Image source @ Visual China
Text | Game Pizza, author | Dante's Ark, edited | Zhou Yabo
The "Olympics of Electronic Entertainment" did not have the opportunity to meet players this year.
Recently, the American Electronic Software Association (ESA) issued a statement that the 2022 E3 Game Show was confirmed to be cancelled, and there would be no activities online and offline. In 2020, when the global epidemic was raging, E3 was also suspended once, but in 2021, it has returned in the form of online, and the conditions for "online exhibition" have suddenly been announced to be suspended, which makes people who pay attention to this game festival extremely surprised.
Although the proportion of domestic players who can reach the scene is rare, over the years, E3 on the other side of the ocean has assumed the role of a window for the first time to understand the new trends of blockbuster games, watching live broadcasts, receiving continuous bombardment of "good news", and integrating the carnival atmosphere belonging to the game in just 3 days, which has long become the habit and expectation of many players once a year. The time of the ESA announcement is close to April Fool's Day, and some community discussions and even report headlines will specifically mention "this is not a joke".
The confusion is also that the ESA's suspension statement did not give a clear reason, saying only that it would "invest all energy and resources" next year to "revitalize the exhibition", saying that in 2023 it will "bring the community, media and industry back together with a new form and interactive experience".
The use of a one-year suspension to "rejuvenate" shows that the exhibition itself has had a lot of problems, even if there is no epidemic, E3 is facing several problems. Influence is waning, and the promise of "getting back together" seems a bit on paper.
Is E3, a 27-year-old show, still as important as it used to be?
To the temporarily disappearing E3
If you turn back the time to 3 years ago, the new crown virus has not yet appeared in the world, E3 is still a veritable offline carnival.
At E3 2019, Cyberpunk 2077 released a new trailer, ending with characters approaching the camera and taking off their sunglasses, and johnny silver hand actors immediately appeared on stage, and the audience erupted in cheers and screams. An audience member chanting "You Are Breathtaking" was echoed by the exact words, which were later made into an Easter egg in the game that was hard to miss and the name of an achievement/trophy.
As the publicity reached its climax, Cyberpunk 2077 was seen as one of the most anticipated top-notch titles, and no one could have predicted that it would be a chicken feather after its release.
There was another game debut at the same show, and the concept trailer of less than 2 minutes was very small, revealing only that "Hidetaka Miyazaki and George W. Bush" were released. R· R. Martin collaborates", this is the "Eldon Ring of Law" released last month. After suffering for a long time in the "Old Man Ring", some players called this trailer "the place where dreams began" on video websites.
The 2018 E3 exhibition has "Devil May Cry 5" igniting the atmosphere of the whole audience, the orthodox sequel was 10 years away from "Devil Cry 4", the art style has changed greatly, but the old characters familiar to players have all returned, and the protagonist Dante at the end of the trailer series appeared on a motorcycle, and was ridiculed as "10 years gone, he has become Alsace". At the same exhibition, "Only Wolves" also released a real-machine demo, and the release time of the two action games was only 2 weeks apart, and the fans welcomed the "Ghost Crying Wolf Howl" within a month.
The emotional IP that has been silent for many years chooses E3 as the starting platform for new works, which is actually a norm, which not only reflects the status of E3, but also always provokes the nerves of players. Perhaps the "best of the show" of 2016 belonged to God of War 4, a development documentary that succinctly describes the scene: "The crowd went crazy." The producer was gripped by nervousness and worry before the exhibition: "No information has been released before, like a pressure cooker smothering all our emotions." Until the official demonstration at E3, he still had sweaty palms and had to release the handle from time to time to wipe it.
2015's Final Fantasy VII Remake and Shenmue 3 are equally impressive, and their commonalities can be summed up as "Bringing the Ancients Back to Life," which brought the milestones of Japanese RPGs to the next generation, and Shenmue 3, a pioneer of open-world games who pursued interactive authenticity in the late '90s.
No matter how many years ago, E3 has no shortage of "famous scenes", as an important release port, to some extent, it also witnessed the history of video games.
For example, at the 1st E3 in 1995, Sony President Steve Race came to the stage and only said the number "299" and went straight off the stage. This is the price of the first generation of PS consoles in North America, which is $100 lower than rival Sega's Saturn game console, and Sony has upended the industry as expected, leaping into a gaming giant.
Another example is E3 2000, Hideo Kojima cut a 9-minute trailer for "Metal Gear Solid 2", and the cinematic mirror movement technique shocked four seats. The series became one of the promoters of the later trend of "game cinematization", and several European and American games absorbed film techniques to create a Hollywood blockbuster-like visual experience in the game.
There are also some "famous scenes" that are well known in more joyful forms, with Nintendo's contrasting performances on E3 in 2003 and 2004, Pac-Man battle in 2003 disappointing the audience, four staff members of the IGN website being captured with a listless photo, and the following year Nintendo releasing "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess", the same four people looking very exaggerated. "Four foreigners" have since become regular memes.
E3 dilemma
In 2019, the potential crisis in E3 is not limited to outbreaks that have not yet occurred. This year, Sony announced its withdrawal from the show and created its own face-to-face event "State of Play", which was still absent when E3 resumed online last year.
According to Newzoo's statistics, Sony's game revenue totaled $14.2 billion in 2018 ranked second in the world (lower than Tencent), and PS4 console shipments reached 17.8 million units in the same year, which has a pivotal position in the console game market, which has caused a lot of blows to E3.
The withdrawal of manufacturers from E3 is not alone, since 2016, EA has "started another stove" to start creating its own offline exhibition EA PLAY. In addition, many large companies have their own online conferences, and E3 is in parallel, intermittent absence of E3 has become accustomed to, such as Nintendo, Microsoft have a direct meeting, Ubisoft, THQ and other companies have begun to try to hold their own in recent years.
In other words, the arrival of the epidemic has only accelerated the process of E3's "fall out of favor", and even without the epidemic, it is difficult for E3 to maintain its position as the game's preferred release occasion.
Ironically, E3 was created to provide an independent showcase for game makers. It was born out of the "Consumer Electronics Show" (CES), in the 90s, the game in the mass consumption of the awkward position, as a branch of electronic products, manufacturers are indeed selling game consoles, cassettes, CDs and other physical products, can only participate in CES, to communicate with toy stores and other retailers.
At the time, game companies had to pitch tents outside stadiums, and Tom Kalinske, then CEO of Sega, recalled, You had to walk through the industry exhibit area to see the video game zone. One year it was raining heavily at the show, and the rain was flowing into the Genesis console, and I turned to the team and said, 'Enough, we won't be back.'" ”
After E3 was separated from CES, the situation was completely reversed, and the first E3 negotiated cooperation with 180 game companies, attracting 50,000 participants and becoming more and more grand in the years that followed.
The reason why large companies have a tendency to "abandon" E3 in recent years, Shawn Layden, then president of Sony's global studios, has made it quite clear in an interview with foreign media in 2019: it was originally a trade show for retailers, and players also needed to get content coverage through the game media present, but "the industry has changed dramatically, with the Internet, there are game news 24 hours a day, E3 has lost its influence."
Another important reason is the contradiction between the promotion node and the game content. The annual E3 exhibition time is roughly fixed, but now game manufacturers can speak out through social software, live video and other channels, arrange the publicity rhythm of the game according to specific needs, and do not necessarily have to concentrate the news on E3.
The development cost and development time of a 3A game are rising with the progress of game technology, and if you follow the tradition, you often appear in the embarrassing situation of no content to share on E3.
For example, the highly anticipated "The Elder Scrolls 6" in 2018 sent a "trailer" of only a few seconds and only a LOGO, and after briefly mobilizing the player's emotions, the game has not been heard from until today. R star has been used to sharpening a sword for many years, and last year its parent company T2 participated in E3 without mentioning any new games, and several guests held a 45-minute online meeting around the diversity and inclusiveness of the game industry, which was called "the worst symposium in history that will be remembered for many years".
More and more phenomena such as jumping tickets and releasing instead of publicity, although it will not directly affect the credibility of E3, but it has also subtly changed the "sacred" image of the game exhibition in people's minds, and many people look at the mentality of E3, from obtaining accurate sales news to "see how these manufacturers perform".
In terms of its own positioning, E3 has also tried several reforms. Before 2007, the external rules of the exhibition were that ordinary players could participate by buying tickets, lottery, and practitioners, but the ticket price was high, with a pass of nearly $1,000; from 2007 to 2008, E3 changed to a strict invitation system, and the number of participants plummeted; from 2009 to 2017, it returned to the past way; since 2017, it has been officially open to the public and significantly reduced the ticket price.
The process of change is the transformation from industry exhibitions to mass exhibitions, when the demand for game manufacturers to expose content weakens, E3 seems to find its own advantages - to provide manufacturers and fans with close interaction occasions, highlighting their own offline carnival attributes. Unfortunately, this advantage did not last long, and then a deadly epidemic was ushered in.
Despite all the difficulties, I am afraid that few people in the gaming world want E3 to disappear completely. Those glorious moments of the past have been recorded by history, many small and medium-sized developers still need E3, and many players still need the ritual sense of "game New Year".
From this point of view, next year's "new form and interactive experience" is still expected.