After several years in which it has not been held or has been held exclusively online, E3 2023 promised to be the great return of the most important video game fair in the world. Present and reference in the sector since the end of the last century (its first edition dates back to 1995, and was the platform chosen by Sony to present the first PlayStation), year after year it has brought together the most relevant in the industry: developers, distributors, media, etc., in a meeting considered essential for any professional in the sector, as well as a source of great announcements and advances for fans.
Although since the end of the last decade it had been facing some problems, such as growing competition, problems with Sony and others, it was in 2020, with the arrival of the pandemic and the cancellation of that year’s event, when the situation began to get more complicated. A somewhat irregular communication policy, the cancellation of the 2022 event, of which some participants found out from the press, and a complicated situation, both economically and in the market itself, have meant that many people wonder what was going to happen with this year’s edition.
It was in September of last year when, finally, the organizer of the event, the Entertainment Software Association, confirmed that we would have E2 2023 in person and online, like almost every year in Los Angeles, between June 13 and 16, although some events associated with it will start a little earlier, starting on the 11th. Thus, with all the machinery already running, Many of us expected that the sector’s benchmark event would return in style.
However, and according to what we can read on IGN, it seems that the meeting is going to be much more lackluster than we could expect, since Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony will not attend E3 2023. Indeed, for the first time in history, none of the three manufacturers of the main consoles on the market, Xbox, Switch and PlayStation, will be present at a fair that, historically, has been the framework chosen by their manufacturers to present their new generations of consoles.
Sony was already known, or at least imagined, since the Japanese technology company and the organization of the event broke their relationship even before the pandemic, so something like this could be expected. In the case of Nintendo, it seems to respond to the fact that there will only be one really big release this year, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Thus, the technology company probably considers that it does not make sense to be present at the fair with so little to tell.
More surprising is that of MicrosoftWell, as recently as last week Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft’s gaming division, spoke of his plans for E3 2023, stating that his own event to present news would coincide with the fair. So, despite this, Xbox is not going to have a presence at the fair, it is quite a surprise and, without a doubt, a blow to the organizers of the fair, as well as to its attendees.
