COVID Central: E3 is Probably Canceled

E3, the biggest trade show in the games industry, has yet to announce what its plans are regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. The last they spoke publicly on the issue of the pandemic, they said they were closely monitoring the situation but were making no plans to cancel it. But in the days that have passed since that announcement, COVID-19 has proven to be both more dangerous and more tenacious than we may have given it credit for, and the idea of hosting an event for thousands of attendees seems increasingly audacious.

E3 still hasn’t made any formal announcements, but according to insiders close to the situation, that announcement will be coming soon – and it’ll be pretty much exactly what you’d hope it would be.

To be more precise, famous E3 antagonists and patron saints of graphic pixel-on-pixel violence Devolver Digital tweeted the following brief message:

Cancel your E3 flights and hotels, y’all.

On the surface, that could be anything from a common-sense suggestion for the sake of your health or a cheeky stab at E3 from a company who is famously antagonistic to the E3 experience. But the idea that it’s an informed statement on the actual state of E3 is backed up by veteran games journalist Mike Flutter, who’s suggesting an official announcement regarding E3 will be released as soon as tomorrow. This is backed up by Ars Technica, who has gone on record as claiming the show is completely canceled after speaking to members of the ESA. If true, this would be the first time the show was canceled since 1996.

In any case, I wouldn’t worry that much about E3: while journalists may miss out on the floor shows and the booths, things like the trailers and the game reveals will probably still wind up online anyway. So for the vast majority of us, it’ll be business as usual.