Videogaming's E3 cancels for 2022, plans to return in 2023 - reports
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Longtime videogame conference E3 has reportedly been canceled for 2022, and won't take place even in a planned digital format.
The Electronic Entertainment Expo was once key to videogame industry attention, serving as a focal point to discover new technology and companies' upcoming release slates (and generate pre-sales of retail shipments ahead of holiday shopping).
Its influence had waned a bit, though, even before the COVID-19 pandemic forced a cancellation in 2020, and the 2021 event happened only online.
Several studios pulled out of the 2016 show to host their own showcases: Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) dropped out in January of that year, and publishing rival Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) followed suit in March. Also that year, Sony (NYSE:SONY), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Nintendo (OTCPK:NTDOY) said they wouldn't splash new hardware plans at the conference, leaking out news elsewhere instead.
Conference organizer the Entertainment Software Association says it plans to return in 2023 as a "reinvigorated showcase."
For this year, though, that means attention increasingly focuses on the smaller Summer Game Fest, set to return in June for its third straight year.
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