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Image: ESA

It's June, which means we should be celebrating E3 right now. But we're not, as it was cancelled for the second time in three years back in February.

That doesn't mean we're not getting any video game news though, as we're being fed a glutton of gaming presentations, spearheaded by Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest. This year, perhaps more than ever, many speculated that E3 2022's cancellation marks the beginning of the end for the hugely popular convention, but the president of the show's parent company, ESA, has said otherwise.

In an interview with The Washington Post, the ESA's Stan Pierre-Louis stated that “We’re excited about coming back in 2023 with both a digital and an in-person event. As much as we love these digital events, and as much as they reach people and we want that global reach, we also know that there’s a really strong desire for people to convene — to be able to connect in person and see each other and talk about what makes games great.”

While Keighley's event includes both a (small) in-person event in Los Angeles and a digital showcase, Pierre-Louis wants to keep things traditional. E3 has been an in-person media event since 1995, and he wants to keep this the same while acknowledging that this new era of digital showcases is all about "experimentation" so that companies work out how best to sell their products:

I think there is a space for a physical show; I think there’s an importance of having digital reach. Combining those two, I think there is a critical element of what we think E3 can provide.

E3 hasn't been in-person since 2019, with the last E3 show in 2021 being digital-only. The ESA cancelled the convention in 2020, too. If the show is to return next year, we'll let you know the dates as soon as we have them.

Further reading

Do you want to see the return of E3? Let us know in the comments.

[source washingtonpost.com]