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According to a report by IGN, E3 2023 is canceled. This comes after weeks of publishers and gaming companies stating that they were not going to attend E3 this year, including Ubisoft, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Sega, Tencent, and more.
IGN's report from March 30 says that two separate sources confirmed with them that the Entertainment Software Association (ESA; the group behind E3) sent out emails to ESA members earlier today announcing the cancellation. The email said that E3 "remains a beloved event and brand" but the 2023 version of the show "did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of our industry."
The email mentions the ESA's commitment to advocacy work but does not mention anything about any E3 events for future years.
The ESA also sent out a public statement via Kyle Marsden-Kish, the global VP of gaming at ReedPop:
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.
E3 2023 was scheduled to run from June 11th through June 16 at the LA Convention Center. This year's event was set to be the first in-person E3 since 2019. 2020's show was cancelled due to COVID-19. A digital version of the show happened in 2021 and canceled again in 2022 to try taking the show into a new direction for future years. That new direction has yet to pan out.
