E3 2019: The biggest showcase of the game changes, video games change

Next week brings chaos. Next week brings hype. Next week, the assault of endless video game trailers. Next week brings E3.

But E3 is not the beast that it once was. E3 is changing.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, was born in 1995, in part because of the lack of respect for video games as an industry. After being thrown to the back of shows like CES (often in tents), video game publishers have decided to go it alone and create an event. just for video games.

The rest was history. Over the next few decades, E3 has become a juggernaut.

For years, E3 has been the battleground on which major publishers such as EA, Activision and Ubisoft have fought to attract the attention of the gaming media and the general public. A space where the owners of platforms such as Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony unveil new consoles or announce big ideas crucial. Sony unveiled the first PlayStation at E3 in 1995, Microsoft unveiled Kinect in 2009. Perhaps most famously yet, Nintendo unveiled The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the first time and the crowd s' is unleashed. L & # 39; E3 is the home of the Megaton, the great developer. A primordial swamp for memes, GIFs and slogans.

The E3 has long been the focal point of the video game world, but in 2019, things feel a little different. The E3 has become irrelevant, but in some ways it is bigger than ever.

I say that the E3 changes because the video games themselves change.

L & # 39; Hydra

We live in an interesting time. In 2019, "video games" means Fortnite and Apex Legends. This means a live broadcast and a fast digital broadcast. It means you can play for free. It means mobile gaming, Hollow Knight and groundbreaking independent successes by teams of two.

Today, the concept of video games has diversified and turned into a multi – headed hydra that it is almost impossible to encapsulate, let alone re – enact. express in one event.

The E3 has flourished at a time when the game as a product was as concentrated as possible. They came in a box that you bought at a store. You played them on consoles that you connected to your television. Simpler times. Every five years, the cycle is repeated. New consoles, new games, technological leaps and visual fidelity.

But the cycle as it existed was beginning to fade and we see these changes reflected in what become of E3 and what they are. sure to become. By 2019, companies like Sony and Microsoft no longer need a show like E3 to unveil new consoles or new video games. At the very least, the value of E3 as a platform for media engagement has diminished.

Nintendo was perhaps the first to realize it. The company still appears at the show but no longer holds a traditional press conference. Now, he's playing an episode of Nintendo Direct, a pre-recorded video package that premieres his lineup, streamed live on his YouTube and Twitch pages. The Nintendo Direct presentation is not even unique to the E3. This is a format that Nintendo frequently uses throughout the year, highlighting the product sold at the time of sale.

Nintendo does not need the E3, but it takes advantage of the hype that surrounds it again.

Now, everyone is catching up. Microsoft has Inside Xbox and Sony has recently launched State of Play, a show on YouTube that mimics Nintendo Direct.

In these organized spaces, companies completely control the message and spread it directly into the eyes of consumers.

The consoles have changed

The E3 started in 1995. It was a different world, barely recognizable.

We were at a decade from YouTube. 16 years before Twitch. At the time, a trade show was the most effective way for publishers to get games in front of the press and hence for potential consumers.

In 2019, this looks like ancient history. The media as they existed again exists, but there has been a huge change of power. Audiences no longer need intermediaries (or women), and even if they do, it's more likely to be a anger "influencer" of YouTube that a member of the press.

In 2017, E3 opened its doors to the public for the first time by issuing 15,000 passes to those willing to pay to attend as if it were Comic-Con. In 2019, the E3 is like Comic-Con. It's already is a public event. Conference broadcast streams have been available for years. Nintendo's Treehouse broadcast stream, available on Twitch, already provides as much access to game content as the press displays.

This year, Sony is do not attend the E3. It is important.

"Can not [E3] just be a celebration of games and boards where we bring game developers together? "Shawn Layden, head of game development studios for Sony, said in an interview with CNET earlier this year, where companies are filing their big bomb ads every year.

Sony's next major move is the revelation of the PlayStation 5. In 2019, announcing the PS5 at a show like E3, in a competitive space, given the resources available to Sony, would be nothing less than that. a madness.

So, no PS5, and probably no megatonnes – but what are we going to have? Probably some trailers, maybe some new pleasers. Expect Microsoft to take the initiative and reveal more about this competitor of Google Stadia streaming, currently known as "Project XCloud". But do not expect too much more than that.

Stanley Pierre-Louis, the new CEO of the Entertainment Software Association (the lobby group behind the E3 group) says that this year's event will be "one of the most exciting shows of those years" and that he may be right. In an interview with CNET, he said that there would be 200 exhibitors this year, big and small. Crucially, 50 of these 200 exhibitors exhibit for the first time. This seems important: new voices, new people, new exhibitors. Keyword: new.

E3 is a show that is making its way into a world where yesterday's E3 no longer makes sense. The E3 changes because video games change. And change does not happen overnight.

Upcoming E3 press conferences

Saturday, June 8

Sunday, June 9

Monday, June 10

Tuesday, June 11

• Nintendo (livestream only) – 9:00 am (Eastern Time)

We'll be there

CNET will be on the ground and will be covering E3 2019 alongside our partner site, GameSpot. We will update this page throughout the show as more games are announced.