E3 returns in 2021 as an all-digital event

E3 is back in 2021, running as an all-digital event running from June 12th to the 15th.

The ESA has confirmed that Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, Konami, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games and Koch Media will be participating in this year’s event. There’s some noticeable absences there, with the likes of Playstation, Sega, EA and Activision Blizzard all currently sitting this year’s event out.

Further details are currently unavailable, though the ESA has stated that the event will be made available online for free.

“For more than two decades, E3 has been the premier venue to showcase the best that the video game industry has to offer, while uniting the world through games,” said Stanley Pierre-Louis, President & CEO of the ESA. “We are evolving this year’s E3 into a more inclusive event, but will still look to excite the fans with major reveals and insider opportunities that make this event the indispensable center stage for video games.”

Rumours have been circulating around this year’s E3 for some time now. Initial rumblings that E3’s physical event had been cancelled emerged last week, with a report published by the Board of Los Angeles Convention and Tourism Development Commission listing E3 2021 as a “cancelled event.”

It’s perhaps not the biggest surprise in the world. While lockdown rules are currently planned to be significantly relaxed by June (at least in the UK), enormous global events like E3 are likely to be online-only or hybrid events for the foreseeable future.

GDC, for instance, has similarly abandoned its plans for a physical event this year. While initially planned as a hybrid event, this year’s GDC will be online only, taking place from July 19-23.