ESA President Offers Three Reasons Why E3 2023 Was Canceled

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E3 has been a staple expo for the video game industry over the years. This event proved crucial for video game developers, publishers, and media publications. Before the showcases were available on television broadcasts and later in online streams, E3 was a means to unveil what was coming down the road. Media publications were given a chance to check out the latest upcoming games and hardware in which they could report to their readers. But like everything else, the event started to evolve over the years. It became less about showcasing directly to the media and more about highlighting the upcoming games, services, and hardware directly to viewers at home.

But again, over the years, that even evolved with companies starting to take a step back from the marketing money spent on E3. Rather than pay for a massive event, the same concept could be done through a stream or video upload. So even before the pandemic hit, E3 started to see this shift, with the likes of Nintendo and Sony opting out of E3. Then, of course, as you all know, the pandemic hit, prompting E3 2020 to be canceled. That following year we had a digital-only experience for fans to tune into, and last year we saw the event canceled. But 2023 was set to be a return to the classic E3 experience, with fans and media attending in person. Again, however, while the ESA saw interest initially, things ultimately fell apart, forcing it to cancel this year’s expo.

The Gameindustry.biz publication spoke with the ESA president and CEO, Stanley Pierre-Louis, about what went wrong with this year’s event. According to their response, it boils down to three reasons E3 2023 shut its doors. Again, as mentioned, Stanley Pierre-Louis noted that there was interest from