Source: Ars Technica
A tweet from Will Powers on Thursday, March 31, revealed that there will no E3 this year. The PR for gaming peripheral manufacturer Razer stated that he had received an email regarding the cancellation of the digital event. Reports initially covering the news also reviewed the email Powers referred to.
Just got an email… It's official, E3 digital is official cancelled for 2022. Lots of mixed feelings about this…
— Will Powers (@WillJPowers) March 31, 2022
E3, the video game trade show and marketing trade show was initially set to take place in person in 2022 itself. However, E3 was again shifted to a specifically online event from an in person one. Reportedly, the switch was made keeping in mind the state of the pandemic at that point. However, present news indicates that the digital event has been entirely canceled.
Recently, there has been increasing doubts about the fate of the video game trade show. Clearly, the impact of the pandemic has continued to prevail over in-person events. Consequently, making the idea of potentially big and largely packed gatherings rather unattractive. Earlier in March, numerous professionals in the video game industry reportedly tested positive for Covid-19 post attending the Game Developers Conference held in San Francisco.
Cancellation Reasons other than the Covid-19 pandemic:
Along with concerns for the pandemic, video game publishers have increasingly withdrawn from E3. Their aim was to host their own online events such as Sony’s State of Play, EA Play Live and Nintendo’s Direct showcases.
Evidently, the breaking of the news stating the present suspension of this year’s E3 worked in favour of such publishers. For example, consummate video game hype man Geoff Keighley made best of the situation. With ease, he stepped in to make the announcement about his Summer Game Fest. He stated that the event is confirmed for the month of June in 2022.
The ESA stated that E3 would make a comeback in 2023, that too with a “reinvigorated showcase.” It would celebrate new and upcoming video games, along with “industry innovation.” This was despite a tweet from Axios’ Stephen Totilo stating that ESA did not have have an E3 “at all bodes ill” for the continued wellbeing of the trade show. 2023’s E3 would expectantly be an event integrating both in-person and online modes.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Excited to share that <a href=”https://twitter.com/summergamefest?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@SummerGameFest</a> will return this June with a slate of events. We'll be producing another Kickoff Live show with announcements, news and first looks.<br><br>Much more to share in the coming weeks, along with some very cool new elements for '22. <a href=”https://t.co/jjXLG8Xueh”>pic.twitter.com/jjXLG8Xueh</a></p>— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) <a href=”https://twitter.com/geoffkeighley/status/1509610747235471375?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>March 31, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>