E3 2021 left many feeling underwhelmed. Although there are plenty of other gaming events throughout the year, E3 is always the biggest one. Almost every publisher is there, ready to show off what it has coming over the next few years, and many gamers hype themselves up for reveals which are unlikely to happen. For some, it ignites the feeling of being a kid again, and it's generally a pretty enjoyable time, despite the event's genesis as an industry-facing tradeshow. But this year, E3 2021 lacked a lot of the magic.
Although there were some massive game reveals at E3 2021, they largely came from the Xbox and Nintendo conferences, which were just two hours of a four day affair. It wasn't consistent, lacking the energy that tends to permeate the show. But it's not because "E3 is dead" or the gaming industry is creatively bankrupt. There are several factors that contributed to the show turning out the way it did, and hopefully, those reasons give fans some reason to be optimistic about next year's event.
The most notable factor in the tame E3 this year is because the industry was turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic, from which it is still largely recovering. The GDC surveyed over 3,000 game developers earlier this year and 44% of them said that their game was delayed by the pandemic. Some public examples of this have been games like Halo Infinite, which appeared at the Xbox & Bethesda E3 showcase but was missing a concrete release date. The game was meant to release alongside the Xbox Series X on November 10, 2020, but was delayed by a whole year. It's not clear how big the delays were for some of the other games at the show, but the pandemic has clearly impacted development.
The COVID-19 Pandemic Made E3 2021 Difficult
Many publishers likely had to make a judgement call: take time away from a game that was already delayed to prepare an E3 demo/trailer, or stay radio silent altogether? A number of noteworthy 2021 titles that were subsequently pushed to 2022 were notably absent from E3 2021. It's possible there were things to show, but developers typically spend many months trying to building meticulously planned E3 demos. From every line said on stage to every button press of whoever is playing, anything off-script could derail the entire demo, which makes them time-consuming things to create. E3 demos are rarely lifted out of the game proper, but are made to highlight specific mechanics or give a taste of the story, and they're all the more difficult to cobble together in a world where many developers are still working from home. That also explains why most E3 2021 announcements were light on gameplay, favoring cinematic sequences that gave impressions of atmosphere more than anything else.
Another reason for this year's E3 disappointments came from E3 entirely skipping a year. While publishers still made announcements of their own last year, including new console reveals, it still lacked that overall energy from an E3 setting, leaving many looking forward to the return of the event. With so much hope and momentum going into E3 2021, more than any show in some time, the ESA just wasn't able to pull it together in a way that was satisfying for the variety of its audiences, especially with the lack of an EA or Sony presence. There were still plenty of great looking games at E3 2021, but this simply wasn't the show many had come to know and love, especially fans who may have seen the industry-facing parts of the show more than usual.
When many think of E3, they think of a big, week-long party that exists to celebrate video games. Though that may not have been the reason E3 came into existence in the first place, the ESA certainly doubled-down on those aspects in various ways across the show's life. The 2021 show lacked those vibes, and the idea of E3 being one big commercial felt a great deal more transparent this year as a result, as if all of the window dressing that usually makes it feel more special and authentic had been ripped away. It felt more sterile, and more like what it's always been: a tradeshow.
This was exacerbated by the ESA releasing a schedule with various big-name publishers attending without giving much information about what their presence would entail. When it came time to tune in, viewers were greeted with important panels that may not have been at all what they expected. A Take-Two presentation, for instance, inspired hopes that Rockstar's parent company might have a GTA 6 reveal at E3 2021, and although the odds of that were slim to none to begin with, Take-Two didn't show anything at all, and its presentation didn't have much to do with the company itself. Although its diversity panel was important, and certainly of interest to industry insiders, the lack of transparency going in let a lot of the public audience down.
E3 2021 Didn't Focus On Public Attendees
Due to the lack of the in-person festivities, the beating heart of E3 wasn't really there, either. There were presentations that consisted of a single game that previously would've been a simple YouTube interview with an outlet, and there was a lack of high energy or enthusiasm due to a noticeable - and inevitable - dearth of audience reactions. Everything felt increasingly hollow as each day of the event wore on. That said, E3 2022 will likely return as an in-person event, and the ESA probably understands that it will have to do a lot to make it worth it for people buying tickets, booking flights, and getting a hotel room. There were plenty of games rumored for E3 2021 that didn't show, and these could also make 2022 a huge year.
The stakes are high - if the ESA misses, it could be a major blow to a show that has already struggled to remain relevant. But if it can get all of the publishers to bring their A-game in 2022, or sweeten the pot enough to bring back participants like Sony, E3 2022 could be a second lease on life for the event. There's a feeling of magic around E3 that few other shows can quite replicate, but it's on the ESA to figure out how to recapture that spark to win back the hearts it may have lost this year.
Source: GDC