Last year, I did something I’ve wanted to do since I was 10: I went to E3.
It was awesome. Like bacon covered in maple syrup, it was a two-fold treat: Not only did I get to play new videogames before the rest of the world, but I got to attend the event we gamers claim as our Super Bowl. My fanboy mode rocketed into full overdrive, and I’m not ashamed to say it. There were private demos, people dressed like Chun-Li and Sonic the Hedgehog, and appearances by Shigeru Miyamoto. As in, I was mere feet from him. Bucket list entry, checked.
E3 will always be relevant, because gamers will always care.But some analysts have said the trade show—a term I hate, by the way; it reminds me of boating expos—is becoming irrelevant. Some think digital distribution and the rise of casual game makers like Zynga will banish E3 to obscurity. Others think predictable press conferences from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft, whose sales have admittedly sagged this year, will kill any buzz the event generates.
Really, guys? Are we that jaded? E3 will always be relevant, because gamers will always care. Especially the millions of hardcore gamers, who spend serious bank on their hobby and await gaming news with bated breath. (I know I’m not the only one who squeals like a schoolgirl when Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime takes to the stage. Even if it is just to hawk another Wii Sports.) It’s E3! We get to see the latest and greatest in games! And if you’re lucky enough to go, actually play the latest and greatest in games! It’s rad as hell.
Just look at what’s been trending on Twitter the past couple of days: “Ubisoft.” “ZombiU.” “South Park RPG.” This multi-day exhibition, now in its twelfth year, leaves gamers rapt. When I was there last summer, videogame news outlets like G4, IGN, and GameSpot had erected makeshift newsrooms on the convention center floor. Each campsite, filled with desks, snacks, and furniture, resembled something between a tented computer lab and a Hooverville. Clearly, these reporters weren’t planning on sleeping for the next few days. Too much was on the line. Their readers’ appetite for E3 updates was too great.
The days of flipping through “What We Saw at E3” spreads in videogame magazines, weeks after the actual event? Gone. Today, players huddle around streaming online videos, rapid-refreshing journalists’ live blogs of play-by-plays of keynote speeches and hands-on previews. E3 is as much about getting fans pumped as it is about publishers seducing retailers. Players want to get excited, and over the last decade’s advancements in online technologies, E3 is more accessible and geared toward fans than ever.
The videogame world is privileged to have the most devoted and active fans in entertainment.And it’s this energy from the fans that keeps E3 a crucial mainstay in the industry. See, we gamers are a notoriously vocal lot. When we like something—and especially if we dislike something—we let it be known. The recent revolt against the Mass Effect 3 ending is one example, and the Internet-wide backlash to Roger Ebert’s “games aren’t art” manifesto in 2010 is another. But every year at E3, a guaranteed lightning rod for conversation for active gamers is each major publisher’s press conference. They’re the big-budget showcases of upcoming games and consoles, with occasional dance numbers and cameos by Kobe Bryant. As the big wigs make their pitches, it doesn’t matter if gamers are left excited, pissed off, or bewildered. We just want to hear what’s next.
When I was there, sitting in the audience at pressers or in demo rooms, it was clear I was among other hyper-engaged gamers, who were just as stoked as I was to even be there. Nintendo opening with the live orchestral Zelda medley? Crowds roared! Sony announcing Vita partnership with AT&T? Folks booed! The ending of the press screening of Skyrim? Reporters erupted into applause! It made me feel proud to be part of a community that felt so much passion about what was being presented. It’s this enthusiasm that’s helped make the videogame industry more profitable than motion pictures.
And, yes, while E3 is technically a trade show, these publishers know that they aren’t just speaking to the industry people sitting in front of them. They know they’re talking to fans at home who are also hanging on every word. One of the reasons E3 will always be relevant is because it’s a litmus test. Companies know that before, during, and after their presentations, gamers fill the Internet with first-impression kudos or concerns, generating buzz that can follow a new game or console all the way up to release: “I’m definitely buying that,” or “That looks lame.” Tweets are re-tweeted and links are shared on Facebook. “Sony totally took the show this year!” “Wow, Nintendo really blew it.” (Remember 2009’s lead balloon, the Big N’s “vitality sensor”? Lo and behold, it’s essentially become vaporware.)
As for developers like Zynga, with their FarmVilles and Words with Friends? If these companies continue to make more games, better games, and games that cost more money to produce, they’ll have no choice but to eventually set a booth up at the big show. (And sure enough, making their E3 debut this week... Zynga. They’re holed up away from media, but they’re still there.)
It amounts to something simple. The videogame world is privileged to have the most devoted and active fans in entertainment. Despite doom-and-gloom prophecies and forecasted tectonic shifts in the industry, E3 will always give gamers a communal display of flashy new technology, long-awaited trailers of longed-for sequels, and between the booth babes and Flo Rida, a good amount of ridiculousness. Some might call E3 “irrelevant” at worst and “a trade show” at best. I call it Christmas in June.
