being churned out and publicised. Obviously some people are wanting and buying it but for me personally I just wait until is afterwards to see the trailers for the good sounding games.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

E3's been suffering for years now. It used to be the big place to reveal your newest projects to the world, but the internet has made that sort of new commonplace, making E3 kind of irrelevant. And this move towards "influencers" stinks of what the internet would call "cringe".

 

[A Link In Time]

I'm one of the people who really enjoys these bombastic E3 presentations so for Sony to skip E3 two years in a row is a real shame, but it's hard to argue with the likes of Nintendo Directs and State of Play being more effective at directly communicating with gamers with little bloat compared to live events.

 

[the8thark]

I just wait until is afterwards to see the trailers for the good sounding games.

I actually do the same. I watch the Nintendo Direct and Treehouse live. But the Sony/MS/indie stuff I watch afterwards, just the trailers and ignore all the flaff from the live presentations.

Something we also need to mention which no one has.

Microsoft are sort of not part of E3 anymore. Sure they have their showcase and demo machines at the same time as E3. But MS does it all now in their own hired building near the official E3 buildings. Nintendo is the only one of the big 3 that have a booth in an official E3 building anymore. Nintendo must find some value in having everyone play the games and people streaming their 20 minute play sessions all over the world. If they didn't, they would have quit E3 years ago. Nintendo do not need E3 to show a direct.

This means none of the big three are having a live presentation inside one of the official E3 halls.
The ESA really need to keep the big 3 at E3. Just like MacWorld, when your major stakeholders leave the event is most likely going to collapse. Even the 4th most important stakeholder - the PC gaming show will not be enough to keep E3 afloat on it's own. PC gaming is still important for various reasons, but it's not as popular as it was in the 90's. If we only talk about PCs not connected to your TV (sorry commodore 64) I would say 1990 through 2005 was the heyday for PC gaming.

Sony is out 2nd year in a row.
Microsoft is out of the building, doing their own thing next door.
Nintendo quit live presentations years ago and do not need E3 for the Direct or Treehouse.

ESA it's your move. What are you going to do about it?

Mind you we can thank %$#@ that the ESA runs E3 and not GDQ. E3 would be long dead through corruption, mismanagement of funds and the baning of all the important stakeholders if it was run by GDQ. Sure the ESA are not doing a good job but it's not as bad as it could be.

 

[Ragnarokio]

i like e3 because i get to hear about the new games that are coming out like the next version of terraria and i feel like even if there's less big studio presence at E3 in the future that as long as it serves as a place where smaller developers can showcase their stuff that i'll still be interested in it