Three months out from when the gaming industry’s biggest tradeshow was set to return, the ESA has confirmed that E3 won’t be coming back this year.
With the last in-person E3 taking place prior to the pandemic in 2019, expectations were high when event organiser ReedPop said it’d be taking over and teaming up with ESA to make the event happen. Would PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo all still see the benefit of having a large presence at a physical industry event when they’ve found great success in recent years hosting digital showcases? Apparently not.
IGN reports that E3 2023 has been officially cancelled, with no word on whether it will return in 2024. Confirmation came via an internal email sent by the ESA to its board members, in which it stated while E3 “remains a beloved event and brand" it had failed to garner the support to make the 2023 version worthwhile. It goes on to say that there wasn’t “sustained interest”, indicating that many other publishers – in addition to the main three platform-holders – didn’t see the benefit in attending.
Doubts had been cast as to whether E3 2023 would happen at all for several weeks after the ESA had remained stayed silent. However, the final nail in the coffin seemingly came earlier this week, when Ubisoft announced in a statement to VGC that it’d be hosting its own event in June rather than appear at the show. Indies alone aren’t enough to support a tradeshow as large-scale as E3, at least not enough to “execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of our industry” according to the ESA.
ESA executive director Stanley Pierre-Louis went on to clarify its stance on E3 2023’s cancellation in an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, claiming that the organisation remains “committed to providing a platform for industry marketing” even without the show returning this year. Despite getting off to a “strong start”, he says, “there were challenges that proved too large to surmount” with regards to getting the industry players organised in time.
Before its cancellation, E3 was set to take place at the LA convention centre between June 13 and June 16, 2023.
Staying out for the summer
Quick as a flash, mere minutes after IGN broke the story that E3 2023 would no longer be taking place this year, Geoff Keighley rubbed dirt in the ESA’s face by tweeting out “Join together to celebrate what’s next in video games” and announcing the return of his Summer Game Fest event on June 8, 2023. Of course, this was already been in the works regardless, but I’m left questioning whether it’s enough to replace a proper gaming industry tradeshow as revered as E3.
Summer Games Fest has been around ever since Keighley broke away from the ESA and E3 sat it out during 2020. The circumstances meant that Keighley’s event has had a largely digital focus, and that doesn’t look to be changing any time soon. I’m sure this year’s Summer Games Fest live stream will do a good job at showcasing AAA games and making some huge announcements – he did so last during The Game Awards 2022 – but the vibe is never the same when it isn’t in person.
I was hoping that ReedPop with its experience organising events such as PAX and EGX would be able to re-capture the sense of community a tradeshow only as large as E3 could capture. But alas, I’d be very surprised if it ever returned at all following this latest blow. Major publishers have worked out that is it far more affordable to host their own digital showcases, or better yet to join Keighley’s, and with inflation hammering the tech industry pretty hard right now, I don’t think their positions are likely to change.
