With the city of Los Angeles having declared a state of emergency over the spread of COVID19, the new strain of coronavirus, the Electronic Software Association has initially said that they will move forward with E3 2020. However, with officials watching the situation closely, a cancellation is still very much a possibility. If that does occur, it might not just mean no E3 this year. Rather, it could have much wider consequences for the ESA and their annual expo.
E3 2020 Cancellation Fears and What it Would Mean
E3 2020 is already shaping up to be a smaller event than previous years, as more and more major publishers make the decision to pull out. Most notably, Sony plans to skip the event for the second year in a row, meaning no PlayStation presence. This is particularly important this year, as it means that fans probably won’t see anything about the PS5 whatsoever. Companies and publishers are weighing up the pros and cons of whether E3 is really a worthwhile effort for their marketing. Many will no doubt have seen how publisher-specific events like Nintendo Direct can attract plenty of attention on their own.
As such, E3 2020 was already in a weakened state, but COVID19 could prove to be an even bigger problem. As of today, Los Angeles has declared a state of emergency. The ESA had initially planned to move forward with the event, but this development prompted a more non-committal response; “The health and safety of our attendees, exhibitors, partners, and staff is our top priority,” said the ESA statement; “While the ESA continues to plan for a safe and successful E3 show June 9 – 11, 2020 — 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.”
For now, the event is still on. However, a cancellation would not be surprising if the COVID19 situation continues to worsen. Indeed, even if the event isn’t cancelled, many companies might choose not to send staff to attend. Indeed, that already happened at PAX East 2020, last week. Kotaku’s Jason Schreier suggested that this could prove to be a; “big existential moment,” for E3. After all, if more publishers realise that they can simply hold their own digital events and not lose much by skipping E3, the reason for the show to exist could be under serious threat. Of course, E3 is unlikely to vanish in a single year. However, if more major publishers do choose to abandon the event this year, E3 2021 could be far smaller.