E3, the video game expo, officially shuts down forever

E3 is dead. For good, apparently.

"After more than two decades of E3, each one bigger than the last, the time has come to say goodbye," the official E3 account postedon X, formerly known as Twitter. "Thanks for the memories."

Tweet may have been deleted

E3's post received more than 100,000 likes and 38,000 reposts on the platform within 3 hours.

The Entertainment Software Association, the nonprofit video game trade organization which ran E3 posted its own statement on its X account as well.

"After more than two decades of serving as a central showcase for the video game industry, ESA has decided to end E3," wrotethe Entertainment Software Association on its official account on X, formerly Twitter. 

The ESA shared a link to the Washington Poststory which broke the news, and quoted the organization's president and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis.

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"ESA remains focused on advocating for ESA member companies and the industry workforce who fuel positive cultural and economic impact every day," the statement continued.

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The Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, was once the largest video game expo of its kind, starting with its first event in 1995. The event was known as the major gathering for the industry and was often where the year's biggest news was unveiled or new games made their debut. The expo ran annually until 2019, the year it held its final in-person event. E3 2020 would go on to be canceled in June of that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, E3 returned as an online-only event due to the ongoing concerns surrounding COVID-19. E3 planned to hold an in-person event once again in 2022, but that was soon also canceled due to the pandemic and, unfortunately no online event was scheduled in its place that year.

E3 announced that it would return in 2023 and the expo was partnering with ReedPop, the pop culture event planning group behind other massively successful conventions such as New York Comic Con and PAX. However, months before the scheduled June 2023 event, E3 announcedit was canceling the event yet again. This time, though, it wasn't due to COVID-19 but lack of interestfrom the industry.

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The major video game companies like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft had all planned to skip E3 2023 in favor of hosting their own events. It appears that during the years in which E3 was unable to host its usual showcase, these companies found that running their own online events, focusing on their own lineups, to be more fruitful endeavors.

In his statement to the Washington Post, the ESA's Pierre-Louis explained that the industry has evolved to the point where E3 was just no longer a necessity.

"We know it’s difficult to say goodbye to such a beloved event, but it’s the right thing to do given the new opportunities our industry has to reach fans and partners," he said.