Geoff Keighley, creator of The Game Awards, revealed today that he will not be attending E3 2020. His decision to not attend this year's event will mark the first time in 25 years that the industry veteran will not be in attendance. It also means that he will not host the annual E3 Coliseum show. This was a regular event where Keighley would host a series of game developers in a rather informal Q&A, allowing them to talk freely about their upcoming games and projects.
Keighley's decision not to attend E3 2020 was revealed in a statement to The Washington Post on Wednesday morning.
"Covering, hosting and sharing E3 has been a highlight of my year, not to mention a defining part of my career. While I want to support the developers who will showcase their work, I also need to be open and honest with you, the fans, about precisely what to expect from me. I have made the difficult decision to decline to produce E3 Coliseum."
"Based on what’s been communicated to me about the show, I just don’t feel comfortable participating. It’s no secret that E3 needs to evolve and I have lots of ideas around that, but have decided to take a wait-and-see approach. I’m looking forward to learning more about the ESA’s vision for the show beyond what was in the blog post last week."
Now, more than ever, E3 has struggled to remain relevant amongst both fans and companies. In recent years, we have seen companies like Nintendo, EA, and Sony all opt for their own events and showcases. Companies are now preferring to make their announcements directly to fans at home rather than through a big stage show.
E3 just isn't anywhere near as relevant as it used to be. The blunders by the event organizers at the ESA certainly have not helped. In August 2019, ESA doxxed over 2,000 journalists and content creators. Just a month later, the organization leaked their big plans to rebrand E3 for 2020. Their big idea to woo back companies is to turn E3 2020 into a "fan, media, and influencer festival."
This change would put influencers and celebrities front and center. The ESA even proposed a layout change to the show floor for E3 2020. Instead of the traditional booths, there will be more "large-scale stage-like 'experience hubs'" where visitors can watch these influences and celebrities play games. The ESA even compared this to the idea of being in attendance at an LA Lakers game.
I mean, that's just stupid. All of that? Stupid. It's garbage. Actual trash. Alas, that isn't the end of their terrible ideas. ESA also pushed forth the idea of using an app that allows users to register a time to play a demo. Those who decide to wait in line could be subjected to "queuetainment." This "queuetainment" would be nothing more than a way to advertise products to those in line.
The ESA at least conceded that the entire event won't be strictly consumer focused as they wanted. They suggested that the first day would be only for those within the industry, allowing journalists a chance to do the job they've been doing for years prior. This would entail scheduling meetings with companies, just as they used to. The ESA made sure to spin this as well, saying that the first day could be used to "create buzz and FOMO (fear of missing out" for those not in attendance.
It's all a bunch of rubbish. If this is how E3 2020 does play out, it really won't be long before the show is dead for good.
However, E3 2020 is still happening whether we like it or not. How do we know this? We know this because the ESA still doesn't know how to properly hide information on their own websites. Though the E3 2020 site isn't supposed to go live until Thursday, a list of those publishers currently confirmed to appear at this year's event was hiding in plain sight.
As of Wednesday, February 12, 2020, these publishers are already confirmed for E3 2020:
- Activision Publishing, Inc.
- Amazon Game Studios
- BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc.
- Bethesda
- Capcom USA, Inc.
- Epic Games Inc.
- Kalypso Media Group
- NCSOFT
- RDS Industries Inc.
- SEGA
- Square Enix, Inc.
- Take-Two
- TENCENT
- THQ Nordic
- Ubisoft Entertainment SA
- UnnamedVR by Paracosma
- Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment
- XSEED Games
E3 2020, complete with its new format will be held from June 9-11 in Los Angeles.
I usually book the week off work, as i live in the UK the press conferences usually start late and go into the early morning, i like the occasional surprise reveals, the awful presenters, the controversies and watching EA not learn any lessons.
I watch from home so the show floor doesn't really matter to me, it's all about the press conferences, announcing all your big reveals in an online video isn't really all that exciting, and if we lose E3 then publishers can just put those videos out whenever and that's just boring.
I just don't want to lose moments like this :P