E3 2023 could be a dud as Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo skip the Electronic Entertainment Expo
The big players in the video game industry won't be at E3 2023, according to reports
E3 2023 was supposed to represent a feel-good comeback for the popular trade show, which hasn’t had physical attendees for four years due to Covid. It’s set to take place on June 13 to June 16, with digital events and showcases preceding the main show on June 11.
However, a spanner has been thrown in the works of E3’s glorious return as it appears that the biggest players in the industry – Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo – won’t be attending E3 2023 this year.
Nintendo and Sony’s absences aren’t too surprising. Both Japanese companies have veered away from E3 in the past, with Nintendo opting to host its own digital Direct presentations for the past few years and Sony eventually following suit with its State of Play streams.
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: E3 2023
🤕 E3 2023 has been dealt a blow as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are apparently skipping the show
😯 It’s been four years since E3 had physical attendees
⏱️ We’re still waiting for a confirmed list of exhibitors and event schedules
📆 The four-day expo takes place from Tuesday, June 13 to Friday, June 16
Microsoft, though, has been a mainstay at E3 and was the last major publisher to hold its own dedicated showcase. But according to IGN, even Microsoft has decided to change course and won’t have a notable presence at E3 2023.
That doesn’t mean that all three companies won’t hold their conferences or make major announcements over the E3 period – it just means that Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo first-party games won’t have a presence on the Los Angeles Convention Center show floor or be aligned with E3’s schedule.
The news that Microsoft may not be present at E3 comes off the back of Xbox CEO Phil Spencer telling IGN that E3 is “one of the seminal moments of gaming”.
He said: “Xbox is on the board of the ESA, and I think a successful and healthy ESA is critical to what we're trying to go do. So we place our showcase, like we always have done, at a time where hopefully it's convenient for press and even consumers that are going to the E3 event, and that's what we're trying to do now. We will continue to work with ESA in terms of their plans. As I said, we're on the board, and we want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to help make the E3 successful.”
Microsoft recently held its own Nintendo Direct and PlayStation State of Play-style showcase, the Xbox Developer Direct. The show followed the same sort of concise and clear formatting that we’ve become accustomed to from other companies and included some nice surprises and insight from the developers themselves.
IGN reached out to Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) for comment – however, no one has replied at this time. ReedPop, E3’s organizer, did provide the following statement, though.
E3 is such a significant event for the game industry and being entrusted with an important cultural touchstone is not a responsibility ReedPop takes lightly. Since ReedPop took on the contract to run E3 six months ago, we've worked diligently with ESA members based on their feedback to create a new type of E3 that supports their goals and needs.
This process has taken time due to the tremendous amount of stakeholders offering input, though we appreciate that we could have been more transparent to questions for which we were still finalizing the answers. We continue to work tirelessly to create a show that brings together the global gaming industry. We believe we’ve created a new format for the event that serves the needs of both the industry and its fans, and are committed to building and growing it in the coming years.
As we spent much of 2022 refining how E3 2023 would take shape, reflecting on the feedback we solicited, we did not send a single contract to an exhibitor until the start of this month. We have received a tremendous amount of interest and verbal commitments from many of the biggest companies in the industry, and when we are ready to announce the exhibitors we are confident it will be a lineup that will make the trip to Los Angeles well worth it for the industry and consumers alike.
Will we see some of the biggest PS5 games of 2023 and Xbox Series X games of 2023 announced during E3, then? Possibly, but whether the companies associate themselves with the Electronic Entertainment Expo or do their own thing remains to be seen.