E3 2023 canceled because it failed to raise the "sustained interest necessary," say owners
An email from the Entertainment Software Association has officially canceled this year's event
Just months ahead of what would have been its first in-person event since 2019, the Entertainment Software Association has cancelled this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo — better known by its acronym, E3 — citing a lack of interest from the industry.
According to a report from IGN, an email was sent to ESA members today saying that the this year’s show, which was to be produced in partnership with Popverse’s parent company, ReedPop, for the first time, “simply did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of our industry.”
The event had been scheduled to take place in the Los Angeles Convention Center June 13 through June 16.
The cancellation follows announcements from multiple gaming companies, including Xbox, Nintendo, Sony and later Ubisoft, that they would not be a part of this year’s show.
When it was initially announced that E3 would be returning as an in-person event, ESA president/CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis gave a statement in which he said, “The past three years have confirmed that E3 convenes our industry like no other event.” Today’s email described E3 in less grandiose terms, instead simply saying that it “remains a beloved event and brand.”
Popverse's sister site Eurogamer has a statement from Kyle Marsden-Kish, Reedpop's Global VP of Gaming on the show's cancellation: "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."
A joint release from ReedPop and the ESA says that the two will continue to work together on future events.
