Only a few hours have passed since the cancellation of E3 2023 was announced, and we are still kind of in shock. Although we were aware that the legendary industry event faced an uphill struggle due to publishers withdrawing left and right, it still feels a little weird, don’t you think?

Stanley Pierre-Louis, executive director of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), discusses what transpired and what to anticipate in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. Pierre-Louis says that “we were off to a strong start. There was interest among exhibitors, industry players, the media, and certainly the fans. Ultimately, there were challenges that proved too large to surmount.” The ESA partnered with event coordinator ReedPop for the first in-person event in a number of years.

One of these insurmountable difficulties was the current development schedules studios have been dealing with ever since the COVID pandemic started, and another was the global economic turmoil that followed. Some businesses have started to rethink spending on pricey exhibit space and significant marketing events as there is less money available.

When asked about E3 returning in 2024, Pierre-Louis sticks to the script, saying that “at that time, we will have more news to share.” He also adds that “we’re committed to providing an industry platform for marketing and convening, but we want to make sure we find that right balance that meets the needs of the industry.”

As you might anticipate, he gives a completely non-committal response. In our opinion, the E3 period appears to be coming to an end. The writing has been on the wall for a while now, with so many less expensive and more efficient ways of spreading the word about upcoming games and endeavors, not to mention public reluctance in the wake of a horrific pandemic. We can only hope that Sony has been saving the best for the much-anticipated Showcase.

Do you believe E3 will ever come back, or are the heydays of attending conventions really over?

Shuhei Yoshida has worked in the video game industry for decades. He was president of SIE Worldwide Studios during a very important time in PlayStation’s history, and his fans love him very much. He was given a BAFTA fellowship for all he has done for the gaming industry and how he has helped it grow.

He is in charge of Sony’s Independent Developer Initiative right now, which helps independent developers bring their projects to life by setting up partnership and marketing deals. But some people think that the PS5 isn’t as friendly to independent developers as previous generations. We’ve written a lot about this in the past.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Yoshida talked about the difficulties of getting the word out and what he hopes to accomplish in the future. He said, “We’re trying to change people’s ideas about how hard it is to make and publish games for the PlayStation. This is a communication challenge we’ve been working on.”

Yoshida says that this is being done with a sort of PR blitz: “We’ve been doing conference tours, going to events, giving talks and keynotes, and other things to let developers know that we’re open to having their games on PlayStation.”

Yoshida says, “There are so many great quality games that no one knows about. It’s always been hard to get funding, but there’s more and more money coming into the industry all the time. Digital storefronts can have an unlimited number of games because they’re digital, but there’s only so much space at the front of the storefront.”

Subscription services like PS Plus could help with this problem by giving players another way to get them to try a game they normally wouldn’t. Yoshida says, “People who have subscribed to the service already have access to all these games, so there’s a better chance that your game will be tried by people who didn’t know it existed,” so subscription services can help more people find good games.

We don’t know if Journey will ever get back to its glory days, but we wish Mr. Yoshida the best of luck with this project. How do you feel about the state of indie games on the PS5?

Tails of Iron, a hardass 2D role-playing game, is one of the PlayStation Plus Essentials for the month of April. Don’t worry; we’ll tell you why you should check it out even if you don’t have a PS Plus subscription on April 4th, when it becomes available to those who already have one.

Redgi, the rat prince in Tails of Iron, is on a mission to regain his throne from the imperious toads. The amazing Doug Cockle, who is perhaps best remembered for his role as Geralt in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, narrates the animated video down below, which does an excellent job of setting the mood.

The gameplay is intense, requiring steel nerves since, like in 2D Souls games like Salt & Sanctuary and Hollow Knight, you’ll have to fully commit to every move you make. Redgi employs a deliberate, planned strategy in fighting, changing up his armor and weaponry to keep the odds even.

Despite its pleasant forest setting, Tails of Iron is known for being a difficult game with numerous demanding bosses. After completing the main mission (which should take 8-10 hours), you may dive into the meaty Bloody Whiskers post-game DLC.
Both the calmer 3D adventure game Sackboy: A Great Adventure and the genre-bending horror game Meet Your Creator have worthy companions in Tails of Iron.

In April, you can check out Tails of Iron if you haven’t already.