I saw this coming, I swear. For awhile now, I have been mulling over sending a question for the NWR boys about whether they think E3 is still relevant or whatever, but never got around to forming the proper question. No need now, they'll discuss it anyway.
I have held the view that E3 is steadily declining in importance for awhile now (a few years). However we folks that frequent gaming media sites don't get an objective view because the media folks love E3. They love being sent by their outlets, their insider, early access, their treatment as "special" by game companies, and all the hype and noise. I get the impression E3 must seem very important to those journalists who cover it.
But then Nintendo started doing a very interesting thing: they started controlling their message again. They started doing their own, quirky Nintendo Directs and effectively circumvented gaming media who, in the west at least, have becoming increasingly negative toward Nintendo. The bowing out of doing a big E3 splashy press conference is a further extension of message control. It is also further proof, if any were needed, that the folks at Nintendo really mean it when they say they do not directly compete with the other 2 console gaming companies, and really do not take into account what those two are up to when Nintendo makes decisions. Nintendo has always done, and continues to do, its own thing.
Nintendo is once again the trailblazer. Already we have seen the other two companies follow the Nintendo Direct model with how they have chosen to reveal their new consoles. They held (will be holding) direct events. I predict Nintendo's move here will, in retrospect, be pointed to as the beginning of the end of E3, at least as we know it now.
I predict that, over the next 2 to 3 years, Nintendo will further reduce it's presence at E3, possibly bowing out entirely. It will rely more on Directs, or some further innovations. I predict the other 2 console makers will follow suit, though in their own way. We may see E3 reduced to a software showcase by publishers and the big 3 do their own separate events at different times of the year.
We may see Spaceworld West!