The last two years have been rather strange in various ways, with game expos being a particular casualty in the game industry. The norm previously was for a number of expos throughout the year packed with big crowds of gamers, media and stressed game developers; the loss of these events has had a significant impact on various parts of the video game business. However, for many of us at home in the past these shows have always taken the form of online conference streams and showcases, so the recent trends of cancelled in-person events haven't necessarily changed a great deal in how we relate to E3, for example.
Despite this, there's no getting around the fact that 2020 and 2021 have drastically reshaped the importance and role of in-person expos. Some in-person events last year were limited in numbers and scope, for obvious reasons, but there's an existential issue as well. How will big publishers and platform holders — like Nintendo — use the more traditional-style game expos in future? In more normal times to come big companies will likely still have booths at major events, but will there also be substantial PR events beyond that? It's questionable, as we've all seen how companies — not least Nintendo — can build hype through online showcases at an undoubtedly modest cost (by comparison), and without restrictions around event schedules and clashes, technical hiccups, and the mishaps and slips that invariably crop up in live presentations.
Which brings us to E3 and Summer Game Fest. E3 will be digital-only again this year, partly due to public health issues but likely also driven by other challenges restarting its traditional show. The question has become whether big publishers 'need' the in-person E3; if the answer is a resounding no, then it's not sustainable.
Then there's the question over whether it's 'E3' that matters in the bonanza of online Summer events, or whether we're all just tuning into showcases regardless of branding and host channels. Geoff Keighley's hype vehicle Summer Game Fest taps into this — though it has a main show with game reveals and trailers, outside of that it often feels like a slightly random, ill-defined hub for other semi-affiliated streams. Last year we had the Sonic Symphony from SEGA, showcases from a handful of major publishers, and on Summer Game Fest and elsewhere online there were more Indie streams than we've had hot dinners. It stopped mattering, we'd suggest, whether an event was part of E3, Summer Game Fest or neither.
There were a lot of events [in Summer 2021], and arguably some were lacking in quality, or were strong but fell through the cracks and went largely ignored
Last Summer also felt like a time where, as is the rules of entrepreneurial business, everyone and their gran was trying to grab attention for their showcases. There were a lot of events, and arguably some were lacking in quality, or were strong but fell through the cracks and went largely ignored. Games overlapped across presentations, and for Nintendo gamers in particular, it was often difficult to know exactly what was coming to Switch and what wasn't. Even for die-hard fans, there was a sense of fatigue that came with parsing all the information. Without the structure and focus of expos around which showcases could coalesce, instead we had a crazy season of scattered online streams that had varied degrees of success.
Personally, we'd like to see a distillation of last year's nebulous showcase schedule, but as we head into another Summer of online showcases and game hype, what are you hoping to see from E3 and Summer Game Fest? More of the same, or perhaps more focus and fewer showcases? Let us know in the polls below and, as always, in the comments section.
Comments 48
Just have it not happen. It achieved very little last year. Having it SO spread out did nothing for whatever was revealed there.
SGF is a huge mess. E3 isn't perfect, but at least the pacing is good.
The thing that SGF and E3 need to take from Nintendo Directs is how fast-paced they are. These events tend to drag on and on at times, and last year's E3 and SGF were absolutely terrible. I'm not looking forward to them at all and I won't be watching them, apart from what Nintendo is doing, of course.
I really have not liked Summer Games Fest anything involving Geoff Keighley is not good
Q : What are you hoping to see from E3 and Summer Game Fest?
Me : Just add more cartoonish kiddie games !
It just needs to be more organised, because last year was all over the place.
Oh and (Can't believe this is something I even need to say) a better focus on games! I come there for the games and only, Why its called the summer game fest LMAO.
@StarPoint I think E3 does a better job at this , but SGF Drags, it drags like an anvil tide to the back of a truck.
More demos from E3 and Summer Games Fest would be good. They’re probably very effective in getting people to eventually buy the game, and the costs of developing the demo would be offset by the savings from not having to physically do a games showcase
Just anything really. I miss that period of excitement in the summer. You can have Directs whenever but E3 was always special.
@Snatcher That's true, E3 is better-paced, but E3's problem - especially last year - was that it had practically nothing to show. This could have been due to covid, so maybe this year will be better in terms of announcements, but I kind of doubt it.
As far as I understand it has been clarified the statement from ESA does not mean there will be a digital E3 this year. It is still possible there won't be anything of the sort...
Geoff shows are just boring, he gets some of the people together but he does not understand pacing. It would be nice to have something where he gets the trailers but he does not show I guess...
The only reason I watched the Summer Game Fest last year was the Sonic Symphony, so do that again Sega! If they had even more fan performances I think it could be improved, and honestly, I don’t know how many more years they can get Crush 40 to do that long of a concert. Bring em’ back for Live And Learn and maybe a few other hits, but after that go to the never-ending pool of fan resources. On the E3 front I’ll watch exclusively Nintendo and catch up on the other news later as I always do.
The main benefit of attending E3 in person is being able to demo the games and talk to the developers.
The best way to simulate that would be a downloadable app that let's you demo the games via cloud streaming, and watch videos with the devs.
The server strain sounds like a lot, but comparing to the cost of running a physical convention hall, I could absolutely see it saving a huge wad of cash.
@StarPoint I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt, and say it was due to covid, So I do hope its better this year.
I could not be less excited for E3 or whatever summer game announcements might be this year. Literally no money is being put into these events and virtualizing them is just killing the hype. Hoping to attend a PAX event instead and will probably keep my fingers crossed for a summer Nintendo Direct that will probably not happen.
The obvious answer to E3 is staring the industry in the face: Game Streaming.
A company like Google that cuts across the industry could offer their very-good Stadia servers up to publishers to let them rent and host E3 playable demos.
The ESA could then offer gamers like you and me a 3-day pass for say £25 where you can play all the demos yourself at home. Stadia is playable on most devices so has a far reach and because the games are streamed there is no risk of datamining spoilers.
They'd make a LOT of money doing this, gamers who would never otherwise get to participate in the show floor get to play the demos and they could even get the developers to host play along sessions with design commentary. They could include online seminars in the ticket price too and make a big deal out of it.
Last year, Summer Game Fest had a good opening night and then hardly anything after that, almost as if the opening night was the event. Granted, the Sonic Symphony was still cool and Tribeca Games Fest should be here to stay, but considering this event was intended to be a 2-3 month range, there isn’t alot to balance it out, especially if you’re biggest announcements are in opening night
Companies need to actually announce things. So many of the E3 shows last year were pointless. I remember Capcom’s show in particular was painful to watch. If you don’t have anything new to announce, don’t bother to have a show. Nintendo Directs are exciting because Nintendo uses them to announce a bunch of stuff, and somehow no other video game company (except maybe Xbox) has figured that out.
They need to get Sony to turn up for a start....
Just show us the games, that's all we care about. Everything else is just filler.
more sonic symphony
E3 has nothing to prove in order for it to stick around. It's not having an identity crisis and it pains me to see media outlets constantly say that E3 is gonna die. It's most definitely not unless Nintendo and Microsoft choose to stop supporting it, which seems like the opposite case right now.
Nintendo has ultimately proven that E3's system can work, as long as other publishers start to adopt Nintendo's approach; have a live pre-recorded showcase, then have a live gameplay showcase.
I cannot stress enough that E3 has pretty much evolved into a convention rather than an expo, and that's perfectly fine.
After last year, the only thing E3 as its own thing can do to be not an improvement, is only announcing indefinite delays and cancellations. With optional bad hosts and a live Just Dance presentation.
Having it all streamed, pre recorded or live, like Nintendo Direct and Treehouse, is actually an improvement I think, for the worldwide viewers. But I don't feel like that's E3, that's just marketing in their own way, when the eyes of the entire market are already looking for it elsewhere.
I'm excited for E3 because of the Nintendo Direct and Xbox Showcase. Would be nice if Sony did a showcase around then but I doubt it meanwhile the 3rd party showcases were rather bad last E3.
Summer Game Fest was mostly a waste of time which I think would be best resolved by it not existing and Sony doing a Playstation Showcase instead (the vast majority of Summer Game Fest announcements could've been put in a Nintendo Direct, Xbox Showcase or Playstation Showcase instead).
Last years E3 didn’t have any particularly exciting games to sell, and what they did have they prattled on about for ages.
If there’s less to promote, cut the show down accordingly.
I never bother with summer games fest so they can keep it the same for all I care. Only thing I watch in the summer is the Nintendo Direct anyway. I remember when I was younger and more enthusiastic, I used to take the whole week off work for E3. I've become a jaded, joyless adult 😭
I just want it to be summer again, it's cold here.
They need to pick up their pace. The most grating thing about both of them is how their hosts feel the need to try and inject more personality and conversation in between each game, which ironically has the opposite effect of making me hate every second of it. This ESPECIALLY goes for when the "trailer" is just the dev talking to the camera for four minutes with no gameplay or even a real trailer shown (this should also just be stopped in general because it's annoying). They need to go back to the basics and relearn from Nintendo Directs - at the absolute most, you throw in a couple of words hinting at what's next and a little jingle. At absolute most, you can have someone talk for over 20 seconds maybe every 10-15 games, but only when you're about to drop some news that's likely to matter to EVERYONE.
tl;dr, they need to cut it with trying to talk up each game a lot before they present it. It comes off as insecure and reads as a lack of confidence in what they're presenting.
Let’s be real, most of us just watched the Nintendo direct last summer. No e3 would not change anything.
Nintendo direct is all I’m interested in.
To me, Nintendo Direct has solved the problem. I know when I tune in to a Direct I'm getting "X minutes about upcoming Switch games". Each of the console manufacturers focusing on a presentation each that's focused on games for their console would be great. No point in me tuning in to Ubisoft or Bethesda as I don't use PlayStation or Xbox. I'd rather look at a PC stream or something.
I want an E3 where Nintendo and Xbox aren’t the only ones carrying everything
@Mattock1987 demos for games? and risk dataminers leaking confidential information regarding our games, that a risk, publishers/developers are not wiling to do.
E3 e Game Summer Fest need to pace better it conference,no one want to spent watching 20/30 minutes developers talking, and not showing actual gameplay,do rapid fire anouncements like Nintendo do in her Nintendo Direct, the least amount of time you spent on superfuous thing in your presentation, the better it gonna be.
@nessisonett Do you happen to know when the next Direct is scheduled?
@Matty1988 Unless Bethesda finally gets their head out of their ass and announces Fallout 3 / New Vegas Remastered for Switch!
@JustMonika I’m afraid my uncle at Nintendo isn’t being very talkative.
Why does ComicCon exist? Surely everything at ComicCon happens year-round now. So why bother with the convention at all?
People lamenting that trailers happen all year really miss the point of these events. It's not just about seeing trailers and getting some news. It's having a unified all in one event that consolidates all that information, and has a sense of fun and immersion in the industry all at once. It's not the same as the industry trade show it once was, not the same as CES, but it doesn't need to be to be relevant.
@ThomasBW84 Where has it been confirmed that E3 is having a digital event at all this year?
@nessisonett I thought for certain one would have been announced by now. I'm aching for Alan Wake Remastered to finally get announced for it since it was leaked twice back in the Fall.
@JustMonika I think the source code is lost or something, or so the rumour mill tells me. A port of the PC versions (with a bunch of bug fixes(def not gonna happen)) would be great though
Honestly, Summer Game Fest tends to get me really bored, since like 30 games get shown and i'm lucky to find even one game that looks interesting.
I think it just needs more Nintendo.
@Matty1988 So that's why there's never been a remaster of Fallout 3?! Because they've had no trouble releasing Skyrim on everything. I just thought they didn't care about us Fallout fans.
@JustMonika Yeah it definitely feels like whatever mistake they made preserving FO3/NV and Oblivion they've rectified with Skyrim. It'll be on every console from now until the end of time!
Silksong?Silksong?Silksong?Silksong?
It's up to the publishers to improve the events by bringing interesting reveals to show. The publishers' reveals are what drive those events first and foremost, so if there's not much to show they become boring. That's what's ruined the shows the last 2 years (and yes, COVID is mainly to blame for that), not the show structure.
I would go as far to say that we don't even need these events anymore. The whole purpose was to create a platform for publishers to reveal new games but now with livestream events they can do so whenever they want. Publishers can just reveal things when they're ready instead of needing to save them for E3 or Summer Games Fest, leaving those events feeling somewhat unnecessary.
Say what you want, E3 sucked in the last 2 years, but it was still way better than SGF. Wait the Dread reveal was E3 right? The Microsoft show too? I always get confused, if yes than it actually didn't suck that much at all.
The only way SGF can be cool to be, is if it's across one week max, with longer streams everyday and more big companies, not a big indie guy, sorry.
@Matty1988 I did some detective work and it was Fallout and Fallout 2 who's source code went missing.
For me the while thing is just spread too thin. So either more shows or reduce the gap between the first and last ones.
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