Overview

E3 2020 Cancellation refers to the cancelling of the Electronic Entertainment Expo following an announcement from the Entertainment Software Association on March 11th, 2020, due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19, also known as the Coronavirus. The news comes after a growing list of cancelled events caused by the viral outbreak sweeps the globe, but is also allegedly attributed to concerns over several major partners, developers and companies pulling out of the annual video game conference in recent years.

Background

On March 10th, 2020, Devolver Digital posted a message on their Twitter^[1] account (seen below) that read “Cancel your E3 flights and hotels, y’all.” After receiving nearly 5,000 retweets and 30,000 likes, rumors of E3’s impending cancellation began to swirl online, despite no official word from the ESA.

Cancel your E3 flights and hotels, y’all.

— Devolver Digital (@devolverdigital) March 11, 2020

Roughly an hour later, Ars Technica^[2] published a story titled “E3 2020 has been canceled” to their website, stating “multiple sources familiar with the ESA's plans have confirmed that the organization will soon cancel the three-day expo.” According to the article, a source then told them they heard the news “directly from ESA members,” noting that an official statement was supposed to come on March 10th, but slipped by.

On March 11th, an official announcement from the ESA^[3] was posted to their website under the news section confirming the rumors were indeed true, and that E3 2020 was officially cancelled amid growing concerns over the COVID-19 virus. The statement (seen below) was brief and vague with several key points yet to be addressed.

After careful consultation with our member companies regarding the health and safety of everyone in our industry – our fans, our employees, our exhibitors and our longtime E3 partners – we have made the difficult decision to cancel E3 2020, scheduled for June 9-11 in Los Angeles.

Following increased and overwhelming concerns about the COVID-19 virus, we felt this was the best way to proceed during such an unprecedented global situation. We are very disappointed that we are unable to hold this event for our fans and supporters. But we know it’s the right decision based on the information we have today.

Our team will be reaching out directly to exhibitors and attendees with information about providing full refunds.

We are also exploring options with our members to coordinate an online experience to showcase industry announcements and news in June 2020. Updates will be shared on E3expo.com.

We thank everyone who shared their views on reimagining E3 this year. We look forward to bringing you E3 2021 as a reimagined event that brings fans, media and the industry together in a showcase that celebrates the global video game industry.

The official E3 and ESA Twitter^[4] accounts subsequently followed suit, tweeting the announcement (seen below).

The E3 team is devastated to share this news. This decision was not reached lightly, but it is the right one for the health and safety of all involved. Read our statement here: https://t.co/1uOWxTerN9 pic.twitter.com/gD2IxNACLX

— E3 (@E3) March 11, 2020

Online Reactions

Even before the official announcement confirmed the news, rumors online stirred up several discussions and reactions from users across a wide array of social platforms and websites.

On Twitter, several users began posting memes relating to the event’s cancellation, with several posting empty lists of new games and attendees scheduled to premier at E3 2020. One such example was tweeted^[5] by user Daniel Ahmad on March 11th (shown below), receiving 527 retweets and over 3,200 likes.

Looks like all the new games to be announced at E3 2020 just leaked. Image below has the entire list. Might take a while to load because of the large file size. pic.twitter.com/lDJlaRX3lH

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) March 11, 2020

Another Twitter^[6] post from user forma de weav that same day uses a reaction GIF to show their dismay over the cancellation. The tweet (seen below) was viewed over 57,000 times, retweeted nearly 262 times and liked 1,200 times.

Hey girl, are you E3? Because I can't see myself going a year without youRIP #E32020 pic.twitter.com/EawioNaFkR

— forma de weav (@joker_weavelv) March 11, 2020

Rumors on Reddit began swirling as early as March 10th, with a post from Redditor^[7] onlypingal to the r/NintendoSwitch sub quoting the tweet from Devolver Digital garnering over 14,500 upvotes and 762 comments.

Shortly after the official announcement on March 11th, the r/Games subreddit^[8] started a megathread to discuss the cancellation, where several users expressed despair over the future of E3 due to the decline in recent years as participation has waned. Redditor^[9] alex2217 commented in the thread “While I am loath to admit it, I feel like this may actually become the nail in E3's coffin, like so many other people have suggested.” Many other users within the chain also theorized that E3 may never recover from this year’s dissolution, as some pointed out that the coronavirus outbreak may simply be an easy out for what looked like a lackluster conference this summer.

Over on the r/memes sub, Redditor^[10] NASCARJoey posted a meme depicting Meme Man’s Panik/Kalm alongside a hopeful caption of “E3 won’t die.” The meme has received over 200 upvotes.

Search Interest

External References