A follow-up of our previous article E3 2023 Seems to be in a Concerning State as Both SEGA and Tencent Confirm to Skip the Event, just earlier this morning, it has been confirmed that this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has been cancelled.
The cancellation notice was first sent by the organisation to its members via email.
The email said that while E3 “remains a beloved event and brand” that the 2023 version “simply did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of our industry.” and is concluded without mentioning any possible chance of undertaking the show in the near future.
The ESA has later issued a public statement written by 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.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin
Summer Game Fest, an event similar to E3 held by ex-E3 longtime host Geoff Keighley, has announced through its official Twitter account that Ubisoft will be joining their event instead.
This is a huge punch in the gut towards E3 as just not long ago Ubisoft, as one of the longest E3 participants, decided to back out from E3 2023 just to join its competitor which is Summer Game Fest.
Bottom line
The ESA has confirmed that E3 2023, which initially will be held from 13 June 2023 to Friday 16 June 2023 has been cancelled and has no sign of coming back in the near future.
Ubisoft, one of E3’s original attendees, has decided to go with Summer Game Fest after backing out from E3.
Summer Game Fest 2023 will take place on 8 June 2023 as a combined digital and physical event.