The Coronavirus Has Officially Killed E3
[Editor's Note:This is another guest blog from prospective Gaming blogger, @UnfilteredNerd, who knows his stuff and then some. Go and give him a follow.]
The Coronavirus has not only killed E3...but my childhood dream...
Let me take you back for a second, back to June of 2008. I’m 16 years old sitting in my parent’s basement with a 12 pack of Mountain Dew Code Red at my feet. I’m staring at my tiny 18 inch TV that I found at a yard sale for like $40, and it’s tuned into G4TV. I’m watching two of the hottest women alive, Olivia Munn and Sara Jean Underwood, talk about video games, tech, and a shit ton of other things on Attack of the Show. And just in case you have no fucking clue what I’m talking about, let me show you what “gaming media” was back then:
I was fucking awesome and it peaked during E3 week. It was the only time during the summer where I would set an alarm to wake up early and tune into G4TV all day long. I’d watch every conference, every show, and love every fucking minute of it. And after that first E3 week, I had a dream. I told myself that one day I would have enough money to go to E3 and be one of those people cheering in the stands when the next Halo or God of War premiered. I’d be one of the few people in the world that got to try it out months before it was released. And I’D be the one who Olivia Munn would fall in love with when she saw how great I was at video games. Ok...yea that last one was a pipe dream compared to the rest but I was 16 guys. And honestly, can you blame me?
Here’s the thing about E3: it’s awesome for fans and media, but it really doesn’t do too much for the developers themselves. At least, not to any of the big boys. Sure they get a ton of hype and media attention, but as both Nintendo and Sony have realized over the last few years, you can get almost the same level of hype and attention by streaming a pre-recorded conference like the Nintendo Directs and Playstation State of Plays. Even prior to the chaos caused by the coronavirus, these two gaming giants had already bowed out of E3. So like many of the other gaming insiders I follow, I knew that E3’s time in the spotlight was coming to an end soon and that my window for attending gaming’s biggest annual showcase was closing rapidly. Unfortunently, that window was slammed shut today by this stupid fucking coronavirus.
I don’t think we’ll ever see E3 happen again, at least not in the same way it has for the last few decades. Once everyone realizes what Nintendo and Sony have already found out, I doubt they’ll want to go back to spending thousands of dollars to be at E3 again. They’ll see that sales are hardly affected by a presence at E3 and they’ll just do digital announcements. I really hope that’s not what happens, but I think it’s inevitable. And sure there’s still going to be events like PAX and Gamescon, but nothing will ever be like E3. And it fucking hurts guys. I’ve worked so hard over the last year or so, I’ve gotten the opportunity of a lifetime to freelance for my new dream job, and now just when I’m getting close to fulfilling that childhood dream of attending E3, it’s about to disappear for good.
The coronavirus didn’t just cancel E3. It killed my childhood dreams. And I am sad.
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