Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Many have been wondering what the ESA had in store for E3 in 2021 after cancellations in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With such a late cancellation, the ESA did not try to force a digital event together on short notice, leaving its 2020 year entirely absent of an E3 showcase. In 2021, E3 is coming back and we finally have some details about this upcoming all-digital version of the popular North American video game event. It will be taking place in June with several publishers confirmed for attendance, including Xbox and Nintendo, but not PlayStation so far.
The ESA formally announced its plans for the upcoming all-digital E3 2021 on the E3 website and via press release on April 6, 2021. E3 2021 will take place online during the dates of June 12 to June 15. Publishers confirmed to be part of the event so far are Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, Konami, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games, and Koch Media, with more to be announced. Notably absent at this time of announcement is Sony and the PlayStation brand.
The ESA has previously confirmed that E3 2021 will be an all-digital event with the main showcase being free, dispelling previous rumors that there might be some part of the showcase kept behind a premium paywall. That said, we’ve heard rumors about the planned digital pivot of E3 2021 since at least February 2021, pending publisher support. PlayStation’s absence from the confirmed publisher list so far is notable. Sony's gaming brand skipped E3 for the first time in 2019 and signaled intention to skip E3 2020 even before the pandemic shut it down. Even so, Nintendo and Xbox are good to see on the list considering all of the big three made notable efforts to pivot to their own online showcase events throughout 2020.
Even so, PlayStation has not confirmed that it is completely out of E3 2021’s all-digital event at this time. With the ESA signaling that we could see more publishers revealed leading up to the dates in June, it will remain to be seen if PlayStation appears or not. Nonetheless, it looks like we can look forward to a hefty four-day showcase of video game goodness come June 12. Stay tuned for more details and updates.