The April Fools weekend has been full of all kinds of pranks, but this news about the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2023 doesn’t seem to be a joke.
According to IGN, multiple sources have confirmed that E3 2023 has effectively been cancelled. Members of the Electronic Software Association (ESA) were said to have been sent an e-mail that said that though E3 “remains a beloved event and brand”, the 2023 showcase “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.”
E3’s cancellation has been speculated for a while, especially with the news that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo were skipping the event. Some fans held out hope for reveals from other studios, but it looks like none of the hype was able to keep the event from pushing through.
The ESA was also said to have released a statement which reads:
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. 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.
We don’t have any details for when E3 could possibly return, but for now, it looks like all the big studios have been settling for holding their own mini-E3 events like with Nintendo Direct, State of Play, and Xbox Games Showcase.
No date has been set for the next E3 event.
