E3 2020 has been canceled

E3 is the latest major event to be canceled in the wake of the new coronavirus. Ars Technica and Bloomberg were first to report that the Entertainment Software Association, which puts on the annual video game trade show, would announce the cancelation. The ESA later confirmed the news in a statement on its site:

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 — we have made the decision to cancel E3 2020, scheduled for June 9-11 in Los Angeles.

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.

Our team will be reaching out directly to exhibitors and attendees with information about providing full refunds.

We are also exploring options with our members to coordinate an online experience to showcase industry announcements and news in June 2020. Updates will be shared on E3Expo.com.

We thank everyone who shared their views on reimagining E3 this year. We look forward to bringing you E3 2021 as a reimagined event that brings fans, media, and the industry together in a showcase that celebrates the global video game industry.

Meanwhile, at least one major company has announced plans for a digital event during the same time frame. In a statement, Microsoft said that:

The health and safety of employees, fans and our partners around the world is a top priority. We support the ESA in its decision to cancel E3 following increased public concerns with the COVID-19 virus. E3 has always been an important moment for us to show what’s ahead from Team Xbox. This year we’ll celebrate the next generation of gaming with the Xbox community and all who love to play around the world via a digital event. We will share details on timing and more in the coming weeks.

Publisher Devolver Digital, which is known for its chaotic live press conferences at E3, had already presaged the news with an ominous tweet:

The news comes after a significant number of gaming and tech events have been similarly canceled or postponed. That includes the Game Developers Conference, Facebook’s F8, Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference, Google I/O 2020, SXSW in Austin, and more, while companies like Twitter have urged employees to work from home.

E3 is historically one of the biggest weeks of the year for video game announcements, and this year’s was primed to be particularly important with the upcoming launches of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

However, even before the cancellation, several major players had pulled out of the event. Most notable is Sony, which was skipping E3 for the second year in a row, while Geoff Keighley, who has hosted popular E3 live-stream events in recent years, was also not going to participate. “I look forward to supporting the industry in other ways and at other events in the future,” Keighley said in a statement. Later, the group iam8bit announced that it was pulling out its creative director role as well.

Update March 11th, 11:36AM ET: Added official statement from the ESA.

Update March 11th, 12:50PM ET: Added Microsoft statement.