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E3 2023 Has Been Cancelled

E3 2023 Has Been Cancelled - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 30 March 2023 / 3,417 Views

The Entertainment Software Association has announced E3 2023 has officially been cancelled. This follows the confirmation Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft, Sega, Tencent, and more would be skipping E3 this year.

"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," said Kyle Marsden-Kish, the Global VP of Gaming of ReedPop, via a statement from the ESA posted by IGN.

"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."

The ESA and ReedPop will work together on "future E3 events."

E3 2023 was originally scheduled to take place at the Los Angeles Conference Center from Tuesday, June 13 through Friday, June 16.


A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.


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35 Comments
JWeinCom (on 30 March 2023)

In my mind and in my car
We can't rewind we've gone too far
Pictures came and broke your heart
Put all the blame on VCR

  • +5
CaptainExplosion JWeinCom (on 30 March 2023)

YouTube streams killed the E3 star

  • +4
JWeinCom CaptainExplosion (on 30 March 2023)

Basically. Directs are great in their own way, but there was something special about E3 that can never be replicated just like there was a special quality to radio serials that we'll never recapture. I think it's an overall improvement but it's still a bit sad. That's progress for you.

  • +5
CaptainExplosion JWeinCom (on 30 March 2023)

I was hoping E3 would make a big comeback, and that Nintendo would bring back their old Mario and Wario animatronics.

  • 0
SanAndreasX CaptainExplosion (on 30 March 2023)

They've got that stuff going on at Universal Studios Hollywood. I was there last weekend. Really neat, but I'm not sure the Mario Kart ride was worth a 2 1/2 hour wait in line.

  • 0
KLAMarine SanAndreasX (on 30 March 2023)

Is any ride worth a 2.5 hour wait in line?

  • +2
SanAndreasX KLAMarine (on 30 March 2023)

Probably not. The ride was neat, but it was 5 minutes long, as you would probably expect. Nevertheless, it was a 2 1/2 hour line because so many people were willing to wait for the ride.

  • +1
JWeinCom KLAMarine (on 30 March 2023)

Absolutely. You hand out in a line playing your switch for a while, then get to go on an amazingly crafted unique experience. Much worse ways to spend your time.

  • 0
SanAndreasX JWeinCom (on 30 March 2023)

It was neat, and I gotta say, they did a bang-up job designing the place. I enjoyed it. I just wish I had brought my Switch.

  • 0
KLAMarine SanAndreasX (on 30 March 2023)

How do you not bring your Switch to Nintendo land? Were there many around?

  • 0
SanAndreasX KLAMarine (on 30 March 2023)

Surprisingly, no. There were a few, but not many.

  • 0
KLAMarine JWeinCom (on 30 March 2023)

Was Nintendo the first to do a direct (some people call them directs for some reason)? Did Nintendo ultimately kill E3?

  • 0
SanAndreasX KLAMarine (on 30 March 2023)

I would say E3 started digging its own grave in 2007 when they tried the scaled down, no-frills E3 Media and Business Summit. It was basically a business seminar.

With that said, Nintendo was one of the first, but if they hadn't done Directs, someone else would have. Once Sony discovered the format, it was probably the final countdown. Video streaming gave companies control of the time and place of their own presentations, without the expense of E3 and without having to jockey for visibility in a sea of console holders and major publishers.

The pandemic hammered the final nail into the coffin.

  • 0
SanAndreasX KLAMarine (on 30 March 2023)

Apparently Nintendo had a rather tumultuous relationship with E3 in its early days and only attended E3 1995 because it became apparent they were going to miss a big marketing opportunity that Sega and Sony were taking advantage of.

  • 0
JWeinCom KLAMarine (on 30 March 2023)

Depends. They're definitely the ones who popularized it. The first major company I could recall using a pseudo press conference format. Even if they did though, someone was going to figure it out.

But, I'd say technology killed it. There was really no need any longer for devs to have a conference with a physical stage, or at least not at a specific date and time. And having to have all your devs get a demo ready for that time whether it fit in their schedule or not didn't really make sense. Plus, you really didn't need media impressions since you could actually put out demos. The gaming media in general has diminished in importance.

Technology killed E3. Might have had a chance if it could have transitioned into a different format, but the pandemic prevented that from happening. Maybe it could still come back, but it's hard see why when there are better ways to do the same thing.

  • 0
V-r0cK (on 31 March 2023)

Game Over

  • +1
znake (on 31 March 2023)

Thank you Nintendo for killing E3

  • +1
INCITATUSBR (on 30 March 2023)

no quorum

  • +1
BINARYGOD (on 31 March 2023)

Not for 99% of us who only ever saw a couple of live streams. "E3" is alive and kicking.

E3 is dead - long live E3!

  • 0
yvanjean (on 31 March 2023)

Relic of gaming is over....I probably attended one of the worst E3 (E3 2010).

  • 0
Kanemaru (on 31 March 2023)

I don't think E3 became old school, I rather believe nobody has interesting games to show this year. MS released a console but forgot they had to make games too. Sony lacks some big games after "GOW disneyland" and "Horizon Forbidden Fun". I think last chance is for next year.

  • 0
Darwinianevolution (on 31 March 2023)

It was bound to happen.

  • 0
DonFerrari (on 31 March 2023)

It is all Sony fault for leaving E3 =p

  • 0
S.Peelman (on 31 March 2023)

E3
1995 - 2019 (21?)
"It was a thing once"

  • 0
AJNShelton (on 31 March 2023)

Geoff is partying hars right now

  • 0
Giggity_goo (on 31 March 2023)

i only watched the showcases everyone has turned to direct style announcements.. i think its a better option

  • 0
pikashoe (on 30 March 2023)

Press 'f' to pay respects

  • 0
Link_Nines.XBC pikashoe (on 31 March 2023)

F

  • 0
AJNShelton Link_Nines.XBC (on 31 March 2023)

He said f not F

  • 0
Link_Nines.XBC AJNShelton (on 31 March 2023)

f

  • +1
VMCJonCarter (on 30 March 2023)

End of a Era, Time for Summer Game Fest to take over

  • 0
CaptainExplosion (on 30 March 2023)

Well, it was fun while it lasted. -_-

  • 0
tslog (on 31 March 2023)

Can't believe how many people are NOT BLAMING the big publishers. This is their doing.
They just killed the most exiting event in gaming, just so they can save money to keep for them-billionaire-selves.
Gross.
Proof once again that Publishes don't care about you, they only want to extract your money. And they get cult loyalty in return.

  • -4
DonFerrari tslog (on 31 March 2023)

If not doing the event saves more money than making the event brings money you can take your own conclusion.

  • 0
JWeinCom tslog (on 31 March 2023)

Lumping all of the announcements into three days really served no purpose to publishers or most of their fans. Just those who were nostalgic for the days of arguing over "who won e3". Spreading them out is probably what's best for their developers (they can showcase each game when it has a chance to shine and can ready a demo build on their schedule) probably best for most of their fans. Can't please everyone.

  • +1