The industry reacts to the Death of E3

E3 2023 dates
(Image credit: ESA/ReedPop)

E3 2023 is canceled, and after a rocky few years in which its intended audience has increasingly questioned the expo's place in the yearly calendar, some are already mourning the show as gone for good.

To be clear, the show's organizers haven't committed one way or another to a show next year. But with the departure of Sony and Nintendo a few years ago, the ongoing disruption caused by Covid-19, and the rising tide of competitors - both those run by publishers like Microsoft and Ubisoft, or those like Summer Games Fest - a clear sentiment has emerged: E3 is probably dead, and we should mourn its passing.

Since last night's announcement, reactions have poured in from developers and journalists reminiscing over their attendance of the expo, its importance to their careers, and the wild moments that could only happen on stage, from Reggie 'My Body is Ready' Fils-Amie to Keanu 'You're Breathtaking' Reeves.

Over on Reddit, players have been posting their own reactions. One user said "I know it hasn't been E3 for a while but I'm really going to miss the concentrated week of gaming news." Another said "having no school and just sitting back and watching it all with my brother was always special. Good or bad, E3 season was always fun to discuss and watch. Sad that I couldn't go to one before it ended."

The overall sentiment, among both players and industry professionals, is that as much as E3's place in the world was becoming increasingly uncertain, and however much the show had struggled to make a case for itself in a changing landscape, it was an important milestone of excitement. The term 'Gamer Christmas' wasn't thrown around lightly, after all.

The summer conference season will continue - Microsoft has made its plans clear already, and it's likely that several other major publishers will follow suit. Our very own digital showcase, the Future Games Show, and its sister event PC Gaming Show, will take place during mid June (dates TBC) and we look forward to sharing more details in due course.

To keep an eye on how that run of shows shapes up, here's our E3 2023 schedule.

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Ali Jones
News Editor

I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.