Update: The VGC found that the Los Angeles Convention and Tourism Development Commission Council listed E3 2021 as a “canceled live event”.
Original Story [Mon 8th Feb, 2021 20:45 GMT]: The Entertainment Software Association announced last year that it would go digital at E3 2021, which will take place June 15-17. Now, amid doubts about what the future of gaming conferences will look like, they discussed their plans for this year.
Every summer since 1995, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, known as “E3”, takes place in the United States. It is one of the largest gaming conventions in the world, widely frequented by the gaming press, and is usually one of the main times and places where new ads, revelations and trailers can be seen for the first time.
For many of those years, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have shared the stage as presenters, but over time, several publishers have given up. In 2013, Nintendo switched to pre-recorded video ads, Direct style, instead of press conferences on stage; EA, Sony, Ubisoft, Activision and Bethesda followed suit in the years that followed, with some studios holding their own conferences instead of hosting them at E3.
Last year was the first time that E3 did not materialize, due to the pandemic that reached critical mass during the planning phases. Despite initial plans to have a digital version, there was not enough time for it to work, leading to the cancellation of everything.
Thanks to a report by the VGC, we know that the three-day event will involve coverage broadcast live from 10 am to 10 pm EST, including two-hour presentations from “game partners” – probably meaning large development studios – and smaller publisher flows, indies and influencers. Regional replays in Europe, China and the Middle East will ensure that no one misses the news.
Game demos will be made available to the public weeks before the event, and the media will be able to preview the games remotely. On June 14, the day before the start of E3, a “Preview Night” will take place, although there are no details on what that means.
Geoff Keighley – a former E3 contributor and host of The Game Awards – is planning to continue his Summer Game Fest, which he launched last year, with a cryptic tweet today signaling more news to come:
VGC says it is still unclear which publishers have signed up for this digital version of E3, but that “at least one big game company” is going ahead with its own showcase, rather than paying “six-figure sums” for appear at E3.
Do you think a fully digital show is the way to go? Do you prefer to see that in the years to come, even after kicking the pandemic’s ass? Let us know in the comments.