It’s not looking good for this year’s E3, with Ubisoft announcing its withdrawal and rumors swirling of the show’s imminent cancellation. IGN has since confirmed that Sega will also not be attending, though it will share more information “on announced and unannounced projects in the future.”
Tencent’s global game publishing initiative Level Infinite is also not attending. Instead, it will attend Play Days 2023, organized by Geoff Keighley. Bandai Namco will be at Play Days but didn’t confirm or deny its E3 presence. Devolver Digital continues its streak of not officially attending E3, but confirmed it’s “well underway in the production of our annual Devolver Direct scheduled for June, which we will share news about soon.”
Though other publishers haven’t confirmed their withdrawal, IGN understood that others were planning the same. Several individuals in publishing and PR with knowledge of events also expressed concern for the event. Some felt there was a lack of communication between the Entertainment Software Association and ReedPop about the show. Neither has provided an official comment till now.
The situation was described as everyone “waiting for someone else to be the first to jump, but no one was willing to take the leap – and time was running out.” Before Ubisoft’s withdrawal, one source said there was “no possible way this show can happen.”
As always, time will tell, so stay tuned for more details.