The ESA announces that E3 gaming expo is permanently cancelled
While not entirely surprising, it still hurts to hear the news that E3 is officially done for good.
The Electronic Software Association, the organizers of the iconic expo, announced that E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo) will not be returning to Los Angeles next summer, citing a waning public and industry interest and the struggles to fully return after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Launched in 1995, E3 was an industry and media only trade show built around previewing and hyping the latest in gaming trends, both in software and hardware. It wasn’t uncommon for big names like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to use E3 as the event to debut their latest consoles and the latest iterations of fan favorite game franchises.
We’ve been covering E3 on and off since 2005 as it went through a number of growing pains, transforming into a smaller, exhibitor-free event in Santa Monica, and splitting off into a fan-focused E for All sister event at a later date. While neither spinoff garnered a foothold with the insiders or hardcore gamers due to the lack of must-see hype that’s long been associated with the event, it was the big game studios and companies behind the Playstation, Switch, and Xbox who split off from the big show, launching adjacent events at venues just outside the Los Angeles Convention Center, that pulled the focus from E3 itself over the last few years. And when COVID struck, shutting down most large-scale in-person events for a few years, like LA Comic-Con, and Anime Expo, and E3, all held at that same convention center, it became a monumental task to bring it back to life in the same form that would justify its existence to the ESA and those who enjoyed attending (like me).
Here’s a look back at some of what we got to experience on the floor of E3 so many years ago…
