E3 Cancelled

“After careful consultation with our member companies regarding the health and safety of everyone in our industry – our fans, our employees, our exhibitors, and our longtime E3 partners – we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel E3 2020, scheduled for June 9-11 in l. a. ,” announced the ESA during a statement posted on Variety.

“Following increased and overwhelming concerns about the COVID-19 virus, we felt this was the simplest thanks to proceeding during such an unprecedented global situation. We are very disappointed that we are unable to carry this event for our fans and supporters. But we all know it’s the proper decision supported the knowledge we’ve today.”

The ESA will reach bent exhibitors and attendees with further information regarding refunds and canceled plans. The group is additionally “exploring options” with regards to delivering news via a web event in E3’s stead.

E3 2021 is predicted to travel ahead as planned.]

In what must be one among the first inevitable news beats in a while, reports are now coming therein The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) intends to cancels this year’s E3 event, adding to an ever-increasing list of industry gatherings shutting down over concerns raised by COVID-19, more commonly referred to as coronavirus.

Irreverent publisher Devolver Digital was one among the primary to spark the rumor, with an ominous tweet suggesting that each one attendee should cancel their flights and hotels. This was followed by a piece of writing on news site Bloomberg, who is reporting that The ESA is going to be announcing at 09:30 PT today, during which it’s expected to cancel E3 2020 officially.

While The ESA has been quite diligent in its assertions that the Los Angeles-based gaming expo would still be happening this June, the writing has been on the wall a few times. Multiple events within the gaming industry are canceled, altered, or postponed in recent weeks, with many publishers choosing not to make an appearance at the few games that are still on the calendar. The likelihood of E3 – which hosted almost 70,000 attendees in 2019 – going ahead business-as-usual appeared to many unlikely at the best and even irresponsible at the worst.

In related news, Kyoto-based indie gaming convention BitSummit announced that it’ll also not be happening this summer. The organizer has released a press release on Twitter during which the team apologizes for the cancellation but notes that it’ll continue building plans for its next event.

We will, of course, update you ought to we receive official word of E3’s cancellation from The ESA.

E3 games show slated for June called off over virus fears [Bloomberg]

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