Video Game Expo ‘E3’ Canceled for 2023
The Electronic Entertainment Expo‘s second attempt to return to a physical event was also unsuccessful.
ReedPop’s annual video game industry trade show was scheduled for the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 13-16, 2023, but was canceled. If it had returned in person this year, it would have been the first time since 2019. ReedPop’s worldwide VP of gaming Kyle Marsden-Kish told The Verge that the company was having trouble due to “resource challenges.”
“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. 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,” Marsden-Kish stated. “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.”
IGN obtained an email sent Thursday to members of the Entertainment Software Association, which was confirmed by two sources close to the organization, saying that E3 2023 “simply did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of our industry.”
Major game firms including Nintendo, Microsoft, and Ubisoft had previously said they would not be attending months before the cancellation was announced. In addition, ReedPop president Lance Fensterman assured The Verge in February that the show was still “full speed ahead,” despite comments from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot on an earnings call that E3 might not be occurring this year.
In 2020, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, E3 was postponed; a virtual edition was staged in 2021, and a physical comeback was scheduled for 2022. However, both the physical and digital manifestations of that edition were scrapped. Past editions of E3 have attracted as many as 65,000 spectators and 200 exhibitors.