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This Week in Games - The Long Death of E3

“ E3 suffered a string of cancellations before the event officially shuddered.”

Why would an event shudder…? Is it scared…?

(The proper term is “shutter”. As in close the shutters.)
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/ja/dictionary/english/shuttered

The main draw for fans were the live press conferences that were pre-E3.

There's no reason they couldn't have these on their own time and schedule simply as enthusiast events.

The Direct streams of trailers and pre-recorded stuff just don't hold up the magic.

Sure they could be great or they could be bad, but part of the fun is that the highs were HIGH and the lows were low, and you never knew what to expect

The companies have opted for the cheaper, safe and controlled option.

"No balls" is how I would describe their marketing now. Little wonder that people are getting bored.

That infamous Wii Music panel is classic just because of that alone, even if it was a disaster. And others like the Skyward Sword demonstration where the game bugged out. The jank was human, and part of the soul. The pivot to prerecorded videos and reveals wasn't bad for NIntendo, at least back when the Monster Trio of Reggie, Iwata, and Trinen were around and we got those lovely skits like the Amiibo reveals. You could argue they're pretty bland these days though. But other companies doing the direct thing, eh they never really stood out for me. Feel very corporate and safe. At least TGS is still around and we can still get some of the old convention culture and flare if you miss it. They even still have booth babes where as E3 banned them ages ago

I always love when people complain about companies taking no risks and when they do which usually leads to condemnation or mockery when it goes south with those some people wondering “what the hell were they thinking?”

As it’s already been mentioned numerous times elsewhere e3 and all it entailed had it’s place but there’s no much reason to have a live event showcasing the future of video games when such events became increasingly superfluous due to costs, logistics, & the fact that a fraction of the audience watching this was only ever interested in seeing stuff from one brand anyway.

You can say the magic is gone but ultimately it’s irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

That's what I'm sayin! The memes and hilarity were all part of the fun!

A bad conference didn't mean the end either. The following year a company could easily bounce back with a good conference. Sony is infamous for having some great ones and some bad ones. But everything is forgiven with some great announcements.

At least early Nintendo Directs did try and be whimsical and not the boring State of Plays. But it feels like they are phoning it in lately.

The pizazz of well produced stage presentations is part of marketing. And the human element you mention can be especially charming.

But at the end of the day, a bad E3 is not because someone flubbed their lines on stage, or any accident. It's because there were NO GOOD PRODUCTS revealed. Even a ho-hum presentation can be enticing if the games being shown are good, and that forced companies to put their best wares up, not just mixing them with minor things that not many care about that at best were interstitials relegated to a reel in between big unveils.

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This brings me to another issue with The Game Awards... there are too many things in there that nobody cares about. But with E3, every conference was dedicated to one set of wares, and if you were only interested in Microsoft or Sony or Nintendo or Ubisoft or Capcom or Square Enix, then those shows were dedicated to your interests and nothing else. But with the Game Awards, it's everyone's uncle, and that means more things you're probably not interested in, in the hopes of seeing something you are interested in. Hence the boredom most feel until they decide they will just wait until all the trailers and segments they care about are individually put up online.