The ESA announced yesterday that E3 2020 has been cancelled due to concerns regarding the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, making this the first year since the show’s inception that there won’t be an E3. In the wake of that cancellation, companies who had E3 plans have been lining up to make statements regarding alternative plans, with both Microsoft and Ubisoft confirming that they’ll be hosting direct digital events to share their plans for the year.
Another company who’s probably going to be doing that is Nintendo. In a statement provided by a company spokesperson to GameSpot, the Japanese publisher expressed support for the ESA’s decision and concern for those affected by the virus. Following that, the spokesperson confirmed that Nintendo is “considering various ways” to engage with fans following E3 2020’s cancellation, and that more details regarding this will be shared in the future.
“Nintendo supports the ESA’s decision to cancel this year’s E3 to help protect the health and safety of everyone in our industry–our fans, our employees, our exhibitors and our longtime E3 partners,” the spokesperson said. “We would like to express our concern and support for all those affected by the COVID-19 outbreak during this challenging time.
“We”ll continue to be flexible and redirect our efforts to other ways of keeping our fans up to date about our activities and products. Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, large industry events may be untenable for the foreseeable future. But we are considering various ways to engage with our fans and will have more to share as the year continues.”
Given the fact that Nintendo has, for a few years now, been airing Nintendo Direct presentations instead of live conferences anyway, this doesn’t come as much of a surprise. That said, they haven’t yet said whether they’ll be doing the same in the same window as before, or if they have any replacements planned for their E3 Treehouse streams.
In related news, recent reports have suggested that Nintendo has two Direct presentations lined up that will be airing later this month to share their plans for 2020. Read more on that through here.
Meanwhile, it’s also emerged that WB Games were planning on unveiling multiple new games in what would have been their debut E3 conference in June. However, as of yet, they have made no announcements for any alternative plans.
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