Binge, a new gaming content service, to be revealed at E3

More details about Binge, a new streaming service aimed at gamers, will be revealed at E3, according to Forbes. The platform, which calls itself “the future of gaming entertainment,” will reportedly contain original content featuring popular gaming franchises and characters. Rather than trying to compete with Twitch and other livestreaming platforms, Binge aims to attract viewers who want “premium-level” series and shorts based on their favorite games. The platform will be free and available to watch on smartphones, gaming consoles, desktop computers, and TVs. Most companies looking to create content in the gaming space have tried to ape Twitch’s success or establish live content on other platforms, like social media. While some of the most popular games have been made into movies, “expanded universe” content based on game worlds has historically been panned by fans. Binge aims to change this by partnering with developers and publishers to create high-quality series based on both new and retro games. Binge has already made some high-profile hires. It brought on Allan Ungar, who directed the Uncharted Live Action Fan Film, as its chief content officer. The company has reportedly already reached out to other content creators and publishers to prep for the platform’s launch in 2022. Like other gaming platforms, the service plans to offer a “Squad Parties” feature, which will allow viewers to watch content together and earn “meaningful” rewards for watching. While some fans might be worried about the quality of Binge’s content, the company assured anxious fans that its content will “[respect] the fans and the games that inspire them”. After its big reveal at E3, the company plans to share additional information “over the coming months.” In the meantime, fans can soon become Binge Founding Members to be the first to know about new franchises and platform developments. The future of the once popular video game industry expo E3 is once again in question as the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) ended its partnership with ReedPop, the company that was helping it revitalize the event. ReedPop is the company that runs events like PAX, EGX, and C2E2, and the ESA had brought them on board to help reimagine the in-person experience at E3. This was supposed to start with E3 2023, but it ended up being canceled a couple of months before it was supposed to take place. Clearly, the ReedPop and ESA partnership wasn’t working well, so both companies have decided to move on. ESA CEO and president Stanley Pierre-Louis provided the following statement on the matter to GamesIndustry.biz.
“We appreciate ReedPop’s partnership over the past 14 months and support their ongoing efforts to bring industry and fans together through their various events. While the reach of E3 remains unmatched in our industry, we are continuing to explore how we can evolve it to best serve the video game industry and are evaluating every aspect of the event, from format to location. We are committed to our role as a convenor for the industry and look forward to sharing news about E3 in the coming months.”
This seems to confirm a claim from the Los Angeles City Tourism Commission from earlier in the year that plans for E3 2024 and E3 2025 at the Los Angeles Convention Center had been canceled. That said, Pierre-Louis’ statement and the GamesIndustry.biz report indicate that E3 2024 and E3 2025 aren’t canceled outright.
GamesIndustry.biz notes that it’s still possible for the event to take place in 2024 — just not at the Los Angeles Convention Center — and claims that the ESA is “working on a complete reinvention of the E3 show for 2025.” We’ll just have to wait and see if those plans actually come to fruition, though, as E3 has struggled to return to its former glory since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are conflicting reports over whether or not E3 2024 and E3 2025 will take place. A new document from the Los Angeles City Tourism Commission claims that both E3 2024 and E3 2025 have been canceled, but a spokesperson for the Entertainment Software Association claims no final decision has been made yet. For over 20 years, the ESA held an event called E3 each June, where companies from around the video game industry would come together and show off their upcoming games. It got canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and the ESA took 2022 off after a rough digital-only show in 2021. The expo was set to return in 2023, but was canceled in March after Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Ubisoft, and other game companies pulled out of the event. E3’s future was put into question after that, and now it looks like it might not be coming back for the foreseeable future. Despite how inevitable the complete downfall of E3 felt over the past several years, E3 2023’s official cancellation still strings as it’s a significant loss for the game industry. For gamers, press, and developers, the show served multiple purposes that digital livestreams and scattered publisher-specific events don’t currently replicate. In lieu of E3’s cancelation this year, and potentially forever, it’s time for other gaming events to step up and help push the video game industry forward.
Why we lost E3
I’m lucky enough to have the experience of attending three E3 shows across 2017, 2018, and 2019 and many publisher-run events focused on specific games or tighter game lineups. In its final years, E3 felt like the perfect middle ground to the gamer-focused PAX and industry-focused GDC, where people from all walks and sides of the video game industry could come together, see what’s coming in the future, and share their love for games. It also felt more freeing than publisher-run events, as I discovered and experienced games of all sizes that I may not have otherwise and got to meet many people from every angle of the game industry. Apparently, the Entertainment Software Association struggled to convince enough people that this style of expo was important four years after the last physical event.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Entertainment Software Association president Stanley Pierre-Louis blamed E3 2023’s cancellation on the Covid-19 pandemic, “economic headwinds” due to the current recession that impacted marketing budgets, and the fact that “companies are starting to experiment with how to find the right balance between in-person events and digital marketing opportunities.”
The first two are understandable and have impacted a lot of physical events over the past couple of years. Still, the last reason speaks to a bit more worrying of a shift for those looking to network, get attention from the press, get a broader look at the industry’s future, or even pitch a game.
What we lose
Events are a great way for indies to get unexpected and much-needed attention from players and the press; look at the chance encounter that got one of our team’s freelancers hooked on Homeseek at PAX East. Now, indies will have to hope to gain attention at those more indie-focused events like PAX or be cherry-picked to be featured in a more prominent company’s showcasing. There’s also the networking and pitch factor to it.