Yesterday it was revealed that Ubisoft would be skipping E3 2023, after first confirming that it would attend the event just over a month ago. It’ll be hosting its own Ubisoft Forward event instead, the day before E3.
Now, IGN reports that SEGA and Tencent will also be skipping E3 2023, as it is starting to look like it won’t be happening this year after all.
To make matters looking even more dire for E3, IGN also spoke to numerous people working across PR and publishing, who’d usually have knowledge of this event and if their company would be attending.
Many still don’t know if they will attend, or even if the show will happen at all. One person even described the situation as saying “There’s no possible way this show can happen.”
E3 used to be the eye of the storm each year for the industry’s biggest news and announcements, and it might’ve remained, had it not been for the years it was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than just a time where we’d get the year’s biggest announcements, E3 was another chance for industry professionals to come together, for developers to showcase their games to the world, and to potential publishers.
That is unfortunately still a function that can’t be filled with the livestream’s we’ve grown accustomed to.
After the first cancellation, and the way the industry adapted to making livestream announcements more of the norm, studios and publishers struggle to see the benefit in spending all that money to go to E3.
Neither ReedPop nor the ESA have released any kind of statement or comment regarding the news from Ubisoft just yesterday, or this new report today.
At this point, it seems like Geoff Keighley’s Summer Games Fest has a chance to swoop in and really put E3 to rest, for good.
Source – [IGN]