E3, the world’s most popular video game convention, has been cancelled.

world of games has once again lost its biggest annual event. The American video game fair E3, the next edition of which should have been held this June in Los Angeles, has been officially canceled after a series of significant absences by multiple companies in the sector.

The 2023 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 2023) It would have represented the return of face-to-face after a two-year absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, its parent organization, the American Entertainment Software Association (ESA), announced Thursday that it was permanently canceling the event, both in person and digitally.

Ubisoft, SEGA or Tencent ended up giving the final blow to the event that had lasted for more than 25 years. The three companies announced that they would not participate in the event, some absences that have been added to those previously announced by industry giants such as Microsoft (Xbox), Nintendo or Sony PlayStation.

“It was a difficult decision due to all the efforts we and our partners have put into making this event happen, but we had to do what’s right for the industry and what’s right for E3“, acknowledged the global vice president of ReedPop – the organizing company – Kyle Marsden-Kish, in a press release.

The employers of the American video game ESA and the British producer ReedPop, who collaborated for the first time in the organization of the event, only referred to the cancellation of this year’s edition, since in their press release they ensure that they will continue to “work together at future E3 events.”

Precisely, this year’s edition —the twenty-seventh— was expected to mark the great comeback of this event which has been held since 1995. In 2019 it held its last major edition and was visited by more than 66,000 participants. The 2020 edition was canceled due to the pandemic, the 2021 edition was held only in digital format and, again, in 2022 the event was canceled due to the absence of large companies.

Over the past two years, the coronavirus pandemic has jeopardized the continuity of many gaming events. However, with the exception of E3, this kind of expo has managed to recover the normality of the pre-pandemic times. Last September was held the TTokyo Game Showand a month earlier, the Gamescom fair in Cologne, the largest in Europe, was held.

Meanwhile, more and more companies have opted for digital events to present their news directly to their audience. Nintendo was one of the first companies to present their products in pre-recorded presentations, which other companies in the sector such as Sony, Microsoft, Ubisoft or Square Enix followed. This ability to communicate their news through the Internet has made many companies great they are losing interest in face-to-face events.

Summer Game Fest: the event that tries to take the place of E3

Minutes after the cancellation news broke, minutes after IGN broke the news that E3 2023 would no longer be taking place this year, journalist and Summer Game Fest organizer Geoff Keighley wasn’t reluctant to let his intentions out. : place its In event place of the traditional exhibition of the game.

“Join the celebration of the future of video games,” he wrote on his Twitter account. This text was accompanied by the confirmation of the date of the Summer Game Fest, which will take place on June 8th.

The Summer Games Fest has its origins since Keighley parted ways with the organizers of E3 (ESA) during the course of 2020. But unlike the setup that the LA fair used to present at the Convention Center with wide corridors and grandiose stand, the proposal that appears has a mainly digital focus and Everything indicates that it will continue in this way for a few more years.