The Electronic Gaming Expo sadly announced it was canceling its 2022 event, leaving us with only our memories. Yet, E3 has given us numerous memorable moments and memes from its two decades of history, so today we’re shouting out some of our favorites, from the breathtaking Keanu Reeves to the cringiest PlayStation moments.
The Playstation 2 had not only managed to unseat the king of the gaming world Nintendo but had also managed to hold off Microsoft’s upstart Xbox to become the best-selling console of all time so far. However, this domination perhaps led to some overconfidence on the part of Sony, as when it came time to announce the console’s successor, Sony chairman Kaz Hirai took to the stage to announce that the PS3 would cost an astounding $599, causing the room to instantly fall silent
It’s one of the most shocking moments in E3 history, made even worse by the fact that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 was retailing at $399 at its most expensive tier, in part leading the 360 to dominate the early part of that generation’s sales, a lead that Playstation 3 would take years to eventually surpass.
Yet, it’s not just Sony that fell victim to overconfidence because in 2013, Sony got it’s revenge on Microsoft. Earlier that year, Microsoft had unveiled its latest console, the Xbox One, and its reveal left gamers with a bad taste in their mouth. Not only had the company seemingly ignored its core audience of gamers by focusing almost entirely on the console’s more multimedia possibilities, but its worst offense to many was its aggressive DRM policy that would not only require the system to be always online in order for people to play games but would also allow publishers to entirely kill sharing and buying used games. As a result, Microsoft came to E3 with little public goodwill behind them, something Sony took advantage of. During their press conference, Sony released a hilarious instructional video featuring execs Adam Boyes and Shuhei Yoshida on how to share games on their new PS4.
