E3 cancelled
Updated: Troubled event postponed due to coronavirus concerns
Update, March 11, 2020: The ESA has confirmed that E3 will not be going ahead.
In a statement, the firm said: "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."
Original story, March 11, 2020: E3 will not be going ahead in June, according to various industry reports.
GamesIndustry.biz has been told by businesses close to the ESA that an announcement about the show being postponed will take place 'imminently'. Similar reports have been appearing overnight, including on Ars Technica and a tweet from Devolver Digital.
The move is due to the spread of COVID-19. E3 organisers the ESA had previously said that it was "monitoring and evaluating the situation daily" due to Los Angeles declaring a state of emergency.
E3 is the biggest video games event in the year, attracting hundreds of millions of viewers over the course of the week -- primarily through large press conferences and announcement videos run by the likes of PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, Ubisoft, EA, Square Enix and Bethesda. However, it's had a challenging few years as companies have found it harder to justify attending the event in person, with the likes of EA hosting its own event and PlayStation no-longer bringing its products to the show.
Even so, it remains a major event in the industry calendar for consumers, and Xbox and Nintendo were both planning significant reveals during E3 week.
GamesIndustry.biz has contacted the ESA for confirmation.
More Italy style shutdowns are coming as nations wake up to the fact that they do not have much spare or overhead capacity in their health systems. All they can do is send people home and hope that the waves of infection will not overload hospitals to the point at which people die at home from a lack of available hospital space.
Supply chains for non-essential industries will dry up fast. Home office indie digital only game? You're in luck. Worldwide coordinated hardware or software launch launch with boxes in every store and advertisement in public spaces? Not the best of years for those. Even the mighty car industry will have to cope with the fact that people do not really need new cars.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Dariusz G. Jagielski on 11th March 2020 11:30pm
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/11/will-spring-slow-spread-of-coronavirus-in-northern-hemisphere
Do you want to be the person to make that call? Imagine what happens if even 1 person gets sick, let alone dies.
And you better read more from Harvard Professor of Epidemiology and Director, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health before laying the blanket statement that warmer weather is adequate protection and viral dissipation.
https://ccdd.hsph.harvard.edu/will-covid-19-go-away-on-its-own-in-warmer-weather/
I could also not trust my gut on this and go with Michael Osterholm, PhD on this one. Still same result and by that I do not mean the sports betting.