E3 2023 has been canceled, report says

polygon.com:

E3 2023 has been canceled, organizers at the Entertainment Software Association reportedly told its members on Thursday, following the withdrawal of major publishers like Ubisoft, Sega, and Tencent. Those companies joined console manufacturers Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony who had previously confirmed they wouldn’t take part in this year’s E3, an event that promised to return the spectacled gaming industry show to Los Angeles for the first time in four years.

IGN reported Tuesday that major publishers had backed out of the event, with others casting doubt on their participation in the show. On Thursday, IGN reported that E3 organizers reportedly told members that E3 2023 “simply did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of our industry.”

Polygon has reached out to the ESA for comment and confirmation and will update when the organization responds.

This year’s E3 was announced as a return to the L.A. Convention Center for the show’s first in-person event since 2019. The ESA had enlisted ReedPop, the company that produces PAX, Star Wars Celebration, and other fan-focused events, to run E3 2023. The plan was to combine a gathering of publishers, developers, media, and buyers with “in-person consumer components” and digital showcases. When it was announced in July 2022, ReedPop promised that “E3 2023 will be recognizably epic — a return to form that honors what’s always worked — while reshaping what didn’t.”

A competing event, the Geoff Keighley-produced Summer Game Fest, will serve as an alternative for game publishers and developers to showcase their wares in June. Microsoft and Ubisoft will have digital events of their own that month, aligned