In a shocking new announcement, ReedPop and ESA have revealed that E3 2023 has been canceled after various publishers have backed out from the upcoming event.
IGN today has now reported that the Entertainment Software Association or ESA has emailed its members to notify them that the show has been canceled. It seems to have been obvious that the show would be scrapped since the big 3 gaming companies were not going to attend with two of them confirming and one keeping silent. Then more publishers decided to pull out as well.
The email said that E3 will remain a beloved event and brand but the 2023 version just simply did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of the gaming industry. Some people who are involved of the show have also posted on Twitter with one from Guy ‘Yug’ Blomberg. He apologized to everyone who was expecting of the upcoming show. “We genuinely tried,” he said in his Twitter post.
The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley has recently posted a picture of himself attending the first ever E3 in 1995. It seems he is hinting also that the event has been canceled, but has not outright said it has been. He then endorsed his own upcoming show, Summer Game Fest which is going to be on June 8, 2023.
ReedPop and ESA have now shared an official announced on E3’s official Twitter account that E3 2023 has been canceled for both digital and physical events.
Just a month ago, Ubisoft committed to attend the upcoming show, but a few days ago they decided to back out from it. It has decided to move in a different direction and plans to have its own Ubisoft Forward Live event in LA. Just yesterday, SEGA and Tencent decided to back out as well. Both also shared statements confirming their decisions. Devolver Digital also revealed that they are not joining the show.
Other publishers could have also sent messages to ESA to also announce that they are backing out and that would have been the last straw.
It has been an unfortunate chain of events for E3 2023, but it is what it is.