Sponsored By

E3 may be canceled for 2024 and 2025

The annual video game event may still have a future, it just may not be in Los Angeles.

Justin Carter, Contributing Editor

June 23, 2023

2 Min Read
Logo for E3 2023.

It appears that E3 has been canceled for the next two years. During a recent meeting for Los Angeles' Tourism Board, a brief footnote mentions that the annual video game event won't take place in the city for either 2024 or 2025. 

That said, a representative with the ESA (which co-runs the event with ReedPop) told Axios that E3's future was up in the air. The ESA is "currently in conversation with ESA members and other stakeholders about E3 2024 (and beyond), and no final decisions about the events have been made at this time."

From the phrasing, it's possible E3 will be set in another city entirely. In recent years, the one time it was outside of LA was in 2007, where it was held in Santa Monica, California. 

E3 has not fully recovered since 2020

Questions about E3's future have existed since the early days of the pandemic, which saw the event's first-ever cancellation in 2020. Though it returned virtually the following year, it was canceled again in 2022

E3 was meant to come back for an in-person event this year, but was ultimately canceled. ReedPop and the ESA chalked it up to many factors, including several big name developers like Sega and Ubisoft dropping out. 

In the years since 2020, more developers have been holding their own specialized events. Or failing that, they've made their game reveals part of Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest or Game Awards round up. 

2023 marks the first full year sans E3. Keighley's Summer Game Fest still has some growing pains to work out, and time will tell if it will completely override what used to be a staple of the industry.

About the Author(s)

Justin Carter

Contributing Editor, GameDeveloper.com

A Kansas City, MO native, Justin Carter has written for numerous sites including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his writing can be found at io9 over on Gizmodo. Don't ask him about how much gum he's had, because the answer will be more than he's willing to admit.

Daily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inbox

You May Also Like