The event then opens at the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 13, allowing the attendees to spend time in the show's exhibit hall where publishers and developers would have booths available to demonstrate their new games.

[3][4] The move was broadly supported by publishers and analysts, who see the influence of gamers' own experiences with hands-on demonstration spread through word-of-mouth as valuable as media presentations and interviews.

[5] Additionally, E3 allowed exhibitors to sell goods, including software, hardware, and related merchandise, directly from the show floor, as long as they pre-registered their intents and followed rules for vending set by the ESA.

They felt this was partially to avoid flubs that have happened in the past during E3 presentations, and to provide an experience more amenable to broadcasting and streaming for those not attending the event.

Attendees, both press and public, felt that neither the E3 organizers nor the developers and publishers presenting on the show floor were ready from the larger crowds, with few cohesive processes in place.

[13] Some commentators felt that it is not feasible to build an E3 to serve both types of audiences, and suggested other options such as creating sequential events, one dedicated to press, and other to gamers, which also eases the costs to exhibitors.

[13] To alleviate some of these concerns, ESA announced that for the 2018 E3 event, exhibitor halls would have a few hours exclusive to industry members on two of the days prior to opening these to the public passes.

[15][16] The conference featured presentations of the new titles A Way Out (which was developed by Josef Fares of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons fame), Need for Speed Payback, and Star Wars Battlefront II.

[18] EA also showcased new instalments in its sports franchises, including FIFA 18, Madden NFL 18, and NBA Live 18, as well as additional DLC for Battlefield 1.

[29] The company also announced its "Creation Club", a system for user-generate content to be provided to players for a fee on personal computers, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One to expand both Skyrim and Fallout 4.

[30] In past years, Devolver Digital had normally held an event alongside E3, including its Indie Megabooth, at a privately owned lot within walking distance of the Convention Center.

[31] Devolver also announced that they would hold their first-ever press conference on June 11 at 10:00 pm, streamed as part of Twitch's "Pre-Pre Show" on their E3-focused channel.

[33] The "conference" was actually a 15-minute, pre-recorded sketch satirizing the video game industry and cliches associated with E3 press conferences (including an overenthusiastic audience that the presenter silences by shooting a gun into the air, and the unveiling of "Screen Pay" technology allowing users to pay for games by literally throwing money at their monitor), leading Polygon to compare it to watching a "magical infomercial" on Adult Swim.

[43] The presentation focused primarily on software titles, including Sony's first-party games God of War, Days Gone, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Gran Turismo Sport, Detroit: Become Human, Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds, and Marvel's Spider-Man.

This event featured panels and presentations from game developers and celebrities, designed to "take E3 attendees behind the scenes of E3's biggest new announcements", according to the ESA.

[130] Keighley said that the purpose of the Coliseum is "to give consumers a richer experience at E3", providing hands-on demos and panels that go into detail on recently released and newly-presented games that are normally reserved for private press interviewers or meetings during the main E3 show.

[76] The Coliseum also had panels by industry icons Hideo Kojima and Tim Schafer, along with others from outside the video game field including Jack Black, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Gennifer Hutchison, and Jordan Vogt-Roberts.