E3 Expo permanently shut down just shy of 30th anniversary

End of an era: Gaming's largest video games event, E3, is officially gone for good.

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E3 has been permanently cancelled and the show has been retired. The Entertainment Software Association today announced the news to a beleaguered video games industry plagued by layoffs and an ever-dwindling press. Coming off the heels of two consecutive years of cancellations, a privacy controversy, and a digital event that mostly failed to gain traction, the news isn't exactly a surprise. But for people like me who had the privilege in attending E3 as press, the news comes as a blow to an already-shaky industry.

"After more than two decades of hosting an event that has served as a central showcase for the U.S. and global video game industry, the ESA has decided to bring E3 to a close," ESA CEO and president Stanley Pierre-Louis tells The Washington Post.

"We know the entire industry, players and creators alike have a lot of passion for E3. We share that passion. 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."

While COVID-19 certainly didn't help trade shows like E3, the reality is that games companies in the West have simply grown out of the showcase. Nintendo, PlayStation, and even Microsoft had all left E3 as the premiere event for their big showcases, using E3 as a satellite venue for marketing, promos and outreach, and instead delegating big-name reveals to their own cheaper, and wholly-controlled digital streams.

Competing events like the Summer Game Fest during the summer months and The Game Awards in the Winter also affected E3's demise.

RIP to E3, and I'm glad I was able to go in 2013 to check out The Witcher 3, Destiny, Elder Scrolls Online, Battlefield 4, and many others.