So this is just anecdotal, but I've talked with a few friends the past few days who have been to the event the past few years, and interestingly, most of them have said they don't want to go this year because of their experience(s) last year/the year before -- that is, it was "way too crowded," the wait times for things like ST4 or Last of Us were too long, etc. One of them pointed out last year how they went on a Saturday (which is the only day they can go due to work/life) and was there the entire length of the event and managed to get only a few things done, which is why they don't want to "waste money" this year just to not get anything done again.
Setting aside the fact some of us have flexibility others don't, like being able to go on a Thursday night or a Sunday night or something without having to worry about school the next day, or dealing with kids, work, or other factors, or having to wrangle a group of people together in a way that works with everyone's schedules, it was interesting seeing this common thread amongst my discussions. It isn't due to the heat or even necessarily the pricing (though that is still a concern, especially now that the post-pandemic "I just want to get out of the house!" wave seems to have passed), but rather just how nightmarishly overwhelming the experience can be for people who aren't chronically online and have a game plan and just want to have a fun night out, where they get there only to find out they have hours and hours of waiting ahead of them.
Again, this is just from a very small sample size of people, and obviously this weekend or next weekend or the weekend after that could do a complete 180 and start delivering two-hour long wait times, but I do have to wonder if the ever-increasing crowd sizes of the last few years has finally had an impact on perception of the event's worth for some people. Then throw in other factors being discussed -- heat, lack of heavy hitter IPs, cost of living vs. cost of entertainment, etc. -- and it all comes together to justify skipping this year. I think crowds are definitely going to go up, no doubt about it, especially once October comes, as always, but it's still weird to see opening weekend be so light and interesting to at least theorize what the factors were and whether it's a one-off fluke or something that will continue to resonate through these next few weeks.
(That said, it's crazy seeing so many people can't go because of budgetary reasons, which is completely understandable, only to go to the event and see tons and tons of people throwing hundreds, if not thousands of dollars into Express; again, they're paying to avoid lines they're creating by paying to avoid them, yet so many people have the money to just toss into a single night while so many others can't even get by enough to get a general ticket. It's wild. Even if all these factors have had an effect on general admission, it sure hasn't hit Express one bit.)