Every year, gamers, journalists, and analysts gather at the Electronic Entertainment Expo for the latest gaming announcements and hands-on time with the biggest upcoming releases.

E3 has always been the center of attention for the gaming world, even with bigger conventions around like PAX, which is open to the public and continues to gain more and more supporters each year. And yet E3 continues to be the highlight of the gaming year for a lot of people, despite not being open to the public. Why is that?

We know the Big Three always have a big presence at the show, ready to showcase their next big games (or hardware) to the people. We know that the big publishers have their own press conferences for their biggest reveals and demos. But how did it all culminate to this event first? For starters, E3 came before a lot of the other big expos. Games and game tech used to always be shown at CES before it was decided they needed their own venue back in 1995. Since then, the show has only gotten bigger and bigger, only rarely being overshadowed by other events. 

E3 was the first and continues to be the biggest in regards to the hottest video game news, and that will likely never change. And although E3 has never been open to the public, gamers have been able to get access to it quite frequently. Sometimes they can get into the show itself, but often times, thanks to the many big gaming websites out there, we have ways to see everything that the journalists see. We can watch the press conferences live from the comfort of our own homes and find out every piece of news as it happens.

But who is E3 for? The gamers get to see the upcoming games and find out the latest news without even having to attend the show. The analysts most likely have plenty to gab about with price cuts and announcements of new hardware abound. The journalists enjoy what they do, as do regular old gamers, and are responsible for getting this content to those gamers who are stuck at home with their internet connections, eager to find out more. 

E3 has become more than just another expo designed around video games and game announcements. There are always discussions about who will “win” E3, the best game of the show, the biggest surprises and disappointments. It has almost become a contest to try and see who can roll out the most impressive game and hardware announcements and which will have a lasting impression. Perhaps then, E3 is only for the industry folks themselves who work hard to both put on a good show and expect to win these awards, or at least get the attention they think they deserve. 

E3 has become more than just another gaming convention. It serves an entirely new purpose. It showcases the future of this industry in a way that no other convention can capture and allows us to experience it, either from the comfort of our own home or right from the show floor itself. It isn’t just about us gamers, journalists, or the folks working in the industry itself anymore. E3 has become more than just another convention; it’s a rare moment of where we as gamers and journalists come together to truly communicate to those in the industry and have a rare moment of understanding and enjoyment. That is what E3 is about.