Does E3 Have a Place in a Post-COVID World?

Video/streaming presentations are becoming the norm, but in-person events will always have value

E3 has historically been one of the gaming industry’s most important events. At the same, the industry’s relationship with the event has become increasingly fractured in recent years. Many have argued — long before COVID-19 — that the expo has become redundant. The emergence of COVID-19 certainly seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for the event. But that may not necessarily be the case.

In the last few years, E3 has admittedly lost quite a bit of its shine as more and more hardware and software developers have turned away from the event. Nintendo opted not to host a live press conference during the expo, opting instead to air a pre-recorded video presentation. EA moved away from the L.A. Convention Center (where the event is held), instead moving to a nearby location to hose their EA Play show. The icing on the cake came last year when, for the first time, Sony decided not to hold a keynote presentation — leaving Microsoft as the only one out of the “big three” (Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo) to do a traditional live show.