The gaming industry’s big summer festival E3 has been canceled after major gaming publishers and console manufacturers announced they wouldn’t participate in the event.
On Thursday, E3 owner Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and organizer Reedpop announced that this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) was canceled—not postponed.
The expo was scheduled for June 13 through 16.
The last time the iconic gaming event occurred was four years ago, in 2019, the year before the COVID pandemic. In 2021, E3 was held as an all-digital event. The show was set to return in 2022 but was canceled in the uncertainty of the waning pandemic.
In January, console manufacturers Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft had already announced that they would not be participating in the gaming expo. An increasing number of high-profile game publishers followed suit, including Sega and Tencent (owner of Level Infinite).
The final blow came on Monday, when gaming giant Ubisoft, of Assassin's Creed fame, announced it would not attend E3.
Earlier, Microsoft announced it would air an Xbox showcase coinciding with E3’s dates on June 11.
The pandemic’s cancellation of live events spurred big players in the industry to hold their own promotion events in the form of digital live streams. This practice is steadily becoming a matter of course.
“Second, economic headwinds have caused several companies to reassess how they invest in large marketing events,” the ESA president continued. “And third, companies are starting to experiment with how to find the right balance between in-person events and digital marketing opportunities.”
Whether E3 will return remains a question. “We're committed to providing an industry platform for marketing and convening, but we want to make sure we find that right balance that meets the needs of the industry,” Stanley Pierre-Louis said.
E3 has been instrumental in bringing the world of gaming to the mainstream. Its first event was held in 1995 at the Los Angeles Convention Center and was an instant success.