Just yesterday, Ubisoft announced that after previously stating they would be a part of E3 2023, they’re pulling out of the event to host their own shindig – and a couple more dominoes have fallen, with Sega and Tencent revealing to IGN that they’re also backing out. This leaves – or rather reveals – the promised return of the famous gaming trade show in limbo, with IGN digging deeper into the situation and the numerous reasons this year’s event is so uncertain.
While the E3s of yesteryear tended to have companies with locked-in attendance plans for the show by now, numerous factors – slashed event staffing since the pandemic, bungling of the last few E3’s, declining relevance for the show when companies can host their own events, new management ReedPop taking over for the ESA – have left developers and publishers with a lack of certainty and faith in whether the show can succeed or even happen at all. One source told IGN “there’s no possible way this show can happen,” which certainly seems to indicate doom and gloom all around.
We do have one silver lining – confirmation that another insane Devolver Direct will be happening in June regardless of event status. But with only two months until show time, it’s difficult to imagine what shape E3 will take, if it takes shape at all. We’ll be sure to report on any official news about the show as it comes out.
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Written by Amelia Fruzzetti
A writer and Nintendo fan based in Seattle, Washington. When not working for NinWire, she can be found eating pasta, writing stories, and wondering about when Mother 3 is finally going to get an official localization.
