E3 is dead, again. E3 2023 is expected to happen on June with a new organiser in the form of Reedpop handling the event. But it looks like it’s not happening.
The signs for another E3 no-show were there as all three console-making publishers Sony (PlayStation), Microsoft (Xbox) and Nintendo confirm to not be part of E3. Ubisoft has followed the route of EA by hosting its own announcement show during E3 week but not officially part of E3.
Even Devolver Digital, whose entire E3 presence is unofficial by the event’s parking lot, will move its deranged, unhinged and utterly captivating Devolver Direct elsewhere, into Summer Game Fest.
Speaking of, Summer Game Fest remains on. Right on the heels of E3 officially announcing its cancellation, the Summer Game Fest Twitter proudly proclaims that “video game summer isn’t cancelled”.
Summer Game Fest will open with its showcase event on June 8, featuring “events, announcements and updates from more than 25 of the industry’s leading publishers, platforms and developers.”
Organised by long-time game industry veteran and The Game Awards showrunner Geoff Keighley, Summer Game Fest first appeared in 2020 to replace the cancelled E3 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Summer Game Fest is an all-digital event that serves more of an umbrella for all summertime gaming announcements that are traditionally part of E3, including in 2021 when E3 appeared as an online event. Last year, Summer Game Fest expanded with a limited show-floor event for media.
The Electronics Entertainment Expo was first held in 1995 and served as a trades show event for game industry folks. It later evolved into a spectacle where game publishers are given a platform to put on a show, revealing their slate of announcements to get gamers excited, to the point that discussions of the event culminate to “who wins E3”.
From the looks of it, for 2023, it is Geoff Keighly and his team at Summer Game Fest who win E3. Following the announcement of E3’s cancellation, Keighly tweeted that “E3 meant so much to me and to so many of you too” and adding that “E3 wasn’t evolving as it needed to compete in a global, digital world”.