E3’s future uncertain as this year’s in-person event cancelled
With E3’s physical event cancelled, is there still hope for a virtual one?
Gamers look forward to the yearly E3 event, where their favorite creators join in to reveal exciting news about the latest games. Big video game brands such as PlayStation reveal the newest Triple-A games and small indie brands showcase what’s upcoming. Unfortunately, COVID-19 won’t be allowing for E3 2022 to happen—at least, not in person.
What the ESA has to say
The ESA revealed it cancelled its in-person event, with the future of the event being rather unclear. A statement from the ESA reads as follows:
“Due to the ongoing health risks surrounding COVID-19 and its potential impact on the safety of exhibitors and attendees, E3 will not be held in person in 2022.”
For some, this doesn’t seem like a big surprise. While they had announced it since last year’s event happened, there had been little updates on it since. The 2022 show never had a specific date and its E3 Expo site never updated much. E3 2022 wasn’t on the LACC calendar either, despite past events having been scheduled there.
Will E3 2022 still happen digitally?
Does this mean the event won’t be happening at all this year? Well, we’re not certain what the state of the event is at the moment. There are currently no dates set for E3. With the in-person event cancelled, there’s a possibility there might be some digital showcase. However, the ESA did not confirm whether they were considering the option to replace their physical event. E3 2021 ran as a virtual, online-only event, so I see no reason why they couldn’t choose to do it again for 2022.
“We remain incredibly excited about the future of E3 and look forward to announcing more details soon,” they followed up in their statement. Hopefully a virtual event could still happen for E3 2022, but no confirmation has been given yet.
Via, IGN.
