The Electronic Entertainment Expo, usually referred to as E3, was an annual event from 1995 to 2021 (except 2020, 2022 and 2023) that commonly took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, though it was hosted in other locations such as in Atlanta, Georgia, and Santa Monica. It featured many electronic devices not yet officially released, but attendees could get to get an early view of it. An example would be the Nintendo 3DS being shown at the E3 2010 almost a year before its release.
When hosted in Los Angeles, E3 was held in the Los Angeles Convention Center. The event was cancelled for the first time in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the event in 2021 was held as a virtual event to mixed reception. The 2022 event was cancelled also due to the pandemic, and with no virtual event held. The ESA had planned to return to a full in-person convention in 2023 with a new format, including a fan convention component at a separate venue in collaboration with ReedPop.
The pandemic further accelerated the use of standalone presentations by individual publishers and media outlets to promote upcoming games directly to consumers, development timelines usually aligned around the convention had been disrupted, and publishers were increasingly concerned over the costs of exhibiting at the convention. E3 2023 was cancelled after all major publishers pulled out of the event, and E3 2024 was cancelled in September 2023 in order to evaluate plans for 2025. On December 12, 2023, the ESA announced that E3 had been retired after 28 years and would no longer be held.
