Entertainment Software Association

2023 was a roller coaster for the video games industry. On the software side, it was a historic year for new releases. We got everything from big success stories like Baldur’s Gate 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to memorable indies in Venba and Chants of Sennaar. But from the business side, 2023 was a lot more tumultuous. While some notable studio acquisitions and game announcements happened, thousands of developers were laid off, entire studios were shut down or hacked, and the provider of one of…

On Tuesday, the Entertainment Software Association announced that E3, once the biggest video game showcase on the planet, is officially dead.'Even AI Rappers are Harassed by Police' | AI Unlocked“After more than two decades of E3, each one bigger than the last, the time has come to say goodbye,” said the Entertainment Software Association in a statement on the E3 website. “Thanks for the memories.”E3’s website contains that announcement followed by GGWP, gamer-speak for “Good Game, Well Played” to the community it served…

It’s official: E3 is dead. For over two decades, the Electronic Entertainment Expo was the video game industry’s most important event. For enthusiastic gamers, it was Christmas and the Super Bowl rolled into one trailer-full event. It served a more important role on the business side, as it was a key way for smaller developers to get their games seen and make deals with publishers. Now, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced it’s formally retiring the once powerful event for good. It is, quite…

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the organizer of the E3 video game industry expo, confirmed that E3 is dead and that it has no plans to bring the show back. “After more than two decades of serving as a central showcase for the video game industry, ESA has decided to end E3,” The ESA explained on X. “ESA remains focused on advocating for ESA member companies and the industry workforce who fuel positive cultural and economic impact every day.” The ESA E3, which stands for Electronic Entertainment Expo,…

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is seeking approval from the FTC to implement facial age estimation technology to stop kids skirting parental controls. If the industry’s self-regulating body gets its way, kids and their parents may need to get used to taking selfies to sign up for games. David Byrne on New Tech and AI | Gizmodo InterviewIn a recent application submitted by the ESRB, digital identity firm Yoti, and youth digital media company SuperAwesome, the three organizations jointly asked the FTC for…

From fixing up old defunct Sega Saturns to dropping hundreds of dollars on eBay for rare titles like GameCube’s Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, retro game enthusiasts already know the struggle of enjoying early games. For video game historians, the situation is even worse. There are several nationally recognized and lauded services for watching thousands of classic films, but a new study shows that for the vast majority of gaming history from the 1970s onward, nine in 10 games remain unavailable for customers, and by…

E3 became known for excess, such as the 2019 Ubisoft E3 conference, with the entire “Assassin’s Creed Symphony” pushing out some of the series’ tunes.Photo: Christian Petersen (Getty Images)Pour one out for what was once the biggest video game showcase on the planet. On Thursday, The Entertainment Software Association, the organization that manages the Electronic Entertainment Expo, formally announced it was canceling both E3's digital and physical event for 2023. It’s the second year in a row that organizers fully…

Despite how inevitable the complete downfall of E3 felt over the past several years, E3 2023’s official cancellation still strings as it’s a significant loss for the game industry. For gamers, press, and developers, the show served multiple purposes that digital livestreams and scattered publisher-specific events don’t currently replicate. In lieu of E3’s cancelation this year, and potentially forever, it’s time for other gaming events to step up and help push the video game industry forward. Why we lost…

The Entertainment Software Association and ReedPop confirmed that E3 2023 has been canceled following a report that broke the news. E3 2023 was supposed to take place between June 13 and June 16. Earlier today, IGN reported that two of its sources received an email from the Entertainment Software Association saying that this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo has been canceled because it “simply did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size,…

Ubisoft will no longer be attending E3 2023, even though it said it would participate in February. Instead, the game publisher behind Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry plans to hold its own Ubisoft Forward Live event in Los Angeles this June. Ubisoft confirmed its change in plans to Video Games Chronicle today, with a spokesperson saying that while Ubisoft “initially intended to have an official E3 presence, we’ve made the subsequent decision to move in a different direction.” This is a change in messaging from just…