E3 2023 Has Been Canceled

Los Angeles’ iconic video game get-together Electronic Entertainment Expo, more widely known as E3, has been canceled.

E3 2023 Details: E3 2023 was meant to be held from June 13-16 at the Los Angeles Convention Center and would have been the first in-person iteration of the event since 2019. Now, there are major doubts about whether E3, once North America’s biggest video game get-together, will ever return to its former glory.

Why was it canceled? The primary reason seems to be a lack of interest from major developers. It’s an issue that had been affecting E3 since before Covid, as some of the biggest gaming companies opted to host their own fan-targeted events. When E3 put out a release earlier this month saying that registration for the 2023 edition was open, there were no major game publishers included in the materials. Subsequent reports from gaming trades indicated that companies including Nintendo, Microsoft, and Ubisoft would not be participating.

Background: As has been the case with many major entertainment events, E3 has suffered a rough couple of years since the Covid-19 pandemic hit. In 2020, E3 was shut down entirely by Covid, in 2021, a digital version was held, and in 2022, the show was canceled entirely as its producers attempted to revitalize the showcase.

What does the show’s cancelation mean for L.A.? E3 was once one of the city’s largest summer conventions, and its cancelation leaves a gap in the area’s summer events calendar. In the past, E3 organizer Entertainment Software Association has said that the event generated nearly $88 million in revenue for the city. Average attendance for the event was typically around 65,000 fans and presenters.

What they’re saying: Kyle Marsden-Kish, global vp of gaming for Reedpop, the company that was to produce this year’s event, released a statement that reads:

This was a difficult decision because of all the effort we and our partners put toward making this event happen, but we had to do what’s right for the industry and what’s right for E3. We appreciate and understand that interested companies wouldn’t have playable demos ready and that resourcing challenges made being at E3 this summer an obstacle they couldn’t overcome. For those who did commit to E3 2023, we’re sorry we can’t put on the showcase you deserve and that you’ve come to expect from Reedpop’s event experiences.