It’s official: E3 is coming back this year, and it’ll be an all-digital event. The event will run from June 12-15 and will feature appearances from several of gaming’s mainstay companies, including Nintendo and Xbox. The show is apparently expected to be in-person again starting next year (cross your fingers the world gets sorted out by then).
The website describes the show as “an all-virtual event that will engage everyone, everywhere” and “a reimagined and hyper-engaged digital experience.” Note that this is the first time the show has gone digital. It was canceled full-stop last year — also a first in the show’s history. Most of the major companies still had their own digital events, but we had no one definitive summer event to make up for E3’s absence.
In the list of industry attendees so far, the E3 news post reads that the show has received early commitments from “Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, Konami, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games, Koch Media, and more to come…” The company most conspicuous by their absence is Sony, which had already skipped E3 in favor of its own event back in 2019 (you know, the before-times).
As was pointed out by E3 officials last week, the entire show will be free for all attendees, and you’ll be able to play all the demos and watch all the keynotes. There’s no word yet on what kind of games we can expect, but I’m hoping Rockstar might show up (Take-Two being their parent company) with something fun. Stanley Pierre-Louis, President & CEO of the Entertainment Software Association, the company behind E3, said, “We are evolving this year’s E3 into a more inclusive event, but will still look to excite the fans with major reveals and insider opportunities that make this event the indispensable center stage for video games.”
Source: E3 Expo
