E3 Cancelled - What’s Next in Gaming is Unclear for Many but There’s Hope

Losing E3 in 2020 at the dawn of a new console generation for both PlayStation and Microsoft is a huge deal and the ripple effect this will have on games is vast and hard to quantify. Millions of dollars will be lost, not to mention the amount of money that was expected to be made, that will have a ton of impact on people’s lives. There are a lot of game development hopefuls, eager to pitch their game to a publisher or finalize a deal, that have no idea what to do next. There are set builders that no longer have those big seasonal jobs. The businesses that see E3 as a boost will have fewer people to serve. As a player, I am sad to see a huge loss in one of the happiest times of the year but, as someone who is increasingly becoming familiar with the people behind games and the immense effort they go through to create these miracles of art, my heart lies with developers.

E3 is the largest game industry event on the planet, or at least it’s felt like it to me despite the energy steadily waning thanks to the mishandling of data by the ESA, the exorbitant prices to attend and show, and the increase in major publishers doing their own thing in the same area or just sticking to mostly digital announcements. For some indie developers, this is the opportunity to pack up their pitch documents and thumb drives with the latest game builds and share their work in a way that could lead to something bigger. I’ve not personally been to E3, but I’ve been to PAX East and PAX West, as well as other conventions of varying sizes. Each one of those events, I walked away inspired either because of a particularly good meeting or just giving my business card to the right person, and I’m a writer, not a developer or publisher.

These shows are important to a lot of people and to see them be cancelled is disheartening.

That said, almost every industry person commenting on these cancelations agrees that the events must be cancelled. Global health risks like the Coronavirus should not be taken lightly and because of the global nature of the game industry that much travel and interaction could spread the virus even more. Daily the situation around this outbreak is evolving.

Stubbornly, creativity carries through times of darkness and the same will happen here in games.

Already, we’ve seen several gaming outlets, influencers, and publishers start planting the seeds for an E3-style digital event for the summer. The largest group to mention this so far is Microsoft who will be sharing details on their digital event soon. All eyes have been on Sony prior to this, since they’ve been so quiet about the reveal events for the PlayStation 5. One could assume that they may be waiting for their major exclusives (The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima) to hit store shelves first but with the PS5 reportedly being compatible with PS4 titles an announcement could come at any time. Those plans could have drastically changed too following these event cancellations and the Coronavirus. Many companies, most notably Bungie, are already pivoting to mostly remote work.

Because of these major losses in the energy around games I think we’ll see lots of digital events as more games outlets and communities put up a banner for developers to rally behind. Right now there are a lot of ideas floating around on what that could look like, whether it be a collection of trailers and developer commentary like a Nintendo Direct or a live stream of talks from industry leaders for those missing the core of GDC. The gears have already started to turn.

I personally think that this year is the year to really support indies. Not only should we buy a few more than usual but we should also recommend these games to others, rate them on digital storefronts in a meaningful way, create content about them, and generally just build an energy that’s powerful enough to get something going. Right now, I am eager to see what sort of productions or digital events are being put together. I would love for Forever Classic Games to join one of these efforts or, if we can build enough drive around us, we could put together our own event. Currently, I am kicking around the idea of All Games August which would include a lot of pre-made content that would be scheduled throughout the month but I don’t know if we have the resources or time to do it right with our current team size. We would definitely need to find other sites and individuals to partner with for something like this.

Regardless, this summer I am dedicating a large amount of time to celebrate games and sharing why I love this medium and this community with as many people as possible. I’m just not sure of the specifics yet.

For those making plans, please let us know via our email TheForeverClassicPodcast@Gmail.com or on Twitter @ForeverXClassic to help spread the word and potentially join efforts.

Featured image courtesy of PlayStation Blog of Death Stranding, a recent game with large themes of hope in times of bleakness. Read our review of Death Stranding here.