The ESA is apparently not willing to let its E3 trade show-cum-games hype dispensary go into that good night. While this year’s event has been cancelled after announcing in January that it would go all-digital, ESA president and CEO Stan Pierre-Louis has has confirmed to the Washington Post that E3 will return sometime in 2023.
“We’re excited about coming back in 2023 with both a digital and an in-person event. As much as we love these digital events, and as much as they reach people and we want that global reach, we also know that there’s a really strong desire for people to convene — to be able to connect in person and see each other and talk about what makes games great.”
Dates for E3’s return were not specified, but Pierre-Louis expressed his eagerness to bring the event back, particularly in the face of various other events held by individual publishers that have mostly muscled in on E3’s racket, resulting in what we termed in 2020 as the never-ending summer of not-E3. “I think what’s great about all this experimentation is that companies of all sizes are trying to figure out what works best to promote the product and the content that they are looking to share with consumers,” says Pierre-Louis. “Combining [a physical and digital event], I think there is a critical element of what we think E3 can provide.”
Meanwhile, this year’s Gamescom event in Germany is full steam ahead for its return as a combined digital and in-person event, with tickets for the convention now available for those who are going to be at the event in-person. Gamescom is also apparently hosting a side game in August that appears to be involving the Epix NFT marketplace. So much for being climate neutral.
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