E3 Has Officially Been Cancelled This Year

E3

E3 2023 is officially cancelled, nearly a year after an announcement of its return to the stage, after a rough two years with a once-in-a-century pandemic. The cancellation was confirmed by the game news site, IGN, after its sources received emails from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) about the situation.

Specifically, the email said that while E3 “remains a beloved event and brand”, the ESA was simply unable to muster up the necessary interest that would allow it to run it and showcase the “size, strength, and impact” of the industry. Not long after, the ESA issued a statement from Kyle Marsden-Kish, Global VP of Gaming, ReedPop.

This was a difficult decision because of all the effort we and our partners put toward making this event happen, but we had to do what’s right for the industry and what’s right for E3. We appreciate and understand that interested companies wouldn’t have playable demos ready and that resourcing challenges made being at E3 this summer an obstacle they couldn’t overcome. For those who did commit to E3 2023, we’re sorry we can’t put on the showcase you deserve and that you’ve come to expect from ReedPop’s event experiences.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that E3, as a whole, has long been viewed as a sinking ship for several years. Even before and during the height of the pandemic, several titans of the industry were already hosting their own events in the same timeframe as the annual event, albeit with livestream events instead of physical ones. That list includes PlayStation, Xbox, and more recently, Nintendo and Ubisoft who said that they would not have a physical presence at the event in any capacity.

What feels even worse is that, given the ebb and flow of the way the gaming industry has changed over the past several years, it also appears to be highly unlikely that E3 may ever happen again. And this is in spite of the ESA’s assurance that it would continue working with ReedPop, the events company responsible for the event, for all future E3 events.

(Source: IGN, Kotaku, The Verge)

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