Can E3 Make it Online?

 E3 2021 approaches fast, and since large gatherings are still out of the question, the event has become the "Electronic Entertainment Experience", going all online for the first time ever (2020 was canceled).  While many talk about what they hope to see and what series deserve a new entry, a different thought occurred to me.  Being all online is definitely convenient for more people, but given how much gets announced and shown off at the event by so many companies,  can everything be done like this well?

The usual spectacle of E3 is a big draw.  So many industry big names showing off what they have planned to large crowds.  The reactions and the in person reveals make up so much of what makes E3 fun, so having pre-recorded or even live recordings of it will never be able to hit the same way as being in person would. While companies like Nintendo and Sony had already begun their shift to video presentations a few years ago, others like Bethesda and Microsoft still chose to pack places and give an in person experience.  It's very hard to imagine the event surviving cohesively when everyone just does their own thing.

E3 as a usually in person event, brings different companies all together under one roof to present their projects, but the more online nature could spell the end of that sense of cohesion.  Companies don't need to come together that hard if they all just get to do their own things separate from each other.  That idea of seeing names like Phil Spencer of Xbox, Miyamoto of Nintendo, and Jim Ryan of Sony is what made a lot of people see the appeal of an event like this.  It was the gaming world, united to show off what was next, and if you take that away for everyone to do their own presentations, is there much of a point to e3?

The fact is that the way this event will be happening may serve to further the idea of the recorded or live videos, meaning less and less collaboration, because the companies will act as rivals in the games industry rather than collaborators who make neat things for gamers.  Sony itself has started this trend already, backing away from several crossplay opportunities with Microsoft and Nintendo.  If the other companies see the way E3 works as a call to focus more on their own brands rather than on both that and cohesion, the games industry will be the poorer for it, and folks will see less and less chances for things like Cloud in Smash.

As the event approaches, One can't help but wonder how the changed landscape could affect things.  Things could go either very good or very bad, and there's a real possibility that the games industry could end up more insular and less collaborative, and that's the last thing anyone wants.  E3 needs to nail that feeling of unity under one roof, that feeling that there doesn't always need to be a competition.  We'll not know for sure until everything starts, but E3 being able to make it online will be an important thing for the industry as a whole.