‘Despacito 2’ will not be getting a reveal at E3 2018

I’m going to be candid — I really, un-ironically like “Despacito.” In addition to the fact that it’s a total banger, it brought serious visibility to Latin music in the American music industry and was the undisputed song of summer 2017. It will go down in history as both an incredible cultural achievement and a perpetual jam.

Branching off of “Despacito’s” wild cultural success is another viral hit — “Despacito 2.” It’s not actually a sequel or continuation of Luis Fonsi’s record-breaking song. Rather, “Despacito 2” is a meme that plays off of the phenomenon of fans asking for more of the things that they like. The meme itself is essentially fake announcements heralding the release of “Despacito 2” in addition to anticipating or calling for its release.

The meme first appeared on meme website HUGELOL in December 2017 after user WasteofBreath an image of a group of NASA engineers cheering with the caption, “Despacito 2 confirmed by NASA” in a breaking news meme style.

Later, the meme was picked up by YouTubers including LDG_Ballistic and PewDiePie and started gaining traction on Reddit. After this, it appeared in a variety of iterations, typically in the form of celebrities ranging from Mark Zuckerberg to Eminem announcing its release. And as all memes do, it began to get picked up and conjoined with other pop culture phenomenons ranging from ridiculous mashups ...

... to heartwarming content.

The meme seemed to be lying low since it first gained popularity in March 2018. That is, until E3.

It was kind of funny at first — I was surprised but generally pleased to see the meme making a resurgence in a generally silly way that contextualized the fictional release hype for “Despacito 2” within actual release hype for game releases.

Then, it started showing up before, during, and after literally every press conference. Every. Single. One.

Bethesda gave us Fallout 76 and The Elder Scrolls 6, but not “Despacito 2.” That’s all that I ever really wanted from you, Todd.

Ubisoft may have given us Assassins Creed Odyssey, but when will they give us what we truly want? (Just kidding. Kassandra was all that I’ve ever wanted. Merci beaucoup, Ubisoft.)

And while Nintendo certainly delivered with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s comprehensive bank of characters, it failed both those of us hungering for a sequel to last summer’s Luis Fonsi hit and Waluigi.

The meme also played into other trends observed at the conference such as the proliferation of battle royale games like Fortnite (now available on the Nintendo Switch), Battlefield 5’s new battle royale mode, and the new Rapture Rejects from the creators of Cyanide & Happiness.

It’s pretty clear that E3 breathed new life into “Despacito 2,” and it’s no surprise that a meme based on fabricating release hype found a home amongst an event characterized release buzz. But it’s had it’s run, especially after it was thoroughly beaten into the ground over the course of this conference. At this point, I’m inclined to agree with this man: