E3 has been permanently cancelled
The ESA confirms that the worlds biggest video game expo officially has been cancelled - permanently.
E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), the world’s biggest video game expo, has been permanently canceled. After years of trying to revive the expo after its pandemic halt, the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) has confirmed that they will not make another try at reviving the expo.
The Washington Post claims that multiple catalysts are the reason behind the expo’s death, including:
- New competitive expos and events
- The withdrawal of partners supporting the event
- Change in consumer habits and behavior
- Pandemic disruptions
The downfall of E3 can also be attributed to the rise of digital video events, particularly the introduction of Nintendo’s Direct presentations, which was first introduced back in 2011. This move has influenced other major companies to introduce their own digital events, such as Sony’s State of Play.
E3 had its first expo in 1995 and ran every summer up until the Coronavirus caused a worldwide lockdown in 2020. The last E3 was held in 2019. It was almost resurrected in 2022, but since the pandemic was still ongoing, it was decided to cancel that year as well.
In 2023, Nintendo was the first company to announce that they would not be attending the expo, closely followed by Sony and Microsoft with similar statements. This caused several companies to cancel their planned attendance, which ultimately forced the ESA to cancel the whole expo for that year. Since then, there has been big speculation about whether or not E3 could actually come back at all for 2024.
Well, now we know that it could not.
