E3
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The second effort to turn the Electronic Entertainment Expo into an in-person event has fallen short.
ReedPop’s annual trade event for the video game industry has canceled its 2023 iteration, which was set to take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 13-16. This year’s event would have marked the first time he has returned in person since 2019. In a statement to the edgeReedPop’s global vice president of gaming, Kyle Marsden-Kish, said the issue was “resource challenges.”
“This was a difficult decision because of all the effort that we and our partners put into making this event happen, but we had to do what was right for the industry and what was right for E3. We appreciate and understand that interested companies would not have playable demos ready and that resource challenges made being at E3 this summer a hurdle they were unable to overcome,” said Marsden-Kish. “For those who have committed to E3 2023, we’re sorry we couldn’t present the showcase you deserve and expect from ReedPop event experiences.”
In an email to members of the Entertainment Software Association sent Thursday, obtained by IGN And confirmed to the outlet by two sources close to the organization, E3’s 2023 build “just didn’t garner the sustained interest needed to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of our industry.”
In the months leading up to the cancellation announcement, major game companies like Nintendo, Microsoft, and Ubisoft had already confirmed that they would not be participating in the event. And in February, after Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot suggested in an earnings call that E3 might not take place this year, ReedPop president Lance Fensterman said the edge the show continued “at full speed”, with confirmed exhibitors.
E3 was first canceled in 2020 in the midst of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a virtual edition held in 2021 before a planned in-person return in 2022. But that edition was canceled as both an in-person and virtual event. E3 has attracted up to 65,000 attendees and more than 200 exhibitors in previous editions.
