This article originally ran under a different banner/website in February of 2020 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, it is no secret the games industry is built on false promises like a fragile house of cards. We were promised a genuine Aliens experience only to receive a dishonest interruption. We were promised near-infinite galaxies only to receive a handful of samey planets. We were promised we could have Star Wars adventures, create our own mystical adventures, be allowed to ride dragons, but none of this came to be. We were promised sixteen times the detail. The games industry seems too keen on promising us the moon to get us to hurriedly dig out our wallets and pre-order. Where do all these broken promises stem from? The Electronic Entertainment Expo.
My loyal followers, as much fun as I have had pissing on the pompous parade known as E3, all good things must come to an end. Today, I must call for the end of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. While some may gasp in horror, I assure you my intentions are for good. Too long the hype train has been driven off the rails by an irresponsible conductor known as E3. Like a bull in a china shop, E3 has been more destructive than productive, and frankly, the industry is evolving making E3 obsolete. JOIN ME, as I present to you my case for ending the excruciating exhaustion that comes from the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
The most obvious answer for ending the expo is that E3 is always the origin of the hype train. Countless games have been built on endless false promises made by over-excited marketers. One could even make an annual award around the most hyped and under-driver game from E3: Aliens: Colonial Marines in 2011, Watch Dogs in 2012, The Division in 2013, No Man’s Sky in 2016, Anthem in 2017, and Fallout 76 in 2018, just to name a few. This also doesn’t include the numerous games that had trailers that excited us, only to break our hearts when they were unceremoniously canceled.
However, E3 not only makes broken games feel even more damning but I believe they could taint our view of great games. It is no secret by now that I love the Bioshock series. I will even have urges to play through Bioshock 2, the black sheep of the family. Even though it sheds its horror aesthetic, I found Bioshock Infinite just as exhilarating of a roller coaster ride as the original. At this time in my life, I was not as tapped into the games industry as I currently am. I did not watch the E3 videos for Bioshock Infinite. I merely preordered the game as soon as I learned a new installment to my favorite series was coming. Oh to be so blindly naive.
Recently, I had been going through old videos of Bioshock Infinite and I stumbled on some E3 videos. I naturally found the scene with Elizabeth trying to save the dying horse that was cut. A no big deal thought raced through my head as I continued watching. It wasn’t until I saw Elizabeth summon a rain cloud that Booker could combine with an electric plasmid to electrocute numerous thugs, that I started to get annoyed. To see a brilliant idea, that clearly was cut for technical reasons, annoyed me. In that brief moment of frustration, I began to ponder. If I had seen this footage before preordering Bioshock Infinite, could this have colored my opinion on Bioshock Infinite? LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I do try to go into reviews unbiased, but when a feature is shown off at E3 and absent from the final product, it is hard to not feel cheated. All of this makes me conclude that E3 does no favors for video games as works of art.
Then again, has E3 really been a celebration of artwork? No, it has been a desperate attempt by the villainous corporations to get you to pre-order as many games as possible. With the game’s industry vizir, the ESA, at the masterminds behind E3, we have been seeing them attempt to dive even deeper into the world of corporate propaganda. The ESA is hoping to pivot E3 from a trade show into a fan, media, and influencer event. Their hope is to move away from cynical journalists who will gladly call out the game industry on its vile practices, and shift the show to “exclusive/appointment only activations for select attendees who will create buzz and FOMO.”
Quite frankly the idea makes my skin crawl. The mere thought of the game industry using FOMO and peer pressure to sell games feels downright sleazy. To make matters worse, the ESA is looking to set up “queuetainment” to keep the corporate propaganda going even while you wait in line at E3. Even more grotesque is the ESA hopes to leverage the power of “social good” to create goodwill and enhance the game industry brand among Millennials and Gen Z. Frankly, if this is what E3 is destined to become, then we should take it out back and gracefully finish it off.
While this all seems out of touch, corporate executives chasing trends, you could almost see a sly evil plan at work. Remember, the ESA is not a foolish jester, but a cunning vizier. This news of shifting to “fans, media, and influencers” event comes hot off the heels of the ESA doxxing over two thousand journalists, analysts, and content creators. The ESA had the sensitive information of E3 2019 journalists sitting in a WordPress document, easily accessible by anyone who wanted it. It was soon discovered that similar sensitive information from the previous E3 was stored the same way. With this massive data leak, I would not be shocked to hear fewer journalists attending E3 playing right into the ESA’s hands. Am I saying the ESA purposely doxxed thousands so E3 could become an influencer event? Probably not purposefully, but I am sure the idea sprung into the head of one of the ESA’s vile leaders while they were menacingly rubbing their hands together. This shift from battle-hardened journalists to impressionable influencers will only lead to more unchecked hype, leading me to believe we should be done with the E3 affair altogether.
Loyal followers, you might think I am being too hard on E3, but I assure you, my attitude is reflective of the major publishers as well. Nintendo has been absent from the party for some time now, as they chose just to send their Direct videos to E3. Sony decided E3 was a waste of time last year and they have decided to skip the whole event in 2020. Microsoft even decided to show off the new console, the Xbox Series X, without the hype of E3. If E3 isn’t good enough for console reveals, then what is it good for? It is becoming clearer the publishers don’t need to have giant E3 parade floats to sell their games and consoles, but merely a small video they can tweet.
So is it time to end E3? All good things must come to an end. E3 must be damned for all the countless games spoiled by hype, its excessive extravagance, and for the dark, twist plans of the ESA. It has become a relic of the past. While I will miss cynically watching the expo and deflating hype aboard my soapbox, I will admit the show must come to an end. E3 does not help companies nor the players, it only brings the industry closer to the end.
Sources:
Futter, Mike. “E3 2020 Pitch Proposes Overhaul with ‘Queuetainment,’ New Floor Plan, Industry-Only Day [EXCLUSIVE].” GameDaily.biz, GameDaily.biz, 17 Sept. 2019, gamedaily.biz/article/1215/e3-2020-planning-document-proposes-overhaul-with-queuetainment-new-floor-plan-industry-only-day.
Myers, Maddy. “E3 Expo Leaks The Personal Information Of Over 2,000 Journalists [Update].” Kotaku, Kotaku, 6 Aug. 2019, kotaku.com/e3-expo-leaks-the-personal-information-of-over-2-000-jo-1836936908.