It’s Official, The ESA Has Canceled E3 In Full

If you were planning to set time aside to watch E3 this year, you can now make other plans. The ESA officially canceled all versions of the event. Yes, even the digital one that was being floated around. It is "canceled canceled" as Razer PR Lead Will Powers explained in a Twitter thread where he revealed he’d received an email announcing the official cancellation.

Just got an email... It's official, E3 digital is official cancelled for 2022. Lots of mixed feelings about this...

— Will Powers 🛫 NYC (@WillJPowers) March 31, 2022

Official ESA E3 is officially cancelled cancelled

— Will Powers 🛫 NYC (@WillJPowers) March 31, 2022

It might, however, be more accurate to say that the digital event hasn’t been canceled but just isn't happening. The ESA never actually announced a digital version was going to take place to begin with, they were discussing the idea. The organization had planned at one point to return to in-person events but scratched that idea in January. They did not state at the time if they had plans to do a digital event instead. In fact, according to IGN, the organization hadn’t even been communicating its plans to third-party groups generally involved in the event.

Reports are that the ESA now plans to make a big comeback in 2023, but the question at this point is, is that even necessary? In a world where any video game company can share announcements via social media, streams, and any other digital method whenever they feel it's appropriate, is E3 really that important?