UPDATE:Â GameSpot are now reporting that E3 has been cancelled, as the ESA have issued a statement stating that they’ll be cancelling the event due to coronavirus.
The statement reads: “After careful consultation with our member companies regarding the health and safety of everyone in our industry–our fans, our employees, our exhibitors and our longtime E3 partners–we have made the difficult decision to cancel E3 2020, scheduled for June 9-11 in Los Angeles.
“Following increased and overwhelming concerns about the COVID-19 virus, we felt this was the best way to proceed during such an unprecedented global situation. We are very disappointed that we are unable to hold this event for our fans and supporters. But we know it’s the right decision based on the information we have today.”
The ESA are planning to issue full refunds to both exhibitors and attendees, and that they are looking into options to host an online experience in June as a replacement. On top of that, they’ll be moving ahead with their plans to reimagine E3 as an event “that brings fans, media and the industry together in a showcase that celebrates the global video game industry” with E3 2021.
ORIGINAL POST: Multiple reports have emerged over the past 24 hours that suggest E3 2020 will cancelled, likely due to concerns regarding the ongoing coronavirus situation. Ars Technica are reporting that the announcement will happen at 9:30 am, Los Angeles time.
What’s interesting about the Ars Technica report is that the exact reason for the cancellation wasn’t mentioned. They state that “exactly why the event will be canceled is not clear at this time”, before going into detail about how coronavirus has already led to the cancellation of events like GDC 2020.
That said, E3 2020 has been in jeopardy for a while now, as various long-time collaborators have all pulled out of the event. Sony said they’d be skipping E3 again this year, while regular host Geoff Keighley announced he wouldn’t be working with The ESA last month. Even more recently, the retail and production partner iam8bit quit after only five weeks on the job.
It’s entirely possible that the coronavirus outbreak combined with the ESA’s host of production issues have led to the cancellation of E3 2020, though it’s worth mentioning from the reports that they’re looking into hosting an online event of some kind. Meanwhile, publishers like Devolver Digital took to Twitter last night to hint at the event’s cancellation.
Cancel your E3 flights and hotels, y’all.
— Devolver Digital (@devolverdigital) March 11, 2020
At the very least, reports of E3 2020’s cancellation emerged a few days ago, from the unlikeliest of sources. Check it out for yourself below.
https://twitter.com/HotGirlVideos69/status/1235707791274278912
What are your thoughts surrounding the cancellation of E3 2020? Let us know in the comments.
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