Editing E3 (section)

===2009–2015: Return to larger format===
Responding to the complaints from the previous two years, the ESA announced that [[E3 2009]] would be more open, but capping attendance at about 45,000 and closed to the public, as to achieve a balance between the two extremes.<ref name="engadget history"/> All subsequent E3s took place in June of the calendar year at the Los Angeles Convention Center.<ref name="engadget history"/>

[[File:E3 2015.jpg|thumb|260px|E3 2015 with ''[[Uncharted 4: A Thief's End]]'' banner]]
Starting in 2013, some of the major video game companies, particularly [[Nintendo]] and [[Electronic Arts]], have opted not to showcase at E3. In Nintendo's case, they have foregone a large keynote presentation and instead have used pre-recorded [[Nintendo Direct]] and live video events during the E3 week since 2013 to showcase their new products, though they still run floor booths for hands-on demonstrations. Since 2014, there also have been Nintendo Treehouse Live streams that focused on several different games as well as tournaments for different titles.<ref name="engadget history"/> Electronic Arts, since 2016, have set up a separate [[EA Play]] event in a nearby locale to announce and exhibit their titles, citing the move as a result of the lack of public access to the main E3 show.<ref name="wired public"/> Other vendors, like [[Microsoft]] and [[Sony]] have used pre-E3 events to showcase hardware reveals, leaving the E3 event to cover new games for these systems.<ref name="engadget history"/>

By 2015, traditional video game marketing had been augmented by the use of publicity through word-of-mouth by average gamers, persons not normally part of the "professional" development community. The ESA began to seek ways to allow these people to attend E3 in limited numbers without overwhelming the normal attendees.<ref name="wired public">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/2016/03/end-e3-know/ |title=It's the End of E3 As We Know It |first=Chris |last=Kohler |date=March 8, 2016 |access-date=February 8, 2017 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-02-09-this-move-is-long-overdue-the-industry-responds-to-e3-going-public |title="This move is long overdue" – Industry responds to E3 going public |author=Staff |date=February 9, 2017 |access-date=February 9, 2017 |work=[[GamesIndustry.biz]] |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225205848/https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-02-09-this-move-is-long-overdue-the-industry-responds-to-e3-going-public |url-status=live }}</ref> For [[E3 2015]], 5,000 tickets were distributed to vendors to be given to fans to be able to attend the event.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-e3-fans-20150617-story.html |title=E3 gains publicity by letting in video game fans for the first time |first1=David |last1=Pierson |first2=Whip |last2=Villarreal |date=June 16, 2015 |access-date=February 7, 2017 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |archive-date=February 11, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211080650/http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-e3-fans-20150617-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> That same year also marked the introduction of the "PC Gaming Show", featuring games for personal computers across a range of developers and publishers.