E3 2020 has been officially cancelled due to coronavirus concerns
By Byron Smith
The biggest gaming expo in the western hemisphere, E3 has been intricate to the growth and evolution of gaming and it’s community. Its cancellation, due to coronavirus concerns, will have effects across the entire gaming landscape.
Among concerns around the Covid-19 virus, better known as coronavirus, many events around the world have been cancelled/delayed. Coachella was moved from April to October, SXSW and GDC were cancelled outright, and the list continues to grow every day. Many companies are still holding out in hopes that the virus dies down a bit or a vaccine becomes publicly available before their event starts, but the Coronavirus continues.
This morning, after a few weeks of debate and conversations, Entertainment Software Association announced that E3 would be joining that list:
The E3 team is devastated to share this news. This decision was not reached lightly, but it is the right one for the health and safety of all involved. Read our statement here: https://t.co/1uOWxTerN9 pic.twitter.com/gD2IxNACLX
— E3 (@E3) March 11, 2020
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A staple in the gaming community, E3 has been showing gamers the future of gaming every year since 1995. Almost every name in gaming has a huge presence at the event, and the company presentations are must-see television for anyone interested in entertainment.
This year was set to be an especially huge year for E3, with Xbox set to release the Xbox Series X this year and audiences having little information on it. Most game developers would also be debuting games for the next generation of consoles, with the PS5 also set to release later this year.
Devolver Digital’s twitter implied that this announcement was coming last night, urging gamers and journalist to cancel their E3 plans:
Cancel your E3 flights and hotels, y’all.
— Devolver Digital (@devolverdigital) March 11, 2020
Since the official announcement of E3 being cancelled, Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, announced that Xbox will be hosting a digital event to share about their near future:
E3 has always been an important moment for Team Xbox. Given this decision, this year we'll celebrate the next generation of gaming with the @Xbox community and all who love to play via an Xbox digital event. Details on timing and more in the coming weeks https://t.co/xckMKBPf9h
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) March 11, 2020
Ubisoft has also announced they will be looking into a digital presentation:
An update regarding E3 2020. pic.twitter.com/cThkDIkfVm
— Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) March 11, 2020
At the time of writing, Square Enix, Bethesda, and Nintendo have not made statements concerning their presentation. Nintendo has been doing digital presentations since 2013, which will probably be the formula that the other developers follow for their presentations. Hopefully, Todd Howard’s cringe can be still be interpreted.
ESA seemed optimistic about E3 continuing the legacy in 2021, hopefully being back bigger and better than ever, but for the year and a half until then, E3 will be missed.