At the end of the day, the big thing that killed it was that companies realised they didn't need a massive event in the middle of summer to advertise their games, and could run their own events year around. Stuff like Nintendo Directs, State of Plays and Xbox Game Showcases can be held at fairly short notice, are much cheaper than hiring out part of a hall and have less that can go wrong than a stage presentation would.
When the only news sources are magazines and physical media and the internet isn't as big of a deal, something like E3 makes sense. In the modern era of YouTube and Twitch and livestreams? Not so much.
Pre Covid the whole networking and meeting other developers and publishers aspect kept it going, but once everyone was locked in and events were cancelled, well it was basically just a more expensive Direct or something.
When the only news sources are magazines and physical media and the internet isn't as big of a deal, something like E3 makes sense. In the modern era of YouTube and Twitch and livestreams? Not so much.
Pre Covid the whole networking and meeting other developers and publishers aspect kept it going, but once everyone was locked in and events were cancelled, well it was basically just a more expensive Direct or something.
So sadly, it's no surprise it's finally died off.