2020 has been a turbulent year (to say the least), and that’s had an impact on all walks of life- including the games industry. For instance, E3 – the biggest gaming event of any given year – had to cancel its 2020 show due to COVID-19, and even if it hadn’t its timing would have clashed with the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests in the US.

One of the games that was primed to have a big presence at E3 this year was Halo Infinite. Back in 2019, 343 Industries had made it clear that they had big plans for the game at 2020’s show. Those plans, of course, could not bear fruit, and recently over on Twitter, 343 Industries community director Brian Jarrard spoke about that. After mentioning that events in the United States and how E3 talk seems “trivial” in light of that, Jarrard mentioned that E3 2020 was going to be “our big year to own the show”.

Of course, Halo Infinite is still due for its big gameplay reveal- which will be coming soon. Microsoft have confirmed that they will be showing off the shooter at their first party showcase in July.

Halo Infinite is out this holiday for Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC.

https://twitter.com/ske7ch/status/1270194128630902785

When E3 was cancelled, most companies that were going to be involved in the show stated that they were looking into the possibility of holding a replacement digital event to share announcements and updates. But it seems plans might have changed for Square Enix since then.

As per Bloomberg tech reporter Takashi Mochizuki, Square Enix have decided not to hold an E3 replacement online event to make announcements. The decision was apparently made because making assets for such an event has proven to be difficult due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, Square plans on announcing new games on an individual game-by-game basis.

It’s hard to say at this point what Square Enix has in store as far as new updates and announcements are concerned. We can probably expect new updates on upcoming games like Marvel’s Avengers and Outriders, but anything beyond that is a big question mark for now. We know that they are working on nex-gen games, with Luminous Productions at work on a new IP for the PS5, and Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida also heading up a new next-gen project.

Recent reports have indicated that COVID-19 has also put Nintendo’s plans for an E3-replacement Direct broadcast on hold, while Bethesda have already confirmed that they won’t have a digital event.

Square Enix said it won't hold online event to unveil this FY's new releases around E3's timing because making assets ready for such show has become difficult due to Covid-19. Instead, it will announce new titles on individual basis.

— Takashi Mochizuki (@6d6f636869) May 13, 2020

For years, Nintendo have had Direct presentations scheduled in June on an annual basis to align with E3, and even though E3 2020 got cancelled, many assumed that Nintendo’s digital plans would remain unchanged. The company itself suggested that it was considering alternate plans in the wake of the event’s cancellation- but now it seems those plans may have fallen through.

According to a new report published by GamesBeat’s Jeff Grubb – who also accurately leaked the previous Nintendo Direct – Nintendo were originally planning on putting together a June event in which they would reveal upcoming first party releases for the rest of 2020, including the recently leaked Super Mario remasters.

However, complications arising because of the Japan government’s stay-at-home order due to the COVID-19 pandemic have hindered those plans. Reportedly, Nintendo has now contacted its partner developers to inform them that there won’t be a Direct presentation in June, as Nintendo struggles to adapt to remote work.

Apart from the aforementioned Super Mario releases, other games such as a new Paper Mario and a 2D Metroid game have also been in the rumour mill, while fans have also been waiting to hear more about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s sequel. How or when Nintendo choose to share updates on all these things and more should be interesting to see if their June Direct plans have indeed met a roadblock.

Microsoft and Sony have been hyping up the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 respectively over the past few months. However, with the cancellation of E3 2020 (which won’t even have an online event), it’s possible that a number of reveals could take place sooner. This includes reveals for both next-gen consoles.

First, Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad noted that, “With E3 cancelled, a lot of the planned reveals / announcements have been moved out of that single week. Some are now much earlier, others much later. Some still during E3 week of course. The first proper next gen console/games showcase is much earlier too.”

There is a caveat to that last part though, as Ahmad noted that “We are living through an unprecedented situation and this is the one time where external factors such as COVID-19 could actually change plans right at the last minute. But we’ll see.” This isn’t to say that certain reveals couldn’t happen in June during, say the “Summer of Gaming” digital event that IGN will be holding.

But where does the “May” reveal window come in? This is by way of sources that spoke to VGC and noted that a PlayStation 5 reveal would be happening next month. Microsoft also has some reveals planned for May including a showcase for its E3 2020 announcements. A previous rumor did state that Microsoft had two digital events planned for its console, one taking place in May and the other in June, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.

For the time being, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 are both slated to release this holiday season.

With E3 cancelled, a lot of the planned reveals / announcements have been moved out of that single week.

Some are now much earlier, others much later. Some still during E3 week ofc.

The first proper next gen console/games showcase is much earlier too.

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 19, 2020

This is the one time I will actually add a caveat, for the last sentence in this case, as we are living through an unprecedented situation and this is the one time where external factors such as COVID-19 could actually change plans right at the last minute. But we'll see.

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 19, 2020

Following reports of the ESA failing to plan an online event for E3 2020, a representative the organization has officially confirmed that it won’t be happening. Speaking to PC Gamer, the “disruption” caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic (which resulted in the on-site event being canceled) was to blame. However, there are some plans to promote “individual company announcements.”

“Given the disruption brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, we will not be presenting an online E3 2020 event in June. Instead, we will be working with exhibitors to promote and showcase individual company announcements, including on www.E3expo.com, in the coming months. We look forward to bringing our industry and community together in 2021 to present a reimagined E3 that will highlight new offerings and thrill our audiences.”

Though E3 2020 won’t have even have an online event in the coming months, that doesn’t mean we won’t have news or announcements from major publishers. Microsoft confirmed that it was working on a digital Xbox event in lieu of E3’s cancellation. It also recently announced that all events up till July 2021 would be digital-first. Ubisoft is also planning some kind of digital experience.

It’s only the likes of Bethesda that have said it won’t have a digital showcase in June, though it still has “lots of exciting things to share” in the coming months. Nintendo will likely have its own Direct presentation while Sony, which already confirmed it wouldn’t participate in E3, could release a State of Play video in the coming months. Stay tuned as always for more details.

The impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been felt in all sectors and all corners of the world, and the video games industry has not, of course, been exempt from that. For instance, E3 2020, perhaps the biggest gaming event of the year, was cancelled earlier in the year, though the ESA also said while making the cancellation’s announcement that they would be looking into hosting a digital-only event in place of the cancelled show instead.

Well, it’s now looking like that won’t be happening either. Mike Futter of the Virtual Economy Podcast recently took to Twitter and stated that he’s heard from four sources that in spite of having been working for several weeks to whip up some sort of idea for a replacement event, the ESA will not be hosting a digital E3 show after all. An announcement regarding the same, according to Futter, is expected from the ESA early next week, which should be the next couple of days.

Most publishers that take part in E3 on a yearly basis have already either announced a replacement event – like Microsoft and Devolver Digital – or announced that they are looking into alternatives to E3 – like Square Enix, Ubisoft, Nintendo, and the PC Gaming Show. On the other hand, Sony, who weren’t going to attend E3 2020 as it is, have of course remained silent, while Bethesda have confirmed that they have no alternative plans.

https://twitter.com/Futterish/status/1246192201245372424

Despite companies like Ubisoft and Microsoft planning digital events in the wake of E3 2020’s cancellation, Bethesda Softworks will not be following suit. Bethesda SVP of global marketing and communications Pete Hines confirmed the same on Twitter. The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has been cited as causing “many challenges”.

“Given the many challenges we’re facing due to the pandemic, we will not host a digital showcase in June,” Hines wrote. “We have lots of exciting things to share about our games and look forward to telling you more in the coming months.” It’s possible that new trailers, reveal streams, and previews could be provided in the coming months, so stay tuned.

Bethesda, along with id Software, also recently cancelled QuakeCon 2020, but the lack of a digital showcase is somewhat surprising. The company does have plenty coming up, including Arkane Studios’ Deathloop, Tango Gameworks’ GhostWire: Tokyo (both of which it planned to show at E3), and of course, Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6. All of that will have to wait until further updates are provided.

In the meantime, Fallout 76 will receive its Wastelanders update on April 14th for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. The update will add a new main quest, new weapons and armor, and see the return of human NPCs and factions for players to interact with. For more details on how the update changes the base game, head here.

Given the many challenges we're facing due to the pandemic, we will not host a digital Showcase in June. We have lots of exciting things to share about our games and look forward to telling you more in the coming months.

— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) April 1, 2020

So yes, it would have been more surprising if E3 wasn’t cancelled (and we will probably see other events this year, such as Gamescom and Tokyo Game Show, see similar fates, if this virus is not brought under control any time soon).

In and of itself, this would probably be a big blow; however, this year, it just felt like the logical culmination of events that we had been seeing developing for months now. As an example, Sony confirmed earlier this year it will not be going back to E3 in 2020 either, instead opting to share information via its own events and channels. This was followed by news of prominent games media personality Geoff Keighley announcing he would also not be producing his annual E3 show this year, and iam8bit, the production company behind E3, pulling out as well. In other words, we had seen E3 2020 slowly spiral the drain for a while now. The coronavirus induced cancellation seemed more like a formal confirmation of what we all knew was coming than anything else.

All of these developments have sparked a debate that we have started to see crop up more and more frequently, ever since Nintendo first announced it would be skipping a live show at E3 back in 2013, through to Sony’s total departure from the event the last two years: is this it for E3? Is the show dying? Is the format obsolete?

While many will try to tell you yes (or no), the truth is far more nuanced, and cannot be answered in a single one word sentence. E3 has multiple dimensions to it: it’s a trade show, it’s a networking opportunity, and it’s a show where game companies share their plans with the consumer audience. Most people, of course, are concerned with only that last metric, the press shows and the game announcements, and all that – but that’s only a fraction of what E3 is about.

But let’s talk about that metric first, because it’s the easiest to deal with and answer. As far as the consumer-facing side of E3 goes, it is on its deathbed, and on its way out. This is undeniable. Nintendo was surprisingly prescient when it foresaw the power of social media to share news in the internet age, and over the last decade, we have seen the prominence of E3 be diminished at an alarming rate, with more and more companies choosing to make announcements at their own events, or on their own terms, using social media to control the messaging. E3 as a stage show, then, is simply archaic and obsolete in today’s day and age, a relic of the pre-internet stage, that doesn’t really have a purpose anymore.

Back when our primary way of getting news was monthly magazines, it made sense to have one big centralized event where all the news could be shared in a consolidated, industry-wide hub. But when the internet makes it possible for information to be shared literally within seconds, there really isn’t a need to have an annual pre-determined show to share information anymore. The success of the Nintendo Direct format (which has spawned a great many imitators from all companies) is ultimately proof of how little E3 is needed now.

If we were to judge it purely on this front, it would be very easy to say that E3 is dying, and unneeded any more. However, as mentioned before, there is more to the show than just that – and that’s where E3 is harder to replace, even in an internet age.

The biggest utility E3 has is as an industry trade show. This is where, annually, game companies share their plans for their upcoming products and lineups with retailers, allowing them to make orders, allocate inventories, procure shelf space, and so on. While, again, dedicated game retailers – and indeed, just physical retail as a whole – have declined dramatically in the internet age, they’re still a major force, accounting for a huge portion of the market. In other words, you need to coordinate your products’ rollout with them (not doing so means you don’t get shelf space with the retailer, which can be catastrophic). On that front, E3 is still paramount.

Theoretically, each major company can have its own internal trade event with retailers to achieve this same end (and many have and do), but in the end, that’s a lot of companies and a lot of retailers – the whole calendar would be occupied with a bunch of these smaller events, all trying to do the same thing collectively that one big event already did otherwise. This is where E3’s utility is unmatched, and at least as far as this goes, it is unlikely that E3 is going away any time soon. If nothing else, E3’s status as the premier trade show for the games industry in North America might keep it alive even when the consumer facing side is clearly circling the drain.

The final dimension E3 functions on is as a networking event for the industry. This, again, is something you would think is less important in the age of social media and the internet, but E3 has continued to be surprisingly important on this front in today’s day and age. Multiple developers, especially smaller indie developers, use E3 as an opportunity to scout talent, partnerships, and publishers. Platform holders often make key plans based on people they contact (or who contact them) at E3.

And yes, sure, you can assume that these people will just email or tweet or whatever Nintendo or Sony or Microsoft or EA now. But the thing is, hundreds of thousands of people do that – and you are far likelier to get lost in the crowd than to stand out in it. E3 is an event which is for this – so you know you are guaranteed to get some time with the people you want time with, at least as long as you have an appointment.

So in the end, what it comes down to is the consumer-facing side of E3 – the one we all care about – really and truly dying. It might still soldier on over the next few years, maybe beyond that, but its prominence will continue to decline as more and more publishers realize they are best off controlling the messaging and using the internet to make their announcements. However, E3 itself and as a whole isn’t going anywhere – it is far too big and far too important as a trade show and networking event. Until the internet completely obliterates traditional retail and networking, E3 will stick around – even if in a much diminished form.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

In the wake of E3 2020’s cancellation due to concerns regarding the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, companies that were scheduled to have a presence at the event have been making announcements about alternative solutions. Microsoft and Devolver Digital have both confirmed they’ll be holding digital events, while Nintendo, Ubisoft, and the PC Gaming Show have also said they’re considering similar options.

Square Enix had also planned to attend the show, and they, too, recently made a statement. Taking to Twitter via their official account, the publisher expressed its support for the ESA’s decision to cancel the event, before saying that it was “exploring other options” to share the news and announcements it had planned for E3. In the statement, Square Enix also said that its 2020 lineup and the lineup for next-gen consoles is looking “stronger than ever.”

At this point, nearly all companies with an E3 presence have talked about alternative plans in wake of the show’s cancellation, with the only holdouts being Bethesda, and Warner Bros, who are also reportedly going to have a press conference, with big announcements in the pipeline. Read more on that through here.

An important E3 2020 update from us pic.twitter.com/Ma23eWfHTM

— Square Enix (@SquareEnix) March 12, 2020

Though not on the same scale as an Xbox or Ubisoft presser, the PC Gaming Show has been a welcome staple at E3 over the past few years. So with E3 2020 being cancelled, what will be the fate of this year’s presser? PC Gamer, which has organized the show over the past few years, will have more to share on its plans in the coming weeks.

The publication didn’t really commit as to whether the show would be happening or not – simply that it was “investigating multiple possibilities” It cited Microsoft and Ubisoft planning digital events in lieu of physical pressers. However, whether the PC Gaming Show would follow suit or not wasn’t confirmed.

It did say that, “We still want there to be a place for developers of all sizes to announce cool new projects – and, of course, the PC Gaming Show’s remit will always be to shine a light on the smaller studios whose passion projects are so key to the success of PC gaming.” Even if a “traditional expo” doesn’t take place, the publication said there “will still be tons to talk, write, and make video about.”

Since E3 2020 was cancelled, many other publishers have shared plans for replacement events. Devolver Digital is planning to have a livestream “Devolver Direct”/press conference (don’t ask, we don’t know). Nintendo is looking at “various ways” to engage with its fans, though a Direct presentation will still likely take place. Microsoft will be holding an Xbox digital event while Ubisoft considers its own digital experience. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.