E3 2023 has been canceled

E3 has been canceled. Gaming’s big summer show was set to return in person in Los Angeles for the first time since 2019, but it’s been called off after huge gaming companies like Nintendo, Microsoft, and Ubisoft all said they wouldn’t be participating in the event.

E3 2023 was scheduled for June 13th through 16th with a mix of industry-focused days and days that would be open to the public. But in the lead-up to June, there had been some worrying signs that things might be rocky for E3’s revival.

According to an email sent to employees and verified by IGN, E3 2023 “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.”

In an email to The Verge, Kyle Marsden-Kish, global VP of gaming at ReedPop, wrote:

This was a difficult decision because of all the effort we and our partners put toward making this event happen, but we had to do what’s right for the industry and what’s right for E3. 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.

Marsden-Kish concluded the email by stating that ReedPop and the ESA will work together on future E3 events, suggesting the convention could return in subsequent years.