The History of E3: The event that changed the world of gaming

There was a time when the month of June was the center of an earthquake that shook the entertainment industry. For nearly three decades, the Los Angeles Convention Center transformed into a cathedral for technology enthusiasts. Amidst neon lights, monumental booths, and the sound of never-before-seen trailers, for more than two decades—from 1995 until the digital edition in 2021—the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, dictated the rules of how we’d play the game in the years to come.

In December 2023, the official announcement of the fair's end came, marking the close of an era. But to understand the weight of this loss, we need to go back in time, to when the event was born from rebellion and died a victim of its own evolution. This is the trajectory of E3 — from its origin, its rise in the 1990s and 2000s, to its end.

The Birth

Before E3, video games were treated as "electronic toys", and large companies like Nintendo and Sega were forced to showcase their releases at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), often in distant pavilions, among microwave ovens and vacuum cleaners.

Tired of the situation, the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) — which would later become the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) — decided that games deserved their own space and created the Electronic Entertainment Expo. In May 1995, the first E3 took place, opening its doors in Los Angeles. Its success was immediate, with 40,000 visitors, and that same year a moment would change history forever.

Sega had just announced the surprise launch of the Sega Saturn for $399. Minutes later, Steve Race, a Sony executive, took the stage for the shortest and most devastating speech of the show. He approached the microphone and said: "Two ninety-nine" ($299). The PlayStation won its first battle in the console war, and E3 gained its first major chapter.

The Golden Age

For the next ten years, E3 became the industry's thermometer. It was during this period that the fair witnessed the birth of icons. In 1996, Super Mario 64 showed that 3D was the future; in 2000, Hideo Kojima brought the pavilion to a standstill with the trailer for Metal Gear Solid 2, showcasing graphics so advanced for the PlayStation 2 that many doubted they were real.

The event was a marketing showcase where the rivalry between Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft (which entered the competition in 2001) featured conferences that resembled packed concerts. In 2004, Nintendo—struggling with the GameCube—experienced one of its most exciting moments with the announcement of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Shigeru Miyamoto took to the stage wielding a Master Sword and a shield, driving the audience wild—a moment immortalized as one of the greatest reactions in the fair's history.

The Identity Crisis

In 2006, the fair had become too large: the cost of the booths was astronomical, and the noise was so loud that journalists could barely work. In 2007 and 2008, E3 was moved to Santa Monica in an indoor format—and it was a disaster.

Without the spectacle, the fair lost its soul and the event's luster. In 2009, it returned to the LA Convention Center in its traditional format, bringing the Beatles (Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr) to the stage to promote The Beatles: Rock Band. E3 seemed to have recovered its path, but the seeds of destruction had already been planted.

The Dominance of Streaming

The 2010s brought the era of high-speed internet and, with it, memes. No one forgets Konami's bizarre 2010 conference, or the birth of Reggie's catchphrase "My body is ready". But the most impactful moment occurred in 2013, when Microsoft announced the Xbox One with controversial restrictions on used games and the need for a constant internet connection. That night, Sony pulled off a masterstroke with a short, sarcastic video showing that to "borrow a game" on the PS4, you just had to hand it to a friend. That short video gave Sony the victory at that E3, defining sales for an entire generation.

In 2015, the fair experienced what many call "The Conference of Dreams", with Sony announcing in a single hour the remakes of Final Fantasy VII, Shenmue III, and The Last Guardian—three projects that fans considered impossible to happen. The buzz was heard worldwide through streaming, which now reached millions of people on Twitch and YouTube. A new trend was beginning that would quietly undermine the strength of E3.

The beginning of the end

The success of online broadcasts proved to be E3's "Achilles' heel". In 2011, Nintendo began replacing its large in-person conferences with Nintendo Directs, and companies realized they could speak directly to their fans via streaming: why spend millions on a physical booth? In 2017, E3 opened its doors to the general public for the first time, attempting to reinvent itself and become a "Comic Con of games". Everything indicated that the fair would become a large event open to all, but in 2019, Sony delivered the hardest blow: it simply decided not to participate. In 24 years of E3, PlayStation wouldn’t be there at last.

Then came 2020 and, with it, the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the cancellation of the in-person event. Geoff Keighley, an industry veteran who previously organized the E3 pre-show, launched the Summer Game Fest, a digital event, but the damage had already been done with the shift in people's thinking and behavior during lockdown. Everyone preferred to stay at home watching instead of attending in person, and that was the final blow to E3.

In 2021, the event attempted a return with a fully digital version, but it was deemed to have no impact; and in 2022, silence. After failed attempts at partnerships with ReedPop (organizer of PAX), major publishers such as Ubisoft, Microsoft, and Nintendo confirmed they wouldn’t be present at the event. The fair no longer had a reason to exist, leaving only memories of the good old days and the deafening roar of the audience at the announcement of a new game.

The legacy of a giant

In December 2023, Stanley Pierre-Louis, CEO of the ESA, officially stated: "We know that the entire industry, gamers and creators have a great 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."

E3 ended not because people stopped loving video games, but because the world changed. What was once an annual rite of passage has transformed into a constant stream of information on social media. "Surprise" trailers now leak on social media days in advance, developers talk directly to players, and announcements happen on any ordinary day of the week.

Still, there remains that nostalgia for the place where Keanu Reeves took the stage in 2019 to tell a fan that he was "breathtaking", where Gabe Newell appeared at the Sony conference to announce Portal 2, and the announcement of God of War that left the place filled with the passion of the fans—an intensity that we could feel even through a broadcast.

Today, we have Summer Game Fest and The Game Awards, but neither possesses the glitz and glorious chaos of Los Angeles in June. E3 was the heart of a culture that rose from the underground to conquer the world. And although the lights of the Los Angeles Convention Center have gone out forever, the memories of each announcement followed by screams will live on forever in our memory. E3 is sadly over... but the game goes on.

And you, what nostalgic memory do you have of any E3 conference? And what do you miss most about that time? Leave it in the comments.