Sad day indeed. I remember staying up till 2am just to watch the live shows. June was like Christmas for gamers.

Well that's unfortunate but not surprising. You hear a lot about State of Play or Nintendo Directs, but it seems like they don't want to do big in-person shows anymore.

I remember going to Pax East a decade ago, and everyone who was anyone was there, and getting the three day badge was worth it. Now the show floor is almost entirely tabletop games or indie studios (which is fine!), and there's usually only a few big-name people doing panels. Still a good day trip but not what it was.

If it ever comes back, I'd be surprised to be honest. The console makers have been doing fine promoting their own products as they see fit without the expense of setting up a physical space at a trade show. I'd say larger developers are in a similar situation.

Smaller and up-and-coming developers are probably the ones who lose the most out of this being cancelled. Unfortunately, without the bigger names committing, and thus drawing interest, it probably wasn't looking worthwhile.

Good night, sweet prince

I bathe in indie tears.

My roommate and I were on G4TV non-stop for the whole week, it was amazing.

It makes sense, they can show their stuff and people will absolutely watch it. They need to spend a little on marketing to let people know about it but as long as they make it relatively the same time every year it's worth it.

Not surprised, it costs fortune for the big players to be there n it all could be a waste if your competitors out shines you.

It used to be an expo where companies could display their latest electronic entertainment.

Somewhere along the way it because some sort of sacrificial altar where zealous "gamers" ripped out people's hearts for the blood god.

I feel like there are so many opportunities for indy studios out there to put themselves out there that wasn't available before. They probably couldn't even afford to get a seat anyway.

I don't think they learned from COVID. The big guys can create their own virtual rooms and video webcasts. Why spend millions for in person when you don't need to.

Oh the glory days

Next you're gonna tell me COMDEX is cancelled!!

Just reading G4TV punched me in the heart.

I only had cable for a short time when G4 TV was on but the era with Olivia Munn was great.

Those were absolutely the days.

Covid made me realize that E3 should be virtual anyways. A virtual conference game, where you pilot an avatar around any anyone anywhere can attend. Obviously it should support VR, but it does not need to be VR only.

IMO the company best poised to tackle this is Valve. I'd love to see them "host" one around the winter and summer sales. And another for revealing up and coming games in the spring, ala E3. For the companies doing a gameplay demo, setting up a few boxes and letting players control them via screen share. It is not perfect, but it would work, and a whole lot more people would get a chance to play. Plus it gives indie devs a better chance at being there.

[removed]

I just went for the gangbang

Times are changing. :^(

Keep in mind, renting a space and staffing an event aren't cheap. Most of these companies don't have a presence in Vegas so they are flying in everyone from the interns setting up the booth to the execs that are there to get face time with other rich dudes.

Like every other tech company, they are also looking for ways to save money. If there wasn't a very clear ROI on the event, it isn't going to get approved.

Yea, I used to work for Gartner Events 20 years ago, and it was eye-popping to see the major tech companies drop million dollar contracts with us as soon as the event was announced. Apparently they thought the ROI for that was really good, but I can't see that nowadays.

Another thing about E3 was it was mostly aimed at the press and other tech companies. I think a lot of these exhibitors realized that a lot of gamers generally don't trust the press anymore for reviews and would rather see games first hand or through word of mouth.