In my childhood, as soon as Thanksgiving were over – and sometimes before it had even arrived – I would begin counting down the days until Christmas. I was unable to contain my excitement, each day at school feeling like slow torture as the seconds seemed to take minutes to tick away. I would frequently sneak into my parent’s bedroom, seeking out the poorly hidden shopping bags full of presents to catch a glimpse of what I might be receiving that year.

Such excitement and anticipation is increasingly rare in my adult life, save for one single, annual event: E3. If I’m lucky, the interactive electronics expo occurs in tandem with my birthday, allowing me to perceive the celebration of marketing and consumerism as a gift packaged especially for myself. More often than not, I care less for birthday cake, dinners, or presents as all of my eager attention is drawn towards the industry’s biggest event of the year.

Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say it was the biggest gaming event of the year. There’s a lot of pundits and Reddit regulars and social media commentators that are blaming the past two years of lackluster announcements on Covid, but I think there was a general sense of deterioration well before the pandemic. Speaking anecdotally, I recall taking a week off of work in 2017 to sit in front of my television uninterrupted, absorbing any and all gaming streams I could. It was that year that I noticed a pattern developing with each E3: I’d feel disappointed and let down until Nintendo took the figurative center stage, concluding the major press conferences with a Direct and three days of live gameplay demonstrations.

At first I attributed this disappointment in all other companies to be the result of exhaustion and disconnection from the AAA gaming machine. While I think there is a modicum of truth to this, I also believe I was unable to discern the growing transformation of E3. It was no longer the gaming event of the year; it was now the first of many. Publishers stopped revealing their hand on stage long ago, saving many of their cards for later events like Paris Games Week, SXSW (South by Southwest), San Diego Comic-Con, Gamescom, and Tokyo Games Show. A reveal trailer may be shown at E3, but the development studio and publisher would likely be drip feeding more information throughout select expositions as the summer progressed. A carefully managed and distributed hype supply.

If E3 is anything, I think it is a habit. A habit of what, however? For whom is it a habit? Of that I am not sure.

It’s clear that there are a lot of big publishers that no longer see the need for E3 as a place to reveal their biggest announcements. In years prior EA’s separation from E3 was rather meaningless, seeing as they took place across the street at the same time. This year, however, with everything going all-digital, they’ve scheduled their event for July, far from the hustle and bustle of E3. Before the pandemic, it was most convenient to hold your event where all the games press and enthusiast public would already be gathered. Now, without the need or concern with physical spaces, they can push themselves into an isolated enough spot so as to dominate more of the headlines. Battlefield 2042 may have still had a presence at E3, but it’s also a property large enough to garner attention alongside games like Far Cry 6, Elden Ring, and Breath of the Wild 2. Even for a company as large as EA, it’s possible for many of their titles to get lost in the shuffle – especially in their smaller EA Partners publishing label.

Sony has similarly split off from E3, and has likely taken some big players with them. Many were wondering why Final Fantasy XVI and Forspoken were no-shows at Square Enix’s press conference, both titles populating “what was missing?” listicles used to coax clicks and generate ad revenue. As both games are exclusive to the PlayStation 5 for a limited time, it is most likely that they’ve already been scheduled to be shown off during a future State of Play to take place sometime in the Summer. If either of these games had been shown off during E3, the excitement and impact would be reduced, thus lending less weight to any headlines generated. Now, Sony gets something special and unique to showcase and therefore earn some leverage in their contest for market share against Microsoft.

As much as many of us have outgrown the console wars, that contest between gaming giants is, I think, one of the things that is now missing from E3. There’s no feeling of cut-throat competition hidden behind slick West Coast grins. It’s all too clean and separated, and while I have no interest in one company “winning” over another, it is fascinating to analyze, study, and contemplate the strategy of each company and how they’re forcing each other to adapt.

In an unpublished draft, I called back to my ritualistic changing of channels following a Philadelphia Eagles football game. Prior to the pandemic I was quite invested in the status of the team, and no game would be complete without the breakdown and analysis by NBC Sports Philadelphia’s talking heads. The experience and expertise of analysts Michael Barkann, Barrett Brooks, Ray Didinger, and Seth Joyner helped me learn more about the game, confirmed many of my own thoughts regarding the coaching staff’s tactics and decisions, and occasionally left me in mild disagreement. It was a mature conversation born not out of a distaste for the Eagles, but a biased love for them and desire for the team to be the best they could be.

Even if the mainstream games press were somehow up to the task of such an after-action report rather than embarrassing themselves with over-the-top meme humor, there’s not enough meat on this E3’s bone to chew on. There’s some, such as the fan response to Square Enix’s presentation or Microsoft’s Game Pass strategy surpassing my expectations, but there’s no way of comparing Sony’s strategy as a result. Are they planning to reinvent either PS+ or PS Now to compete with Game Pass? Will they create a new service altogether? Will they continue to rely on exclusives to coax players to their platform in a proposed philosophy of quality over quantity? As in, fewer experiences but of a high quality rather than a large quantity of lower quality experiences on the cheap?

Perhaps it’s the gray hairs in my beard talking, but I yearn for post-show analysis that isn’t just what “we” are and aren’t hyped for. I even wish we could go back to the days when corporate executives would drone on about sales numbers and projections. In my youth I was so self-absorbed in my own desires that I dismissed such content as pointless self-applause. Now, as an adult, it gives me hard metrics to use and compare. Unfortunately, those reports are saved for investor calls and shareholder meetings. They aren’t marketing, after all, and that’s all E3 has become.

Which, I think, is what’s really missing. While there was always something silly and artificial in the pre-Internet presentations made for shareholders, retailers, and games press, it was far more specifically an industry event. You could read between the lines of announcements and marketing strategies, but now we have only trailers and allegedly “hip” and supposedly “young” Millennial games journalists trying to sound funny for all the kids watching.

I’ll tell ya what I don’t miss: low-resolution video that had to be downloaded and played in RealPlayer.

It may sound odd for this old man to be yelling at these particular clouds, but I believe the Internet killed E3 in more ways than one. Most commentators emphasize the convenience at which any publisher can release a trailer at any time, but I think this oversimplifies just how extensive marketing campaigns are. This is especially true when you’re trying to reach crowds beyond the enthusiast community. However, it was also the constant screaming and shouting of young punks such as myself for the “old guys in suits” to get off the stage and just show the games. It was the memes made of “Ridge Racer” and “Giant Enemy Crabs”. It was the comparison of pre-release trailers and gameplay demonstrations with their retail launch builds.

Some of these complaints have had a more positive effect. Ubisoft seems to be demonstrating actual gameplay rather than pre-rendered and heavily scripted footage, for example. Microsoft didn’t bring out a single celebrity cameo or car unveiling their entire conference. Ironically, it’s not the companies trying to dazzle everyone with artificial humor and spectacle, it’s the journalists and figureheads like Geoff Keighley instead.

On the other hand, publishers are failing to take marketing risks, including ones that fans are hungry for.

Which is when we come to the “surprise”. Even all the leaks leading up to E3 these days have less to do with brand new IP and far more to do with previously announced projects or ongoing franchises. Metroid Dread may be the only highlight of E3 to come close to the hype surrounding Elden Ring, and that’s largely because no one expected it. At least, no one expected it, specifically. Rumors have been circling for over a year now that there’s been a 2D Metroid in the works, with many expecting a remake of Fusion. There are plenty of reasons this seemed likely, but the revival of a long canceled 2D Metroid that had fans speculating for over a decade was not on anyone’s lists of predictions. It was a genuine surprise.

The only thing surprising about Elden Ring was that it wasn’t at Microsoft’s conference.

This is not to undersell the Elden Ring reveal. It is the game I am most excited for that isn’t Metroid Dread. I’ve watched the trailer multiple times, as it promises to use the open-world to deliver a fresh new experience that From has not delivered prior. We already knew it was an open-world, though, and we already knew it would carry on in the Soulsborne tradition. It was more a matter of how, and though the trailer gave us an idea, it still leaves us with questions.

Companies are no longer saving surprises for E3. They’re instead spreading their announcements out, trying their best to make sure they don’t have to share headlines with any other sudden reveal that day. To that extent, E3 feels more like it belongs to the Indies these days, as there was a constant flood of trailers, gameplay demonstrations, and announcements for games that belonged to the smaller scale publishers and independent developers. These games undoubtedly deserve their own place in the sun, but by condensing them all into a single weekend, the odds of something being missed actually increase. AAA games can survive sharing the spotlight. Indie games – especially so many sharing genre and art styles – blend together far more easily, which means it becomes just as easy to get lost in the shuffle or diminish hype for later reveals. I mean, see five pixelated twin-stick shooter roguelikes, you’ve seen ‘em all, right?

One could say E3 is for the consumers, but looking at the reaction to this year’s E3 in particular, I’m not sure that’s true. There’s plenty to look forward to, but there’s also very little that players seem excited about on the whole. It’s all condensed into specific games, and those are largely the same games players were excited for before E3.

There are a lot of players that also hate everything about E3. Whether you’re in the Los Angeles Convention Center or not, it’s a sensory overload that not only dominates the senses, it dominates the conversation. You’ll likely find articles, op-ed pieces, podcasts, and YouTube videos all detailing thoughts on the most hyped games and how the event went (very little of it being as thoughtful or mature as the aforementioned Eagles Post-Game Live I mentioned is for football). The AAA machine is like an allergy to them, and E3 the the flourishing of pollen into the air.

I must also ask the question of how a marketing event can be for consumers, since the entire goal is to compete for the collective cash in every single wallet or purse tuning in.

The question at the end of the day, then, is whether or not E3 is “important”? Is E3 something we, as a gaming community, “need”? The obvious answer is no, because video games themselves are not a need. That does not stop me from loving them, however, and yearning for something that not only gives cause to celebrate, but to also feel more connected with the rest of the community. To get caught up in a communal zeitgeist as one might during a concert.

I was still in College when The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was officially unveiled at E3 2004. I recall watching that video over and over again, imagining the possibilities for this epic new title in the franchise. No one knew it was coming, and after Wind Waker it felt like a dream come true (for reasons unfair to Wind Waker). Though it turned out to be a disappointment, no one could have expected a Team Ninja developed take on the Metroid franchise. It looked like a fresh new direction for the franchise, an evolution of the faster-paced 2D gameplay into the 3D space. Just as the world had grown fatigued with World War II shooters, Infinity Ward stepped in and introduced one of the industry’s biggest, most influential juggernauts it had ever seen. Microsoft and Capcom filled the hearts of action fans with hope once more as Devil May Cry 5 became a reality.

Of course, these are also largely entries into existing franchises. Some of the best surprises are those you don’t expect, but some of the most memorable trailers to me – such as the Bioshock announcement trailer or the reveal of Assassin’s Creed – were actually not made available at E3. Time has, I suppose, impacted my memory in such a fashion that I believe I first saw Assassin’s Creed announced at a Sony Press Conference using that precise trailer, but the not-so-historical records of the Internet insist otherwise. The game was announced ahead of E3, not at E3. It is a shame, because surprise announcements of new properties like Astral Chain are what make E3 what it is.

That truly is the rub, however. This industry has changed so much that you’ll never have the price heard round the world anymore. The last diss of such a nature we may witness is PlayStation’s game sharing instructions, an irony as they are becoming the less consumer (and developer) friendly company as we embark upon a new generation.

I suppose what I want – and what many tune in for – are surprises. If you’re a publisher, however, there’s no guarantee your surprise will manage to be heard above the cacophony of other announcements and shocks to the consumer crowd. It makes more sense to reveal most of your games outside of E3, using the event itself to help keep the marketing train going rather than kick starting it. If you’re a games journalist with inside sources leaking information to you, it’s in your most profitable interest to share that information onto the Internet and thus spoiling potential surprises. Anything to get those clicks and ad revenue, eh? Most of us ravenous consumers will be unable to help ourselves, immediately latching onto any rumor and speculating the possibilities of its accuracy.

Hi, I’m Geoff Keighley, and I’m here to remind you of how I’m very best friends with Hideo Kojima.

Before the Internet, E3 had a clear purpose. It spoke to very specific people. With the advent of the Internet and all the changes it made to attention spans and constant news cycles, it was inevitable that E3 would be driven to change. Many might assume that it had to change, but I’m not so sure it changed in the way it ought to have. It was simply pushed and pulled by the easily swayed masses, and now we have an event that satisfies a purpose, but is it the same purpose most players gather together for? “Surprises” is certainly a simple way to put it, and “excitement” may be another, more accurate descriptor of the precise thrill being chased. Looking back on that Devil May Cry 5 announcement, though, I think it really is something more communal than that. My Twitter feed was littered with all-caps exclamations of excitement. There was a bond shared as a whole host of players online shared in the glee that, yes, there’d be a proper sequel to Devil May Cry 4, the franchise wasn’t dead, and it looks incredible.

I think Geoff Keighley is trying to generate that same sort of communal hype and excitement, but it comes with a whole host of check boxes and considerations that have little to do with the games themselves. It feels like he desperately needs to remind the world that, yes, he really is friends with Hideo Kojima for real. The insistence that celebrity cameos show up, either to “legitimize” the event or because celebrity cameos are just the sort of thing other events and trade shows do to try and draw eyeballs. I truly do believe Geoff Keighley has a passion for games and wants to make some incredible events, but I also think the biggest thing getting in his way is himself.

If it were up to me, though, how would I go about creating a “real” E3? I’ve done a lot of complaining, after all, but proposed no solutions. Honestly, I don’t think you really can propose a solution. After all, so much of it relies on the companies taking part themselves, and it makes way too much logical sense that they’d use E3 as a jumping off point for their marketing campaigns than to rely on E3 to market the game itself.

Perhaps what I can do, however, is prepare ahead of time so that I can at least do my own part in those “after-action” reports. Yeah, I’m one guy with a lonely blog and whose Twitch is only really followed by his friends, but if you can’t find the analysis and discussion you want, best to make and have it yourself, right? So, hey, at least there’s that to look forward to in 2022.