E3 is officially cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak. There were events and conferences that were cancelled before E3, so this wasn’t really a big surprise to most. However, E3 is one of the gaming industry’s biggest and most famous expo. Big companies such as Sony and Nintendo usually announce their new products in this event. With the cancellation, most of the industry will be now looking for a new way to show off their upcoming releases, as IGN detailed:
The most obvious immediate routes for those who were scheduled to attend E3 lie in two directions. The first is Gamescom. The German show is already the world’s biggest games event by footfall and comes with its own slate of (albeit smaller) conferences. Gamescom also has a major developer, publisher, and retailer presence – E3 has traditionally had a side-function of acting as a useful meeting space for companies, leading to future deals between them. Gamescom could provide a similarly useful space, leading to companies pivoting towards it. Set over two months back from E3, it might be seen as a safe bet in terms of the trajectory of the spread of Coronavirus, while retaining some of the sheen and prestige of an E3 announcement. It wouldn’t be hugely surprising to see a far more announcement-heavy Gamescom 2020 (should that show go ahead, of course) - particularly as Geoff Keighley's Opening Night Live (which began last year, and is due to continue this year) has already helped galvanise Gamescom-centric announcements.
The second is to follow Nintendo’s lead, and take those announcements in-house and online. The Direct model has been successful enough for the world’s biggest console manufacturer to adopt it, and Sony’s State of Play has been joined by the likes of Xbox, Devolver, and Blizzard, who have all taken digital announcement events in their own directions. It feels likely that some of E3’s major players will now attempt to create their own schedule, with the benefit of making big announcements entirely on their own terms, and with less possibility of being drowned out by someone else’s mega-news arriving on the same day.
image via E3