E3 2020 is on a knife-edge right now

There’s a lot of concerned chatter around E3 2020 right now. As the biggest gaming event of the year, it’s carried a torch for the continued importance of live, in-person gatherings of those in and out of the gaming industry looking to announce, hype, and celebrate everything new and incoming in the world of video games.

E3 is the place that saw Sony first unveil the PS1 to the world in 1995 – the expo’s first iteration. It’s where Nintendo unveiled the Wii U, Sony showed off the PSP Go and PS Vita, and Microsoft announced the Xbox Series X (known then as Xbox Project Scarlett). Not to mention the hundreds of games that have been pushed into E3’s spotlight over the past 25 years, with all of the exposure, criticism, and wonder that entails.

The particular form of the show has certainly changed over the years, with a growing focus on public attendees, fans and influencers rather than the exclusive trade focus of earlier times. Online fandom is increasingly a crucial tool in the marketing and sustained interest in both new games and consoles, and E3 organizers would have been foolish not to respond to this in the digital age.