Set in the heart of the Los Angeles downtown area, E3 is a petri dish of con flu just waiting to explode with a possible Coronavirus outbreak if things go pear-shaped. With Los Angeles having officially declared a state of emergency regarding the spread of the virus, you’d think that the Electronic Software Association would be ready to pull the plug on a show that few people are excited for. Nope!

One infamous publisher who will be attending E3 2020? None other than industry darling Devolver Digital, the masters of taking the piss out of the more serious side of gaming with their annual Not A Press Conference livestreams.

The E3xodus continues!

This year, E3’s daddy the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) say that they’ll be reinvigorating the event with their new partnerships.

In case you missed the news, Sony is skipping E3 again. Last year, Sony shocked the gaming world when the PlayStation maker decided that E3 wasn’t a necessary part of its marketing plans. Sony, dominant as they are, don’t really need a big three-day industry event to get the eyeballs on their games or their impending new hardware. In this hyper-connected world, it’s cheaper, easier and generally less stressful to just beam a video to the entire world; something Nintendo learned when they stopped hosting a great big press conference at E3 opting instead for their now adored Nintendo Directs.

The ESA, which runs E3, may be hatching their boldest plan yet for the event in the face of stiffer competition and the dawn of a new console era: Doubling down on gamer culture and going all in on the gaming festival theme that has been brewing behind the scenes for the last two years.