“We can confirm that we are transforming the E3 experience for 2021 and will soon be sharing exact details on how we are uniting the global video game community.” An ESA spokesman said. “We are having great conversations with publishers, developers and companies across the board and we look forward to sharing details about your involvement soon.”
This news follows a report from the VGC, in which the E3 2021 presentation documents sent to the game publishers outlined the proposal that would have three days of live coverage from the previously announced dates from June 15th to 17th, 2021.
The plan includes having “several key two-hour sessions from game partners, an award show, a preview night on June 14 and other smaller broadcasts from game publishers, influencers and media partners.”
The broadcast event would be preceded by a week of media presentation and demos would be released to the public during E3 2021 to help celebrate the future of video games.
ESA is also planning to make it possible to “allow partner companies to remotely broadcast game demos to the media in ‘thousands’ of scheduled meetings”, along with individual developer assistance.
According to the report, these plans for E3 2021 still need approval from ESA members, which include some of the largest gaming companies in the world.Before COVID-19, many companies, including Sony, had already given up on E3 in favor of holding their own digital events. In addition, The Video Game Awards and Geoff Keighley of the Summer Game Fest have also given up on E3 2020 and have no plans to return this year.
Becoming part of E3 is also very expensive, and a video game company has indicated that it would prefer to host its own digital event rather than “paying the six-digit sums needed to participate in E3 2021 programming”.
The VGC notes that ESA has not officially canceled plans for an E3 2021 physical event, but the digital event is in fact the main focus.The proposed program would run from 10 am to 10 pm EST, with regional replays scheduled around the world. A typical day would include “a 30-minute pre-show run by a media partner, followed by a 2-hour ‘exclusive press conference’ by a console platform holder, followed by a Q&A and a panel reaction.” There would then be more presentations by third-party editors, a closing show, a teaser for the next day and a “post-charity” flow.
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Adam Bankhurst is an IGN news writer. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.