Last year, along with many other fun things, E3 was cancelled (opens in new tab). This year's E3 (opens in new tab) will be a free online event (opens in new tab), and it's facing more competition than ever before. Initially scheduled to run over June 15 to 17, certain competitors took aim at those dates: Valve rebranded the semi-regular Steam games festival to Steam Next, and it's running from June 16 to 22 (opens in new tab).
The Entertainment Software Association has now announced its final plans for this year's event, and a change in date. E3 2021 will run from June 12 to June 15, and has "early commitments from Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, Konami, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games and Koch Media." That is a fairly decent lineup of big-hitters, though whether anyone brings their AAA game remains to be seen.
Notable by their absence are Activision-Blizzard, Electronic Arts, and Sony, though bigger publishers skipping out was an E3 trend well before the pandemic. Xbox head Phil Spencer, at least, was happy about the news.
Glad to see the game industry coming together again in June for a digital E3. This and other summer events are proof that our industry is strongest when we work together. Looking forward to sharing what we have in store this summer.April 6, 2021
This press release emphasises that all of E3 will be free (this follows reports that the ESA had been considering charging for access). Stanley Pierre-Louis, president & CEO of the ESA, adds "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."
The press release ends on an optimistic note: "The ESA looks forward to coming back together to celebrate E3 2022 in person." I never thought I'd miss those sweaty halls and terrifically over-priced hot dogs but, y'know, I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder of anything.
