The writing was on the wall for E3 2020 when Sony and a slew of other big names decided to pull out of the annual convention, but coronavirus may yet put a stop to the show entirely. Host city Los Angeles announced a state of emergency regarding the deadly disease overnight, and that’s left organisers ESA “actively assessing” the situation.
“The health and safety of our attendees, exhibitors, partners, and staff is our top priority,” a statement said. “While the ESA continues to plan for a safe and successful E3 show […] we are monitoring and evaluating the situation daily. We are actively assessing the latest information and will continue to develop measures to further reduce health risks at the show.”
The event isn’t scheduled to begin until 9th June, but it’d be optimistic to assume the threat of coronavirus will have passed by then. If the show does get cancelled, then it may force publishers like Ubisoft to produce a Nintendo Direct-esque broadcast as opposed to a traditional press conference – and who knows if it’ll ever return to the stage?
This feels like a crucial moment for the legendary convention, and the industry as a whole. For decades, E3 has been the most important week in the year, playing host to game announcements and dozens upon dozens of hands on reports. That’s slowly beginning to change, and coronavirus may put the final nail in the event’s half-buried coffin.
[source e3expo.com, via foxla.com]
Comments 23
If they cancel E3 and the companies do their little streams or video showcases you can bet your butt that E3 will never go back to what it used to be.
Also they are heavily betting on turning it to a consumer show, with all those influencer setups and whatnot, so canceling it on the first iteration would be a shot in the foot.
Still, you gotta think on the attendees' and personnel health first.
I think we all knew this was coming. Health and safety first.
However this may prove to be E3s final nail in the coffin. If the companys all have to do a Nintendo direct or state of play style reveals for the games then why would they ever need to a stage again
Let's face it, for 99.999% of people, E3 might as well always have been a series of streams and not a large event in a convention centre. When you're watching it online or reading news articles on sites like this one, the fact that a tiny percentage of gamers got to stand in the same room as the guy doing the presentation is irrelevant.
@Matroska While I completely agree with you, there is a different "feel" to shows which are done live in front of an audience.
You're right, though, the end product is much the same.
They must be like 'thank god there's coronavirus so we can cancel this crapshow that we have this year' lol
Anyway, yeah I think it's good to cancel these types of events and publishers just release the gameplays on stream or something
@get2sammyb Look at the precedent set by this year's Geneva Motor Show. The on-site show was cancelled outright due to concerns from COVID-19 infections, and all the auto companies have revealed their new, refreshed or concept vehicles through livestreams and other online media.
I think at this point, unless there is a major breakthrough, E3 for this year will be cancelled. We've already been told that any kind of vaccine for the virus is months away. There are already cases which allude to it being spread other than by human-to-human contact. Video game companies will opt to reveal their wares through livestreams. There will be a drastic rise in online purchases of digital game content.
E3 is dead.
meh the whole thing was setting up to be a huge failure anyway so i don't care
each company can still show what they was going to show via youtube and/or their own presentations
and as much as a loathe social media it has a much bigger reach than E3 can ever hope to get so they could use that too
@get2sammyb
It can still be live but he s right. Most people and even the press dont care about the large event per se and only give attention to the conferences. Actually even now you are talking as if E3 is only about the conferences.
I'm guessing this is somehow Sony's fault.
Why should a bug prevent developers/publishers for showing off their stuff? Bugs never stopped developers/publishers before.
NOTE: Joke burn
@get2sammyb a good point. Live shows will always have the best feel. However lets be honest most of the stuff on stage at E3 would bore me to tears if i saw it live. The celebrities, sports personalities, scripted coop sections and lack of gameplay have really done a number on E3.
@Danloaded not forgetting the over enthusiastic fanboys who scream and shout at everybody bloody sentence.
If I was there I would probably throttle them.
"E3 Cancellation on the Cusp" said every E3 headline every year since 2007.
Not sure people realize the history of E3, but it only started in 1995, and it was on death's door just 10 years later and almost every year since as more and more companies stop attending.
If I'm in charge of E3 this year, after all the pushback on "social media influencers" and Keighly bailing, after Sony bailed last year, I'm looking at this as an opportunity for a face-saving bail. They should cancel it now w/ a nice "somebody thought of the children" parting comment.
https://www.polygon.com/features/2019/6/7/18653968/e3-history-1995-sega-saturn-nintendo-64-playstation-launch
“...and will continue to develop measures to further reduce health risks at the show.”
So the ESA is going to develop health measures that no nation has managed yet , other than NO LARGE PUBLIC GATHERINGS? Ohhhhhkay.
Health first .my backlog of games is so huge right now .i got more than 40 games i didn't play yet.and plus i just bought 4 physical ps4 games.that virus aint no joke.wash your hands playas.and be safe out there.word life.word to your mother.word is bond.word ☝ up son
Safety first, it is what it is.
@get2sammyb I agree with this. Ever since Sony stop doing E3 and distancing itself from its audience with the State of Plays theres just not that same exciting feel that they used to create with there stage presence.
@Danloaded Nobody was stopping them from doing a Nintendo Direct style presentation last year. They didn't do it, so I'm sure there's some incentive to do a live presentation.
One of the main problems with Nintendo was that 90% of their staff is Japanese, and that lead to awkward translations during live presentations. Other publishers don't have that problem, at least not to the degree Nintendo has.
@Danloaded
A live presentation can be done without E3. I dont know why everyone thinks E3 is just about the pre E3 conferences. It shows there hasn't been much point for the full event a long time ago already.
Remember when certain xbox fans were downplaying the corona virus, pepperidge farm remembers.
Well i was expecting Microsoft to announce the Price at E3 and Sony to announce directly after them! Everyone knows how they love to take the wind out and others announcements.
Don't tell me it's all SONY'S fault Hmm it seems to be getting worse everywhere now
But it's just a flu 🙄
Everyone up in arms about safety and contaminations. I mean, come on!!
I'm all for safety and precautions when there's a real threat doing the rounds but the whole world is on edge for a flu 🤣
As long as this virus has a low mortality rate compared to the regular flu I'll stay very sceptical towards all these hyped 'dangers'.
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