Update:
The Entertainment Software Association has now officially cancelled E3 2020 with the following statement:
"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 9-11 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.
Our team will be reaching out directly to exhibitors and attendees with information about providing full refunds.
We are also exploring options with our members to coordinate an online experience to showcase industry announcements and news in June 2020. Updates will be shared on E3expo.com."
That last bit sure makes it sound like we still might expect quite a few great and interesting announcements in June though, so stay tuned.
Original:
The coronavirus, or COVID-19 as it's also called these days, has made an incredible impact on the games industry and the world in general over the last few months. Several well-known and highly-anticipated conventions, tournaments, game launches and events have been postponed or cancelled to contain the virus and avoid any unnecessary risk to public health, so it's no surprise that many have speculated that this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (better known as E3), which might still be the most famous and biggest in terms of anticipated announcements, would follow suit. Now it sounds like we're mere hours away from that being confirmed.
It was Devolver Digital who threw a ton of gasoline on the already brewing fire last night when the company's Twitter account posted the following message:
"Cancel your E3 flights and hotels, y'all."
Sure, the folks over at Devolver Digital might be considered some of the biggest "bad boys" and jokers of our industry, but we don't think they would publish something like this as a joke or troll. It also lines up with what we heard from several developer and PR agencies yesterday, who told us that spokespersons from the Entertainment Software Association, E3's organisers, had told or warned them not to share specifics about their plans for the convention with the public or media because a very important announcement/update would be made later that day or Wednesday morning Pacific time.
This sure makes it sound like the ESA finally has decided to make the cancellation or delay it's been contemplating the last few weeks, which means that we'll most likely not get an Xbox Series X blow-out during an Xbox Briefing in the Microsoft Theater, see Warner Bros. reveal the new Batman and Harry Potter games during what we've heard would be its first E3 press conference and other amazing announcements in Los Angeles mid-June.
Only time will tell how these planned reveals will happen after the ESA confirms the cancellation. Would you like them to follow in Sony and Nintendo's footsteps by having their own major streams filled with announcements or spread them out throughout the year?