Historically, the event was anchored by the "Big Three"——whose press conferences became legendary for their high-stakes competition [15, 20, 22].

While E3 is gone, the "June showcase season" remains a cornerstone of the industry:

: Companies like Nintendo shifted toward their own digital broadcasts (Nintendo Direct), realizing they didn't need a physical trade show to reach their audience [11, 30].

: Hosted by Geoff Keighley, this has become the spiritual successor to E3, offering a centralized window for major summer announcements [21, 36].

: EA was the first major player to leave in 2016 to host its own fan-focused event, EA Play [28].