E3 opens doors to gaming fans in hopes of staying relevant

As the world's largest video game companies converge in Los Angeles this weekend for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, the convention centre is preparing to open the doors to an entirely new audience.

This year, for the first time, 15,000 consumers will be able to walk the show floor to play preview versions of unreleased games and attend fan-focused panel discussions with developers and Hollywood celebrities  — at a cost of $150 to $250 US for a pass.

Called the E3 Coliseum, this public-facing event represents a major shift for a show historically reserved for industry professionals and journalists.

"I think there's been a realization over the past 10 years that consumers today in media have an incredible voice, through social media and other platforms, and they should be a part of this experience," says Geoff Keighley, producer of the Game Awards and E3 Coliseum's host.

Flashy press conferences

The landscape of games coverage and consumption has changed drastically, and E3 has tried to adapt.

In the 1980s and '90s, the bulk of gaming coverage at E3 came from print magazines like Gamepro or EGM. Journalists would play preview versions of games and write their impressions beside a still image or two.

They would also report from the press conferences, where major companies such as Sega or Nintendo discussed their financial results and projections and announced new or upcoming games and hardware.

But as gaming increasingly becomes an online and digital-first market, bricks-and-mortar retailers and print magazines are no longer E3's raison d'etre. (Sony recently said that nearly half of their new games are sold through the digital PlayStation Store.)

In terms of fan consumption, video content has largely replaced written impressions of games. After all, why read a journalist's preview of a game when you can watch someone playing it for 10 minutes instead? Much like the film industry, publishers can release their trailers directly to YouTube without relying on an outside media outlet to distribute it. And fans are free to share their impressions.

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E3's press conferences reflect this new state of affairs, having become high-production affairs filled with surprise announcements meant to shock and delight hundreds of thousands of fans watching live on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch.

That shock factor is especially valuable to brands in the era of "reaction videos" — that is, when gamers on YouTube film themselves flipping out at a fan-pleasing stinger (sometimes to ridiculous effect).

Trade show or sideshow?

"I think the major difference between the E3 of today and E3 at the height of [the '90s] is that a lot of the sort of ancillary pageantry has kind of been toned down," says Alex Navarro, editor of the gaming site Giant Bomb.

He remembers one booth from 1999 promoting Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (featuring the voice talent of boxing announcer Michael Buffer) for the Sega Dreamcast.

"They had a Michael Buffer sound-alike contest, and Buffer was there judging a bunch of random people coming up and trying to do the 'Let's get ready to rumble!' thing. A friend of mine actually won that contest," Navarro muses.

Most companies' booths have shed the carnival atmosphere in favour of kiosks for people to play the games on high-end televisions, with developers present to answer questions.

But E3's sideshow-like quality hasn't disappeared entirely. They've just migrated to other parts of the event. Look no further than a rambling interview with soccer legend Pele in 2015, ostensibly to promote the next FIFA game. Or Snoop Dogg smoking a joint while playing Battlefield 1 in 2016.

Indeed, the infusion of a public audience and panels will give this year's E3 a Comic Con-like vibe, with major companies pumping millions of dollars into fan-service — and marketing — directly to the consumers.

Personalities from the entertainment world may have found their best fit in E3 as part of the Coliseum. The schedule includes several discussion panels where developers mingle with celebrities, from scientist Neil DeGrasse Tyson to Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn.

Is E3 still relevant?

With every change over the years, columnists and critics have questioned whether E3 remains relevant.

It has happened so often that in 2016, Kotaku editor Jason Schreier published an article titled "People sure like asking if E3 is still relevant," in which he gathered 10 articles over five years asking that very question.

"As long as people are still asking the question, of course it's still relevant. When it's no longer relevant, people will no longer be asking the question, because they won't be talking about it anymore," says Schreier.

"It's still the place to go if you want to draw the most buzz for a big announcement and surprise people and put a kicker at the end of a press conference."

It's no longer the only place, however, to do so. Microsoft and Sony have held separate events throughout the year, like the now-annual PlayStation Experience, to make mid-year announcements without the need to compete with other publishers for attention.

And some games are big enough to get their own hour-long reveal event, like the one for Destiny 2 in May. Still, Keighley thinks E3 will always have a premier spot in gamers' calendars, thanks to its size and history.

"What I always say about E3 is that this is a chance to put the global spotlight on gaming. It's not just about one company, it's about everyone getting together to showcase the medium," he says.

"I think it's important that the industry presents itself on a sort of united front, versus everyone siphoning off and doing their own events."