As some of you may know, the Electronic Entertainment Expo was initially canceled in early March with plans to host a digital event in conjunction with several large game developers. Now ESA, the organizers of E3, has announced that a digital version of the event has been canceled as well.
Instead, ESA states that this year E3 will simply help showcase the announcements that the aforementioned game developers would be announcing individually, with some, like Bethesda, developers opting not to showcase anything at all.
In a statement to PCGamer, an E3 spokesperson said, “Given the disruption brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, we will not be presenting an online E3 2020 event in June. Instead, we will be working with exhibitors to promote and showcase individual company announcements, including on www.E3expo.com, in the coming months. We look forward to bringing our industry and community together in 2021 to present a reimagined E3 that will highlight new offerings and thrill our audiences.”
Gamers can expect to get announcements from Microsoft as they have already confirmed a digital announcement in place of E3. IGN has announced that they are having a Summer of Gaming Event, where they will be partnering with 2K, Square Enix, SEGA, and others. IGN claims that their event will showcase remote interviews, gameplay, and demos.
The coming months will certainly be interesting as we all wait to see how these digital events compare to the E3 of years past, especially given that recent years have seen a departure of developers, like Sony, from the event. E3’s departure also presents problems for smaller gaming companies and outlets that use the event to network and get exposure to a larger audience. The good news, however, is that the ESA has already announced the dates for E3 2021, giving us something to look forward to in mid-June of next year.
