Speaking to IGN Africa, Quinn said that the ESA is currently keeping an eye on the situation. However, the industry body is expecting a lot more to happen with regards to tariffs, including potential retaliatory tariffs introduced by countries like China.

“We really are, at this point, just watching and trying not to have knee-jerk reactions, because we don’t think that what [the USA] announced this week is the end of the story, but what was announced this week and the tariffs as outlined, we do expect these tariffs will have a real and detrimental impact on the industry and the hundreds of millions of Americans who love to play games,” said Quinn. “And so our goal is to work with the administration, to work with other elected officials to try to find a solution that doesn’t damage U.S. industries, U.S. business, but also American gamers and families.”

According to Quinn, the impact of the tariffs will involve more things than just the cost of consoles and games going up. Quinn also believes that a lot of jobs will be at risk, since tariffs would mean that companies either have to raise their prices, or look for another way to offset their lost revenues. Quinn did note, however, that it’s “hard to imagine a world where tariffs like these don’t impact pricing.”

“But yes, the short answer is we know who the conversations need to be happening with, and we are working on making connections and making sure that they understand that we are eager to work with them to find solutions that this is about public, private sector conversations happening, so we can understand and make sure that they see the impact and the risk of impact to business, to consumers, and really everything that’s happening within the US borders,” explained Quinn.

To help with its goals of getting to talk to the right person, the ESA has teamed up with a coalition of other trade associations that would try and reach out the US trade representative Jamieson Greer. When asked if this approach has been working for the ESA, Quinn responded by saying “Yes.”

“I can tell you conversations are happening with… I don’t want to say every level,” she continued. “We’ve met with employees at the White House, we’ve met with employees at USTR [the office of the United States Trade Representative], so yes, we are having conversations and we’re also doing that in partnership with other associations to make sure that… This isn’t a video game issue. I represent the video game industry, so I’m very aware of the impact on the video game industry, the potential impact, but it’s not a video game industry. This is going to affect all consumer products from food to fashion to electronics.”

Quinn believes that, ultimately, the timing of the Nintendo Switch 2’s pricing was an unfortunate coincidence, since it led to wider media coverage of the console’s high price for the hardware as well as its games, coupled with the announcement of tariffs by the US government.

“It’s been interesting with media coverage around video games and tariffs because just unfortunate coincidental timing that the Switch [2 reveal] was the same day as [the tariff’s] announcement,” said Quinn. “There are so many devices we play video games on. There are other consoles, but as I was saying, VR headsets, our smartphones, people who love PC games, if we think it’s just the Switch, then we aren’t taking it seriously. This is going to have an impact.”

“And even American-based companies, they’re getting products that need to cross into American borders to make those consoles, to make those games,” she continued. “And so there’s going to be a real impact regardless of company. This is company-agnostic, this is an entire industry. There’s going to be an impact on the entire industry.”

The $449.99 price tag and the June 5 launch day for the Switch 2 was announced last week. The company had also confirmed that launch title Mario Kart World is priced at $79.99 for the digital copy, and $89.99 for a physical copy.

According to the Entertainment Software Association president Stanley Pierre-Louis, though those are decisions that are yet to be finalized, there’s a likelihood that all future E3 events will be a mix of physical and digital.

“This will provide us with an opportunity to present to members of the industry, media, and fans an opportunity to participate fully, and I think that provides a real unique opportunity to learn this year what we can apply to future events that will probably be a mix of physical and digital,” he said while speaking with GamesIndustry. “But that’s to be determined. We’ve got to figure out where we all are moving forward.”

Pierre-Louis reiterated, however, that for now, the ESA remains focused on this year’s event, and nothing is set in stone where future events are concerned.

“The shape of that is yet to be determined, and we hope to learn from this year’s event what transfers well,” he said. “I can’t speak to future E3s because we really want to focus on E3 2021 and ensure this is a great experience for exhibitors, the media, and fans alike.”

E3 2021, meanwhile, kicks off in a couple of days, on June 12, and will run until June 15. The likes of Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft, Capcom, and Square Enix will have dedicated presentations, among others. You can check out the full E3 2021 schedule through here.

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.

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.

After several reports, some from sources speaking to the ESA, it’s finally official: E3 2020 has been cancelled. The ESA stated that the “difficult decision” was reached 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.” Unsurprisingly, the cancellation is due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus which caused events like GDC 2020 and BitSummit 2020 to be postponed.

“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.”

Full refunds will be offered to exhibitors and attendees of the event. However, the ESA said that it’s “exploring options with our members to coordinate an online experience to showcase industry announcements and news in June 2020.” Interestingly, the organization spoke about E3 2021 being “a reimagined event that brings fans, media and the industry together in a showcase that celebrates the global video game industry.” What form that will take remains to be seen but E3 2020 as we know it is officially off.

The impact of the cancellation should be interesting considering that Nintendo is known for skipping pressers in favour of Direct presentations. Sony, meanwhile, was already confirmed to not be attending for the second year in a row.

Microsoft, Ubisoft, Square Enix and Bethesda may likely follow suit, perhaps realigning certain announcements to happen earlier or later than June 2020. Then again, they could simply join this “online experience” that the ESA is working on and leave it at that. Whatever the case may be, stay tuned for more details and updates in the meantime.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) had big plans for the revitalization of E3 this year, but there’d been more than a little skepticism around how that would go. Sadly, it seems like their vision for E3 2020 won’t be able to come to light, with several rumours and insider leaks over the past day claiming that E3 2020 is being cancelled due to concerns surrounding COVID-19.

However, the ESA is reportedly also considering other alternatives for the show, even if they do end up having to cancel their current plans for it. As per a report written by Bloomberg, the ESA wrote in a private memo sent to partners yesterday that they are “exploring options for an online E3 event this summer.”

While showfloor plans, on-stage demos, and attendance by the general public will of course still suffer even in such a scenario, this would be a nice alternative for companies like Bethesda and Microsoft, who had big plans for their respective E3 2020 conferences.

Of course, for now, all of it remains unconfirmed – even the cancellation of the show itself – so there’s no telling what will end up happening. Stay tuned though, and we’ll keep you updated on any new info that comes our way.

A number of major events in the gaming industry have been postponed or outright canceled due concerns relating to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. GDC 2020 saw several major companies drop out before it was eventually postponed to the Summer. It seems that E3 2020 is next to be canceled according to a new report from Ars Technica.

The site confirmed speaking to “Multiple sources familiar with the Entertainment Software Association (ESA)’s plans” and that news of the cancellation will be coming soon. One source stated that news of the cancellation was heard “directly from ESA members” and was meant to happen yesterday but subsequently slipped. So it’s very possible that the announcement takes place today.

This comes off of several reports from industry professionals like Kotaku’s Jason Schreier, though he noted at the time that the, “ESA hasn’t officially made a decision yet and is still consulting with pubs.” It’s also worth noting that the reason for the cancellation wasn’t made clear (even though it’s more than likely due to the coronavirus). Whether the event will be postponed and what plans publishers will have for any major announcements (like Microsoft, which had a fairly big show planned) remains to be seen. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

It was only recently revealed that the World Health Organization is planning to officially recognize gaming addiction as a mental disorder. The problem may then gain official recognition by being included in the list of International Classification of Diseases for 2018. Now, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has spoken out against this decision and encourages the WHO to reconsider its decision.

In their statement about the issue, ESA states that this move trivializes real and more serious mental disorders such as depression. They note the two billion people around the world who enjoy video games. They then go on to state “The World Health Organization knows that common sense and objective research prove video games are not addictive. And, putting that official label on them recklessly trivializes real mental health issues like depression and social anxiety disorder, which deserve treatment and the full attention of the medical community. We strongly encourage the World Health Organization to reverse direction on its proposed action.”

It is certainly possible that revisions may be made to the list before its final publication in mid 2018. The debate regarding gaming addiction has been ongoing for a long time now and the decision taken by the WHO could have serious implications. It remains to be seen if ESA’s please for reconsideration will be taken into account at all and if it will affect the eventual outcome.

The Entertainment Software Association is a body constituted of all the big publishers in the American gaming industry- basically, EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Take 2, and so on. It is supposed to be the industry’s attempt at self regulation, but more than that, it is also the industry’s lobbying group that exists to represents the interests of the publishers to the US government.

So it should come as no surprise to you, then, that the ESA, speaking on the controversy surrounding loot boxes, that has made various governments around the world, including the American government, openly declare that they will be looking into the situation, stated that loot boxes are not gambling, and that they are voluntary, so it’s all okay.

“Loot boxes are a voluntary feature in certain video games that provide players with another way to obtain virtual items that can be used to enhance their in-game experiences. They are not gambling. Depending on the game design, some loot boxes are earned and others can be purchased. In some games, they have elements that help a player progress through the video game. In others, they are optional features and are not required to progress or succeed in the game. In both cases, the gamer makes the decision,” they said in a statement reported by The Rolling Stone.

Yeah, no, they can piss off with that- the fact that the gamer makes the decision is in and of itself the big problem- they are deliberately designed to be predatory and exploit addiction tendencies, similar to gambling, in vulnerable people. This is exactly why gambling is regulated- and this is why loot boxes need to be regulated, too. And they will be, eventually- no matter how much the big publishers try to oppose it, it will be.

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.

PC Gamers Have State of the Art Rigs

Despite the fact that PC games are enjoyed at the highest quality of visuals (another misconception we’ll deal with in a bit), it’s sometimes assumed that every PC player has a high-end rig for playing the latest games. However, it’s entirely possible to enjoy a wide range of titles like Dark Souls 3 and XCOM 2 at medium settings. So relax console gamers – not every PC gamer is touting a Titan or two.