Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: e3, E3 20201, ESA

The Live Event Version Of E3 2021 Is Officially Canceled

Published Sun, 28 Feb 2021 16:40:25 -0600

It has been confirmed today that any thoughts of having E3 2021 in person are off the table as the live event portion has been canceled. Earlier this month it was already reported that the ESA would be moving forward with plans for an online event, however, the plans were early and nothing had been finalized yet, leaving the window open for a possible in-person event in Los Angeles. This was done due to the fact that the COVID-19 vaccine was starting to gain traction, and if the rollout got to a wide enough set of the population, it might be possible to hold the event under specific guidelines. But those plans seem to have been crushed with a report that came out yesterday evening. The Board of Los Angeles Convention and Tourism Development released a Special Meeting Package on the city's website yesterday, in which it details what will happen to many of the summer conventions. When you get to Page 18 of the report, it clearly says for E3 20201, "Cancelled live event in 2021. Working with production team on broadcast options at LA Live/LACC. Working on 2022 & 2023 license."

It honestly shouldn't be a shock to anyone that these changes are being made and that there's no way the city of Los Angeles was going to be in any kind of shape to hold the convention, let alone the con itself going on without a hitch. 2022 seems like a more realistic return to form, if in fact, E3 does come back at all. It will be interesting, considering Summer Game Fest is going forward with their plans for a return in 2021, and other big companies are moving to do the same as they did last year with special streaming events, what the broadcast version of the convention will look like. Hopefully we get those answers by April so people can either plan to be a part of it or end up doing their own thing again.

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