E3 will not be held in its traditional in-person form this year, its organiser the ESA has confirmed.
Some kind of digital offering may be held instead – as it was last year – but even that now seems uncertain.
In a statement issued last night, the ESA said it had cancelled the June event due to potential risks from Covid – though several journalists subsequently suggested the event had actually been scrapped before Christmas.
E3 is currently in a troubled state, with a lacklustre digital showing last year that frequently felt unnecessary. Without a physical show tying proceedings together – and requiring big-name games publishers to pay up for conference hall space – several companies simply held their own digital shows around the same time.
Others, such as EA and Sony – who had splintered off from being part of E3 even when it was an in-person event – ignored the traditional E3 week completely to hold online briefings later in the summer.
And then there’s the impact of Summer Game Fest, the non-ESA organised digital event that ended up providing many of last summer’s big reveals instead. Put together by Geoff Keighley, who himself split from E3, and who also runs August’s Gamescom Opening Night Live and December’s The Game Awards, it also sucked away announcements from the ESA’s effort.