E3 2022 is… not happening, at least in person. The physical event has been cancelled due to coronavirus concerns.
That shouldn’t come as huge surprise; last year’s physical E3 was similarly cancelled and replaced with an online digital event. Is this the right choice? Absolutely. Cast your eyes over the photos of previous in-person E3s and you’ll understand why social distancing would barely be practical. Clapping like a seal at the reveal of Gears of Wars 6 is not worth jeopardising your life for and, Mortal Kombat cosplay aside, we can’t picture everyone wearing a mask.
However, the Entertainment Software Association, the organisation behind E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo) has yet to a confirm a digital alternative.
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“We remain incredibly excited about the future of E3 and look forward to announcing more details soon”, reads the statement. Yes, this could refer to the event doing digital but it’s so vague it could equally be referring to the ESA’s E3 2023 plans.
E3 doesn’t, typically, take place until June so the ESA does have time to organise something, either a full event like last year or a more limited showcase. E3 2020 was cancelled in its entirety, because there wasn’t sufficient time to go digital.
It’s entirely possible that this could be the end of E3 as an in-person event. E3 is a chance for games companies to show off their latest titles or, in some cases, their latest hardware and has, for years, been a regular fixture. Last’s digital event, however, highlighted that a huge chunk of E3 could indeed, be delivered online.
Also to no-one’s great surprise, Geoff Keighley has jumped in to confirm that his digital-only Summer Games Fest will be going ahead this year. A significant number of last year’s E3 week announcements came not from E3 but Summer Games Fest, which was running alongside the official E3.
We’ll let you know when we hear more but if you were planning on purchasing your tickets to sunny Los Angeles, you can put your card back in your wallet.
