The Verge: The Adventures of a Game Developer in Los Angeles, and a Case Study of Smash Bros. at E3

Back at E3 2017, I had a plan. The annual convention always had a wide range of game developers in attendance, offering reporters like me the opportunity to talk to prominent folks from all over the world. It was my opinion that it was the perfect place to chat with Japanese game developers about the current mood in the country. The creator of the “Yakuza series” was first on my list. I asked the stylish director where he bought his shoes, in an attempt to break the ice. He replied, very simply — and in a very serious tone — “very expensive.” He only spoke in English during the course of our conversation.

I finally got my chance to attend in 2014 as a fledgling reporter here at The Verge. The Los Angeles Convention Center was vast and intimidating. There were bright lights and sprawling booths filled with statues of zombies and robots and Sonic the Hedgehog. But over the years, I figured out how to navigate the physical space and the deluge of meetings and appointments. In fact, I became The Verge’s de facto E3 schedule master, building everyone’s calendar as if I were playing a game of Tetris.

Many of these meetings were filled with fun stories that never made it on the page. Like the time when, for some reason, I decided to ask two veteran designers what Gooigi would taste like. The entire room — not just my interview subjects, but PR reps and translators — erupted in laughter. This would turn out to be a very correct question. Or when I was whisked away to a secret room at an Ubisoft event to see a very early version of Beyond Good and Evil 2 and hear Michel Ancel emphasize, “We now really believe that we’re going to make this game.” (Ancel has since retired from game development and, six years later, the sequel has yet to be released.)

When I asked Masahiro Sakurai, who created Smash Bros., what kind of reaction he got, he replied that he was not sure. It would be. At first, he didn’t have a response for me at all… but then a fellow developer who happened to be in the room chimed in to say that he remembered everyone getting very quiet. After a period of quiet, Sakurai spoke with gusto, “From where I stood, all I heard was dead silence.” It made the piece I was writing.

Final Event at the 28th Video Game Industry Trade Event – E3 ‘1922 – 0524 – 2024’

For the final time, E3 is done. The 28th video game industry trade event was canceled by the Entertainment Software Association because it will not be happening in the year 2024.