Another Attempt To Revitalise E3 Appears To Have Been Cancelled

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has seemingly cancelled bookings for E3 2024 and 2025 at the Los Angeles Convention Centre, but have reiterated that there’s not yet concrete confirmation of a full cancellation of the event.

Eagle-eyed users on Resetera found a report from the Los Angeles City Tourism Department that seemed to confirm this, with a change in convention sales noted to be due to E3 2024 and 2025 being cancelled. This comes after users previously found a meeting packet for the 19 October 2022 meeting of the Los Angeles Board of City Tourism Commissioners, which indicated that ESA had booked E3 for the next two consecutive years at the venue, on June 11 2024, and June 3 2025. The same meeting notes show that ESA’s expected show attendance rate for both years was 68,400.

After the news of the alleged cancellation broke, an ESA spokesperson provided a statement to VGC and other outlets, denying that E3 for future years was completely cancelled as of yet. “ESA is currently in conversation with ESA members and other stakeholders about E3 2024 (and beyond), and no final decisions about the events have been made at this time,” a spokesperson said. The last E3 to run was held in 2021 in a fully digital format, with the last physical event going ahead in 2019 prior to the pandemic.

E3 has had a bumpy ride when it comes to ESA’s attempts to restore the event to its former glory. Convention producer ReedPop was brought on board to organise E3 2023, but after many major companies like Ubisoft, Xbox, and Sony all confirmed they would not be attending, the plug was pulled in March. 

IGN reported at the time that sources had confirmed a cancellation announcement was emailed to ESA members, stating that E3, “simply did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of our industry.”

While the potential cancellation of future booking in LA certainly doesn’t bode well, ESA’s statement indicates that E3 could still go ahead in future years in a different format, or potentially a different location. It seems like ESA and ReedPop aren’t quite ready to give up on E3 just yet, but only time will tell whether their efforts materialise into a future event pay off.