Listen, when E3 announced it wasn’t going to be happening at all this year, digitally or otherwise, I wasn’t that surprised. I felt more shock when E3 was cancelled in 2020 (before the severity of Covid had really hit home) and that had felt like the beginning of the end – it was already mired in controversy and uncertainty that year. So as the news hit me initially, I thought “Yeah, that makes sense.”
The reality of NO E3 has started to hit a little more this week. Watching the Sony State of Play was great, don’t get me wrong, but I realized that was probably gonna be what all that Sony was going to show for the next few months. Microsoft/Bethesda have a showcase scheduled for around traditional E3 time (June 12th), but Nintendo hasn’t indicated whether they are gonna show anything or not. I used to love scheduling my E3 week around the press conferences and I don’t have that this year.
And it’s not even always about the games! I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love a game reveal or two, but I loved when the industry got together. I love seeing folks I follow get all in the same room and create great content talking about awesome things. There was just an energy in the industry that always warmed your old Pando’s heart. I think I’m beginning to miss that most of all!
That all being said, it could be that E3 does come back again after everything, though I have a feeling it will be a very different kind of show if it does. And if it never does? I’ll always be grateful that I got to experience E3 at its height in 2009, as an attendee – an actual “dream come true”.