The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) initially planning to run a digital event following the cancelation of E3 2020. But now, the company has instead decided to simply help promote individual announcements.
This news came out several days after the ESA announced the official dates for E3 2021, June 15 to 17, which is already being worked on as a “reimagined” version of the event.
Following the event’s original cancelation, Microsoft, Ubisoft, and Devolver Digital all said that they were looking into doing their own, separate online events to showcase their upcoming plans and releases. Meanwhile, other developers and publishers, like Square Enix, Sega, and Bandai Namco, are partnering with gaming publication IGN to support a new “Summer of Gaming” presentation.
With several big developers and publishers already looking elsewhere to distribute their announcements, the ESA made the call to cancel plans for an online E3 event.
“Given the disruption brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, we will not be presenting an online E3 2020 event in June,” an ESA representative told PCGamer. “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.”
No further details about what a supposed reimagining for E3 2021 would look like were provided in the announcement to ESA’s partners, but more information will likely be shared in the coming months.
