As was seen by many as an inevitability, E3, the once-titanic gaming convention, is officially dead.
The President and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), Stanley Pierre-Louis, broke the news about the "Electronic Entertainment Expo" in an exclusive interview with The Washington Post this morning.
"We know the entire industry, players and creators alike, have a lot of passion for E3. We share that passion," he said. "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."
Those events include Summer Games Fest and The Game Awards, as well as regular independent presentations from major gaming publishers, such as Nintendo Directs and PlayStation State of Plays.
E3 appeared to have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, as after the event was canceled in 2020, it seemed unable to reestablish itself in the industry.
A 2021 iteration happened completely online, and then planned 2022 and 2023 iterations were canceled, leaving little hope E3 would ever return.
Still, work was being done to try and bring the show back as late as September of this year, but at least for the regular gaming fan, there seemed to be little point in bringing back E3, especially since Microsoft and Sony followed Nintendo's lead and declared they wouldn't be participating in the event.
All of this made today's announcement not surprising, but it still inspired a twinge of nostalgic sadness, as E3 used to be a major event in many gaming fans' yearly calendars.
For better or worse, major video game events are the domain of Geoff Keighley now, and E3, along with the multiple memes that came with it every year, are no more.