Eulogy to E3 - Gamepressure Staff and Industry Celebs Remember the Event

Giancarlo Saldana, writer at Gamepressure:

My first and only time going to E3 was back in 2012 when I worked for this other smaller website that was just starting to pick up. We were all surprised that our E3 press credentials were approved that year, but we immediately organized our trip to Los Angeles and booked our flights and a shared hotel room for the week.

As soon as I walked into the halls of the LA Convention Center, I felt in awe of how big the video game industry truly was. From Nintendo and Sega to Harmonix and Hyperkin, every video game company I knew of was there, and because the show was open to only industry reps for the first few days, it felt more professional than the PAX East conventions I had been to, and I felt more important, trading business cards with people I had only emailed in the past. I was invited to various press conferences from Ubisoft’s where they showcased Assassin’s Creed 3 and Watch Dogs to Nintendo's where I got to be in the same room as Shigeru Miyamoto as he talked about New Super Mario Bros. Wii U. It was a great week bumping elbows with fellow journalists and developers and enjoying some R&R time afterwards visiting touristy spots like Hollywood and the Griffith Observatory. That infectious song Call Me Maybe will always remind me of my trip to E3 partially because it was showcased on Just Dance 4 but also because everyone played it at parties that week.

As the years went on, I always wondered how E3 could still exist as more and more companies began streaming their news. It cut costs for them, sure, but it also gave them the flexibility to showcase whatever they wanted whenever they wanted it. It’s a shame E3 was cancelled this year, and it’s really up in the air whether it will continue again in the future, but I will always remember how close it brought me to the industry and made me realize how powerful it is when everyone works together doing the thing they love.

Przemyslaw Bartula, Gamepressure board member:

I was part of the plank owner Gamepressure team that traveled to E3 from 2005 to 2007. I'll never forget our first trip to LA for E3 2005. When we crawled out of the airport and settled down at a motel in downtown Los Angeles, we found that our credit cards didn't work. Talk about promising beginnings. But all in all, we managed to survive.

I am also extremely proud and happy at the same time that I was able to be at E3 2006. It was the largest and most notable trade show in its classic form. The event occupied all the halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center, including Kentia Hall (where years ago William Wright presented the still unknown The Sims), there was no cutting corners, various gadgets and T-shirts were literally flying over the heads of visitors, and the halls were dominated by the then famous booth babes. It was then that I met the editors-in-chief of Click and CD-Action (great guys), and witnessed the creation of the legend of the first Witcher.

Unfortunately, after the sensational E3 2006 came devastating changes. E3 2007 was merely a shadow of the great events of the past. Someone came up with the idea to limit the event just for business, reduce its scope and get rid of everything that consituted its strength. I then attended the E3 funeral organized by one of the publishers. I didn't want to go to E3 again either; something was over. As we know, despite several attempts, the event never recovered its glory years, and now it becomes a thing of the past.

Krystian Smoszna, editor-in-chief of GRYOnline.pl, Gamepressure’s sister site:

I have fond memories of my multiple visits to the E3 trade show, even though I associate them primarily with a hard work and sleepless nights. Going to the fair was a challenge, and I'm glad that I and the team at the time always managed to get every last drop of knowledge out of it. Of course, one was aware of participating in something big, because for those few days the eyes of the entire gaming world were turned to the halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center. This made it all the more sad that an event of such range and importance began to lose its weight, until it finally died off completely.

It was actually a slow process, an extended agony. Significantly, the symbol of its demise was not Covid, although it certainly did his part, as it showed everyone in the streaming era that it was possible to live without an E3. More significant, however, was the slow departure of publishers who found it easier and cheaper to do something next door on their own terms than in the halls of the LACC for a truckload of money.

The trail was undoubtedly blazed here by Electronic Arts, which decided to move out back in 2013. Organizers attempted to compensate for reduced revenues from publishers by allowing people from the street into the halls. This happened for the first time in 2017, and it was actually the beginning of the end for the event. The decision was mainly complained about by industry representatives who came to Los Angeles in June to do their business. With the halls jammed to the brim, there was a problem with getting around and getting to meetings on time, which we ourselves experienced.

Nonetheless, I will miss the event because it was a one-of-a-kind celebration. Everyone knew that the conferences accompanying the fair would show new title, the biggest teams and companies would reveal their plans for the near future, and the announced games could be tested to some extent. The shows available online today no longer offer such a chance, as they are limited only to the former part. From a gaming fan's point of view, of course, nothing changes, but already from ours, GOL's, quite a lot has. E3 2023 could have been a new deal after a hiatus of several years and show that such an event still makes sense. As usual, however, money was the deciding factor. Despite the record-low rate for space, big publishers started refusing to come, and without them the rank of the whole event would have been much lower. It's a shame, but that’s life.