In many ways, for anyone who’s been paying even the slightest attention these last few years, an obituary for E3 has felt unavoidable, but though it’s easy to understand why the event has fallen by the wayside and why the necessity for its existence has diminished so drastically in such a short amount of time, at the same time, it’s also hard not to look back at the twenty something years where E3 was an unshakable and ever-present pillar of the games industry and feel at least a little bit of sadness about how it has wasted away.

Even when it made its debut back in 1995, it was clear to everyone that E3 had instantly become the biggest event of the gaming industry. From Sony’s historic announcement of the original PlayStation’s price and release date, a moment that will forever be regarded as one of the industry’s most iconic, to Sega shadow dropping not a game, but an entire console in the form of the Sega Saturn, a decision that, in hindsight, was just plain foolish, in its very first year, E3 played host to some of the most momentous gaming moments we’ve ever witnessed, and it continued to be the place to be for such moments and announcements for years and years to come.

The list of unforgettable moments that existed at and because of E3 is a never-ending one. From Keanu Reeves on-stage with Cyberpunk 2077 to Peter Moore announcing Grand Theft Auto 4 for Xbox 360 with a tattoo on his arm, from spectacularly planned surprises like the reveals of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, God of War, and Resident Evil 7 to reveals for entire consoles and handhelds over the years, from excellent showings of games that we’ll always remember, like Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Fallout 4, to disastrous showings that will also stick out in memory, if for the wrong reasons, like Wii Music and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Reggie Fils-Aime announcing himself on to the industry, Super Smash Bros. Brawl stealing the show with its Solid Snake reveal, Kevin Butler’s speech shining as the highlight in an otherwise dull Sony press conference, Microsoft tanking itself with the shockingly poor Xbox One reveal, Konami’s famously disastrous 2010 presser, Ubisoft’s groan-inducing annual Just Dance performances, Sony taking shots at Microsoft with its instructional video on used games sharing, Killzone 2’s controversial “gameplay” reveal, Microsoft announcing a string of studio acquisitions- honestly, we could go on and on and on about all the E3 moments over the years that have been etched into stone by this point.

Make no mistake about it- when E3 was on, during that week, it was the one and only thing the entire games industry was looking at. And when it wasn’t, it still constantly loomed large in the background, always as something that demanded your attention through the sheer weight of its presence, and the shadow it cast over everything even slightly related to games. Months and months in advance of the annual showcases, speculation and rumours and questions would kick into overdrive. What new games would be announced? What gameplay showcases would stand out? What new hardware and console reveals could we look forward to? Which company would stumble over itself in making a series of embarrassing (and live) blunders? So often, E3 was the focal point of so many important (and otherwise) conversations related to games.

But of course, recent years have been entirely different. And while the sudden turnaround in E3’s fortunes has been shocking on a surface level, when you look at just how many problems have contributed to that downfall, that surprise slowly turns into understanding. The ESA itself has been hugely responsible for that- from its misguided decision to open up the trade show to the public, causing a litany of organizational and management nightmares, to the exorbitant fees it used to demand for having E3 booths, something that drove an increasing number of companies away from the show as time went on. Hell, in 2019, the ESA even accidentally published an unsecured document containing the private information of thousands of press and influencers who had attended the event, which was emblematic of all the frustrating organizational deficiencies that had plagued E3 with increasing prevalence as time went on.

Really, 2018 was the last time we got an actual, proper E3, where all the major companies were in attendance at an actual, live trade event. In 2019, Sony confirmed that for the first time in E3 history, while the following year, Geoff Keighley – who had been working with the ESA on E3 for as long as E3 had existed – confirmed that he was stepping away from his role as well. He would go on to create, produce, and host Summer Game Fest, which – in conjunction with his annual Gamescom Opening Night Live and The Game Awards events – has also had a significant role to play in rendering E3 redundant.

In 2020, meanwhile, things only got worse. Shortly after Sony confirmed that it would be skipping the event once again, it was announced that E3 2020 had been cancelled altogether. Given the circumstances of that year, where the entire world at large was dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the cancellation came as no surprise. But when E3 did return in 2021, it did so in severely underwhelming fashion. The continued impact of the pandemic meant that E3 2021 had to return as a digital-only event, and it quickly became clear to everyone that for the most part, the companies who were attending didn’t actually have much to show- or if they did, they didn’t see E3 2021 as a suitable stage to show those things.

And from then on? It was further downhill still. E3 2022 never really got off the ground, and when it was cancelled, it came as no surprise to the majority of people. The following year, however, was supposed to be a revitalization of the event, with the ESA partnering with ReedPop – a company known for PAX events, Comic-Con events, and more – to bring back as a physical, in-person event, but that never really came to anything. By that time, E3’s stock had already plummeted so low that when E3 2023 was also officially cancelled, the majority of us had seen it coming a mile off.

It didn’t help E3’s case in the slightest that the industry hadn’t really felt its absence in any tangible, material way. In fact, in its absence, it grew and adapted to models that, as it turned out, were far more efficient and cost-effective. In 2019, when Sony announced that it would not be attending the event, then-PlayStation boss Shawn Layden very publicly questioned its importance, raising questions about why companies couldn’t just hold their own shows. That was, of course, something that Nintendo had already been doing since 2011, while EA, too, had stepped away from E3 to hold its own showcases. And since then, it’s grown significantly more prevalent, with the likes of Sony, Microsoft, Capcom, Ubisoft, and many others having preferred to host their own showcases and streams rather than having to pay obscene amounts of money to have a presence at a poorly managed event sticking to an increasingly archaic model.

In 1995, E3 began with the emergence of PlayStation and the drubbing of Sega. And over the last few years, it has ended with a drubbing of its own. For over two decades, the event was the face of the industry, for better or for worse, so its demise comes as sad news to all concerned. Sadly, however, looking at how things have gone in the last few years, it hasn’t exactly been a surprise.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

In a report published by The Washington Post, the ESA has confirmed that it is permanently closing down the E3 event, which means it is no longer planning E3 shows for the coming years.

“After more than two decades of hosting an event that has served as a central showcase for the U.S. and global video game industry, the Entertainment Software Association has decided to bring E3 to a close,” said Stanley Pierre-Louis, the ESA’s president and CEO.

Pierre-Louis added that new methods for companies to reach their audiences – i.e. through direct, pre-recorded presentations or livestreams – has contributed to the diminishing importance and necessity of E3 as an event.

“We know the entire industry, players and creators alike have a lot of passion for E3,” he said. “We share that passion. 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 added: “Companies now have access to consumers and to business relations through a variety of means, including their own individual showcases.”

He went on to add that though E3’s popularity has steadily declined in recent years, its absence has benefited the industry in other ways.

“Any one of these major companies can create an individual showcase, [and] also partner with other industry events to showcase the breadth of games,” he said. “That’s exciting for our industry, and it means it’s an opportunity for them to explore how to engage new audiences in different ways.”

E3 2018 was the last time we got a full-fledged E3 event, with all major players being present. In E3 2019 (and beyond), Sony did not attend, while subsequent years intermittently saw the likes of EA and Nintendo sitting out as well.

E3 2020 was, of course, cancelled altogether due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and though the show did return in 2021 as a remote event, it was met with lukewarm reception at best. The last couple of years have seen the ESA trying to reinvent the event in an attempt to inject it with new life, but E3 2022 and E3 2023 were both cancelled as well. Earlier this year, it was alleged that E3 2024 and 2025 had also been cancelled.

Recent years have also seen companies hosting their own events and showcases, further reducing the need for E3’s existence. Nintendo has, of course, been doing that for over a decade, but in recent years, it has also been joined by the likes of Sony, Microsoft, EA, Capcom, and many others.

Of course, the emergence of events like Summer Game Fest and The Game Awards – both of which were created and are hosted and produced by Geoff Keighley, who was a permanent fixture at E3 events until 2019 – has also contributed to the once-dazzling showcase’s stock plummeting.