Players that enjoy staying in the know about the latest and greatest in the gaming industry likely look forward to the annual E3 press briefings and coverage every year. The trade show has been a massive source for gaming news since 1995 as developers and publishers provide their plans for the upcoming years in regards to games, DLC, and hardware. And, in more recent years, E3 has undergone changes to become an event that has attempted to appeal to the general public by selling public access tickets and trying to give players an experience worth remembering at their booths.
However, 2020 had different plans for the classic gaming expo. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Electronic Software Association officially cancelled E3 for 2020. This has been the only time the trade show has been cancelled in the 25 years of its existence. And while the ESA has stated that it still plans to bring E3 back in 2021, it seems that there are a variety of issues that may prevent it from doing so.
The first major hurdle that stands in the way of the ESA if it hopes to host E3 in 2021 is the prevalent pandemic of the coronavirus. While the strength and spread of the virus itself is obviously not in control of the ESA, it seems that it will have to hope that the United States can devise a way to rein in the continually rising case count. However, even if the virus is brought somewhat under control over the next few months, it seems ill-advised to host an in-person event in the first place, especially when one considers part of the public experience of E3 is playing games at various booths.
Even taking the COVID-19 pandemic out of the equation, the ESA seems to have quite an uphill battle ahead of it if it hopes to have E3 in 2021. While the convention was cancelled for 2020, that didn’t mean that developers and publishers didn’t make announcements this year. Companies like Ubisoft and Microsoft, which typically have a major presence at E3, elected to host their own digital-only events that were streamed directly to viewers on Twitch and other streaming platforms. Reportedly, Ubisoft saw higher viewership than it had previously when showcasing at E3, and Microsoft announced in April that it would be switching to all-digital events through July of 2021.
Not only that, but it’s quite likely that this method was a more cost effective option than traveling to Los Angeles to make the same presentation on a stage. If the ESA wishes to continue E3 as it has in the past, it will likely need to convince these bigger name devs why the seeming extra cost of partnering with it is worth it.
As if those obstacles were not difficult to overcome by themselves, the ESA has had a string of bad luck over the past year when it comes to the creative direction and overall handling of E3. Before the show was cancelled for 2020, two major resignations occurred with Geoff Keighley resigning as producer, and iam8bit resigning as creative directors. These key players in the convention’s overall running were likely major losses for the ESA and didn’t seem to inspire confidence within members of the press or the gaming community as a whole. Journalists and content creators had already been skeptical of the ESA as it was following the controversial leak of personal information that occurred in 2019, and this seemed to sour the idea further.
So the question remains: will E3 happen in 2021? At the time of writing this, it’s difficult to say; however, it seems that the ESA has several major issues that it must overcome and adapt to.
E3 is slated to begin on June 15, 2021.
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