E3 2020 has been cancelled

Update: The ESA has officially confirmed that this year’s E3 is no more. Here’s the official statement:

After careful consultation with our member companies regarding the health and safety of everyone in our industry—our fans, our employees, our exhibitors and our longtime E3 partners—we have made the difficult decision to cancel E3 2020, scheduled for June 9-11 in Los Angeles

Original story below

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The E3 of today is but a hollowed out husk of what it used to be. Once seen as the Wrestlemania of gaming events, anyone who loved video games would dream of one day landing at LAX and popping up at the Los Angeles Convention Center for a week of pure interactive entertainment bliss.

It was loud, brash and you’d be run ragged by the infamous press conference gauntlet, but by Odin’s beard was the Electronic Entertainment Expo a chaotic work of art that would recharge your enthusiasm for video games after you’d spent a few days seeing the sights and chatting to developers. Today though? E3 is dead. Industry pundits reckon that this year’s version of the show may be called off, due to a knockout combination of the current Coronavirus pandemic and developers pulling out en masse.

According to sources at Ars Technica, an announcement was due to be released on Tuesday by E3’s parent body THE Entertainment Software Association, but that was pushed back for reasons:

Multiple sources familiar with the Entertainment Software Association (ESA)’s plans have confirmed to Ars Technica that the organization, which is responsible for the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), will soon cancel the three-day expo. Like in prior years, E3 2020 was scheduled to play out in early June as a three-day event at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Adding more fuel to the fire was Devolver Digital, who tweeted “Cancel your E3 flights and hotels, y’all”, with Kotaku’s Jason Schrier also adding his own thoughts to the topic:

Been hearing secondhand whispers tonight from several devs/pubs that E3 is cancelled, although I've also heard from a couple of people in positions to know that the ESA hasn't officially made a decision yet and is still consulting with pubs. Either way, it's only a matter of time https://t.co/Od0MDj3ZXv

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) March 11, 2020

A couple of days ago, the ESA claimed that even with the state of California declaring a state of emergency, everything was going to be all right in the end and they’d still push ahead with plans to hold this year’s E3. With all the QUEUENTERTAINMENT this year’s show would need to keep attendees entertained. If E3 is cancelled, it’ll be the first time the show has ever had to shut its doors since 1996, and on the eve of a new console generation, that’s a hell of a fall from grace for a show that was once the dream destination of many.

Last Updated: March 11, 2020