E3 reportedly canceled; Official announcement imminent

E3 has been the biggest gaming expo for over two decades. It has been declared as a “Christmas for gamers” with all the big publishers unveiling their new games, hardware, and much more. Sadly, the annual summer event is looking less and less likely for 2020.

News of E3’s June event being canceled hit the internet when Devolver Digital blew the whistle. Many others began reporting the news with publishers and developers speaking anonymously to journalists. GameZone has been told by multiple sources that the event has been iced. There’s a bunch of information out there at the moment but apparently, the ESA (the organization that runs E3) will make an announcement by tomorrow morning.

We would expect something sooner given the shitstorm brewing on the internet right now.

E3’s cancelation comes as little surprise as events like GDC were completely canceled and many big names pulled out of PAX East in February. It’s unclear if E3’s reported cancelation is due to the coronavirus or if it’s a larger issue with the event. Last week, iam8bit resigned from the event’s creative directors and industry icon Geoff Keighley who has helped host the event also pulled out last month.

Many have seen E3 as a dying event as more fan-friendly events like PAX dominate and are more well-received. It remains to be seen if E3 will return in 2021 or if they’ll reschedule for sometime later in 2020 if it is canceled. The big question on everyone’s mind now is how and when companies like Xbox will get their next-gen hardware out in front of everyone ahead of release.

We’ll update this article as the story develops.