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Is E3 becoming pointless?

L

Lagamorph

Member
Looking through gaming chat today I see thread after thread of pre-E3 announcements and leaks, as if every developer is trying to rush news out to avoid their announcement being buried in the flurry of announcements that come from E3 and it makes me think, what's the point of even having E3 anymore?
If all the big announcements end up coming beforehand anyway then what's the point? You can showcase footage easily without a big event like E3 and doing it via YouTube from your studio would probably be way cheaper. Pretty much the only thing that it seems E3 can be used for is letting attendees play some early builds, but is that really worth it? Especially considering those are often nothing like the final released build.

So why do we have E3 anymore anyway? I just dont see the point now.
 
T

The God

Member
The announcements coming beforehand aren't the big announcements though. That's why they come beforehand.
 
H

Hanmik

Member
it is the same every year..

But E3 isn't only for gamers.. Mainstream media and other persons will also watch the show. So it´s the perfect venue to get their "new" stuff out there. And it´s much easier to get multiple new-stuff out at once. Not all people follow gaming news like us here.
 
P

PerfectFlaw

Member
Not everything leaks, and even if a big reveal does get rumored beforehand it doesn't compare to the actual announcement. In fact, sometimes leaks build hype even more.

i.e. Last year's E3.
 
R

Ryan_MSF

Member
The show still has a point, but I do find it kills my hype a little bit when you see 90% of the stuff leaked a week early on GAF/Twitter etc, but that's just me.
 
S

Salty Rice

Member
Not really. Its still Video game Christmas.

Its all about the hype of that time. Thats why so many announcements before around E3 are happening.
 
S

shandy706

Member
No, we barely get anything before E3. Sometimes there's a big leak, but typically the best stuff happens at the conferences.
 
P

Patryn

Member
For the consumer, increasingly there isn't really a point. As companies start having their own events where they know they can have an entire press cycle to themselves, we'll start seeing game announcements more spread out.

For the industry, having a major trade show still allows them to draw mainstream news outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post out to cover the industry in greater detail than they normally do.

In addition, from what I understand a lot of business is conducted behind closed doors simply because you're bringing most of the players into the same area.

However, as the mainstream press holds less and less sway, and as more and more companies realize that E3 is not worth the expense, both these reasons will fade away.

I suspect if E3 still exists in a decade (and that's increasingly becoming a big if), it will look nothing like it does today.
 
SerTapTap

SerTapTap

Member
E3 was absolutely never an event for literally ALL reveals.

And there's absolutely NO way "all the big announcements" are coming beforehand. Not even close, even this year with a few big names skipping the show. There's no way Sony's going to just walk out on stage and be like "Hey did you see the news last week? Yep that's our show! Goodbye."

poodaddy said:
There ya have it. I think that E3, purely as a source of information, has been useless for years now. It's an advertising event primarily, and it serves that function more than adequately.
Click to expand...

I didn't realize the multiple dozen games and features announced last E3 were entirely non-existent. I mean, if you're saying you can get the same info by reading the news AFTER, um, that's always been the case. But they announce things. That is...absolutely not remotely in question.
 
R

RipperGrim

Member
How have people forgotten about the impact song's E3 had last year so quickly? It was even reported about in main stream news.

I would even argue that Sony's success can be attributed to E3 thanks to them smacking down Microsoft about the drm issues.
 
Ü

Übermatik

Member
E3 could do with a bit of a revival. The stale old lights down AAA prerecorded gameplay reveals are getting predictable now.

I love the hype of the stage environment, but developers and publishers have really lost vision and focus in recent years.
 
J

J 0 E

Member
Every publisher announces their news before to guarantee the attention before the show, the case every year
 
M

MagnoSauce

Member
Game companies should just only communicate in leaks. Don't even release your games. Just let the source code leak. Console companies can leak 3D printing instructions for people to build the consoles.
 
L

Lagamorph

Member
What "big announcements" can we even expect this year though? PS Neo and Xbox Scorpio aren't new news, at best we'd get a confirmation of specs and a glimpse of what they might look like. Is that really such a huge thing?
We already know the NX won't be there unless Nintendo have just been trolling everyone.

I'll be very happy to be wrong, but I certainly don't expect anything 'huge' to happen.
 
S

spekkeh

Banned
It still serves as a lightning rod for game marketing. It's better to be part of a flurry of hype, than releasing information at a moment nobody is paying attention.

Now whether conferences or a few days event are still the best option is another matter.
 
L

Liamc723

Member
Lagamorph said:
What "big announcements" can we even expect this year though? PS Neo and Xbox Scorpio aren't new news, at best we'd get a confirmation of specs and a glimpse of what they might look like. Is that really such a huge thing?
We already know the NX won't be there unless Nintendo have just been trolling everyone.

I'll be very happy to be wrong, but I certainly don't expect anything 'huge' to happen.
Click to expand...

Were you expecting TLG, Shenmue 3 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake to be announced at this point last year?
 
V

Valkerionseven

Member
It only seems to get worse each year. This year is especially bad. All the games I wanted to see an update on are seemingly getting demos or new trailers and details put out early.

Things like FFXII remastered I can understand, its a remaster/upgrade of an old game. Don't have to spend a great deal of time on that. Some of the other stuff though makes me feel like the dev just wasn't confident in their game.
 
P

patapuf

Member
I think we get this thread every year and we still end up getting some suprises ;)

That said, clearly companies are questioning E3's worth as well. Many third parties abondoned the show and Nintendo has minimal prescence. And somehow i doubt this time companies think they'll need to revive E3 again to reach the mainstream audience.
 
A

ArkhamFantasy

Member
Having a bunch of publishers and developers get together and announce a bunch of games at the same time builds an aura of hype that is unquestionably good for the industry, E3 is our christmas. Whether everyone needs to do their press conferences at the same building is up for debate.
 
C

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
No.

It was never about everything having to be unveiled or shown at e3. Valva, Blizzard, Rockstar, mainline Pokemon titles etc. missed many e3 or didnt even attend. The big fall games of the last years always have been unveiled a couple of months/weeks prior e3 to get the Marketing going,

e3 has still its place...even though there are other Venues.

Edit:

Also last e3 was pretty good - so yeah...no e3 isnt pointless at all.
 
poodaddy

poodaddy

Member
Sir TapTap said:
E3 was absolutely never an event for literally ALL reveals.

And there's absolutely NO way "all the big announcements" are coming beforehand. Not even close, even this year with a few big names skipping the show. There's no way Sony's going to just walk out on stage and be like "Hey did you see the news last week? Yep that's our show! Goodbye."



I didn't realize the multiple dozen games and features announced last E3 were entirely non-existent. I mean, if you're saying you can get the same info by reading the news AFTER, um, that's always been the case. But they announce things. That is...absolutely not remotely in question.
Click to expand...

Notice the word "purely" in my post. I agree with you, such is why I said it's primarily an advertisement event; that doesn't mean there's no information. Context my friend.
 
T

The God

Member
Lagamorph said:
What "big announcements" can we even expect this year though? PS Neo and Xbox Scorpio aren't new news, at best we'd get a confirmation of specs and a glimpse of what they might look like. Is that really such a huge thing?
We already know the NX won't be there unless Nintendo have just been trolling everyone.

I'll be very happy to be wrong, but I certainly don't expect anything 'huge' to happen.
Click to expand...

Iterative consoles are huge thing especially since they haven't been confirmed and detailed yet

y'all do this shit every year lol
 
L

Leezard

Member
E3 has been boring for me the last couple of years. I think that has mostly to do with me getting older though, I won't get hyped easily nowadays.
 
S

sora87

Member
One year gamespot, ign, kotaku and eurogamer will all combine to leak every single possible announcement
 
A

axisofweevils

Holy crap! Today's real megaton is that more than two people can have the same first name.
Definitely far less important than it used to be in terms of "the sole place for megaton announcements".
 
D

Dangerous1992

Member
It's really pointless to leak several games one week before the E3. There will be some surprises like last year, but a lot less if they leak everything...
 
I

Imp the Dimp

Member
Haven't watched it since 2011. I honestly do not give a fuck anymore at all. Also mainly because AAA games have changed for the worse.
 
D

Doc_Drop

Member
No.

Put yourself in the position of someone who doesn't read up on gaming info on a specialised gaming discussion board and also remember this is an opportunity for industry figures to meet all in one place.
 
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