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Ever since the initial major outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, video game industry events have had to shift to an all-digital format in order to share the latest information on upcoming releases and development schedules, which has caused not only major delays to games themselves but also the events that they are showcased at. One of the first events to receive a delay in 2020 was E3, the yearly expo held by the Electronics Software Association (ESA) yet after a seemingly successful return in 2021, it appears that E3 2022 could be canceled for the second time in the event's history.
E3 is a yearly electronics expo held in Los Angeles, California in which many publishers and developers from the video game industry gather to showcase upcoming releases and conduct meetings. Up until recently, the show was mainly intended for media outlets to cover games still in development. However, in recent years the ESA has allowed fans to purchase tickets to attend the show. This has mainly been due to the increasing costs of running the show, which has caused major companies such as PlayStation and EA to pull out of the event.
After announcing that the 2022 incarnation of the show will not be held physically due to concerns surrounding the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 pandemic, VentureBeat reporter Jeff Grubb has claimed in a TikTok video (reposted to YouTube) that E3 2022 will "probably" not be held as a digital-only event this year similar to how the show was run last year. Instead, it appears that the show could be canceled altogether in 2022, with developers and publishers instead either turning their attention to Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest, or hosting their own showcases.
The ESA has yet to comment on if E3 2022's digital event has been canceled yet. When discussing the cancellation of the in-person event a few weeks ago, a spokesperson for the company told VentureBeat "We remain incredibly excited about the future of E3 and look forward to announcing more details soon," not fulling committing to the idea that E3 would return in a digital format this year.
It's unknown whether the likes of Microsoft and Nintendo will return with digital presentations this June even with the absence of E3. In 2020, Microsoft waited until July to hold its summer showcase of games while Nintendo spent much of the year in silence minus some Nintendo Direct Mini events held near the end of the year. Hopefully this sporadic form of communication does not make a comeback in 2022, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to effect the video games industry.
Source: VentureBeat