BothMicrosoftandEAchose to have off-site events during E3, moving people away from the Los Angeles Convention Center.
A major gut punch came in 2019 whenSony decided to pull out of E3 altogether.
With more companies hosting showcases outside of E3, the event’s relevance slowly diminished.
This also meant that mainstream press attended the event, attracting a ton of consumer attention.
Having one show in the summer didn’t really work for publishers planning to release games the following March.
That prompted companies to showcase titles at their own events instead.
The last in-person E3 was in 2019, with the final E3 in 2021, though it was online-only.
This is partly by design so that companies can control their own message, according to Cole.
The reduced transparency makes an analyst’s job more difficult as well.
“I can’t get honest answers from these companies,” said Cole.
Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
