“One is that as video game publishers and developers face economic headwinds, they’ll have to lay people off… and the easy thing to cut is the stuff that’s not making money.” “When it comes to future technology there are two cases to consider,” said Mikhail Klimentov, an assistant editor at the Washington Post who once edited its now-defunct gaming vertical. But on the other, the recreation-first, trend-chasing, competitive ethos of the industry might proliferate through global tech writ large, meaning today’s fixations and gimmicks could shape the foundation of everything from a fully-3D future internet to to how future war machines operate. On one hand, the decision for Microsoft and Sony’s gaming arms to move away from high-profile console launches as the center of their business, for example, might make them seem like another cog in the big-tech machinery. Video games have traditionally been the conduit that leads to mass adoption of what at first seems like hobbyist technology, from Doom and Solitaire with personal computers, to online gaming making it normal to interact and develop relationships with strangers on the other side of the globe. The fate of E3 itself is less important than what it reveals about an industry at a crossroads, with cloud gaming, virtual reality, and new social platforms all pushing the medium toward the next step in its evolution. Either way, it’s obvious the biggest companies in gaming simply don’t need such a showcase anymore, preferring to participate in smaller events or simply roll out their products without a flashy, expensive, potentially awkward kickoff. The Entertainment Software Association, which has hosted E3 since 1995, won’t say whether last year’s event was its curtain call. This year’s conference, which would have kicked off today - and which hasn’t convened physically since before the Covid-19 pandemic - was canceled in its entirety after console giants Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo all pulled out. There was a time when it was the genesis of iconic video game announcements, moments that launched a thousand memes, and industry-shaking corporate maneuvers. The Electronic Entertainment Expo used to be a big deal. Advertising from the Playstation 5 launch in the United Kingdom.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |