Yesterday, Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has announced that E3 2020 has been canceled due to coronavirus concerns. According to the organizers, one of the biggest annual gaming events won’t happen this year in order to prevent a rapid spread of the virus in the US.
In an official statement, ESA representative said:
“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 have made the difficult decision to cancel E3 2020, scheduled for June 9 to 11 in Los Angeles.
Following increased and overwhelming concerns about the COVID-19 virus, we felt this was the best way to proceed during such an unprecedented global situation. We are very disappointed that we are unable to hold this event for our fans and supporters. But we know it’s the right decision based on the information we have today.”
To be fair, this wasn’t unexpected. E3 is just another from a huge list of annual events that decided to take precautions. Recently IEM Katowice hosted its show in an empty Spodek Arena, League of Legends’ Mid-Season Invitational was pushed back in the yearly schedule, while Overwatch League is also canceling their live events across the globe.
However, this cancelation can really mess up game studios’ and publisher’s plans announcing certain games. E3 is where the majority of new game announcements happen… Major studios such as Microsoft, Ubisoft or others might follow the footsteps of Nintendo Direct and instead of the live E3 show, host a special stream presenting their games to the public. We’ll just have to wait and see how this situation will unfold.
