E3 is the industry’s biggest annual the video game event. The much anticipated 2023 annual event would have been the recent after several disruption due to the Covid Pandemic.
The US’s Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and events company Reedpop announced in a joint statement that the event would no longer hold as scheduled for June in Los Angeles.
Popularly refered to as “video game Christmas” by fans, E3 has been a fixture of the gathering of world’s largest gaming companies showcasing their latest consoles and developers debuting their new games.
“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,” Reedpop’s Kyle Marsden-Kish said in a joint statement with the ESA.
“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.”
The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U are among the consoles that have been announced at the event.
E3 cancellation now leaves the gaming industry without a “dominant focal point” for selling new titles, however since Covid, “the trend has been towards live-streamed shows where publishers announce and show new titles virtually”
