E3 2022 is canceled – The Verge

There will be no E3 this year. In a tweet, Will Powers, PR for gaming peripherals maker Razer, said he received an email telling him the digital event was cancelled. IGN initially reported the newsand said they also independently read the email confirming E3’s termination.

The video game trade show and marketing event was originally scheduled to take place in person this year. But, in January, E3 has again shifted from an in-person event to an online-only exhibition due to the pandemic. Now the digital event seems to have been completely canceled.

In recent years there have been growing concerns about the fate of E3. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact in-person gatherings, making the prospect of a very large and notoriously packed event unappealing. Last week, a number of video game industry professionals reported testing positive for COVID-19 after attending the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Adding to pandemic concerns, video game publishers have increasingly pulled away from E3 to host their own online events like Nintendo’s Direct Showcases, EA Play Live, and Sony’s State of Play.

When news broke of E3’s cancellation, consummate video game hype man Geoff Keighley smoothly jumped in to announce that his Summer Game Fest was confirmed for June of this year.

The fact that there is no E3 at all does not bode well for the future health of the show, so a tweet from axios“Stefan TotiloESA said, “E3 will return in 2023 with a reinvigorated showcase celebrating new and exciting video games and industry innovations.” E3 2023 is expected be both an online and in-person event.