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With E3 2022 canceled, these are the summer gaming events to watch

We learned this week that 2022 will be the second year since 1995 to not have any kind of E3 expo. While the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) says E3’s physical and digital cancelation this year enables it to “devote all our energy and resources to delivering a revitalized physical and digital E3 experience next summer,” it also raises questions regarding how game announcements will happen this summer. Companies like Microsoft and Nintendo often tie big reveals to E3, so what is the industry’s plan now that E3 2022 is officially canceled?

So far, we only know of a couple of events that will take place, though there’s still time for a lot more to be announced. For those wondering how E3 2022’s cancelation will impact summer 2022’s game reveal landscape, we’ve broken down everything that is and isn’t happening — and that might happen — in the coming months. 

What’s not happening

E3’s absence leaves a crater in the usual gaming hype cycle. Typically, the yearly event took place for a week in Los Angeles and served as a spot where game publishers could announce and advertise their upcoming slates of titles and game-related products. In 2020, the ESA canceled the event due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it returned digitally in 2021 with mixed results

Image used with permission by copyright holder

On March 31, the event organizers at the ESA confirmed that there would be no digital or physical E3 event this year. That was quite surprising as more and more in-person events are returning, and the ESA even demonstrated that it could hold the event digitally before. The event may return in 2023, but this year the E3 event that typically consolidates many gaming announcements to one week in June won’t play out like normal.

Outside of E3, we also know that EA won’t hold its yearly EA Play Live event this summer. Typically, the publisher has its own events outside of E3, but chose not to this year because “this year things aren’t lining up to show you everything on one date.” That means that if we get new information on titles like the Dead Space remake or the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect, it won’t be at an E3-adjacent event. 

What is happening

There are still some major gaming events that will take place this summer. This June, the biggest one is Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest. The creator of The Game Awards plans to hold a Summer Game Fest Kickoff Livestream full of new trailers and announcements. Last year’s event featured the release date of Elden Ring, so there are certainly high expectations surrounding the showcase, especially as E3 won’t be drawing away any reveals. An indie-focused Day of the Devs presentation and other Summer Game Fest-branded events are also expected to take place this June. Keighley tweeted that Summer Game Fest festivities “will be less than one month this year.” 

IGN confirmed that its Summer of Gaming event would also take place in June and feature exclusive trailers, gameplay, and interviews. Bethesda has also teased that it will show Starfield this summer, and we’re supposed to get another look at Final Fantasy XVI soon.

As for in-person events, a couple of them are happening later in the summer. Gamescom, a European gaming expo equivalent to E3, will happen in person in Cologne, Germany. In Japan, the Tokyo Game Show will be the final big in-person summer event between September 15 and 18. While E3 might not be happening, it’s clear that some digital showcases will happen this summer and that events outside of America are still on track to take place in person. 

A character in Starfield.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

What might happen

Digital Trends reached out to multiple publishers for comment on their plans now that E3 2022 is canceled. We only got one response, and it was Devolver Digital sending us an upside-down face emoji, so the current event schedule outside of major events like Summer Game Fest and Gamescom is clearly quite nebulous.

Reached out to Devolver Digital to ask how E3's cancellation would effect its summer plans (like its infamous E3 showcase), and its 100% official statement is "🙃"

— Giovanni Colantonio (@MarioPrime) March 31, 2022

Although they haven’t announced anything officially, it seems likely that companies like Microsoft, Square Enix, and Nintendo will still hold presentations this summer if they have things to promote. Sony is also a wild card that hasn’t been connected to E3 since 2018, so it could also hold an event around then. We have no idea how close to each other these shows will take place. 

 If 2022 plays out anything like 2020, expect the whole summer, not just June, to contain lots of exciting gaming events. E3 2021 was a disjointed and sloppy event, but the return to form for industry announcements was refreshing after a challenging 2020. Now, the industry will either rally around Summer Game Fest or spread out once again.

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Tomas Franzese
Gaming Staff Writer
Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
Summer Game Fest Kickoff 2023: how to watch and what to expect
The official artwork confirming Summer Game Fest's return on June 8, 2023.

With no E3 happening this year, there's a massive void to fill. Developers have tons of video games to reveal, but nowhere to show them. That's where Summer Game Fest comes in.

Organized by Game Awards creator Geoff Keighley, Summer Game Fest essentially acts as a modern replacement for E3. It's a series of live streams and in-person events that loosely mimic the idea of a standard E3 season, giving gaming fans plenty of news to chew on. It all starts with the Summer Game Fest Kickoff stream today, where Keighley will showcase tons of new games from most of gaming's biggest players.

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With E3 2023 gone, other gaming events need to step up
A purple E3 logo floats in the air.

Despite how inevitable the complete downfall of E3 felt over the past several years, E3 2023’s official cancellation still strings as it’s a significant loss for the game industry. For gamers, press, and developers, the show served multiple purposes that digital livestreams and scattered publisher-specific events don't currently replicate. In lieu of E3’s cancelation this year, and potentially forever, it’s time for other gaming events to step up and help push the video game industry forward.
Why we lost E3
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It also felt more freeing than publisher-run events, as I discovered and experienced games of all sizes that I may not have otherwise and got to meet many people from every angle of the game industry. Apparently, the Entertainment Software Association struggled to convince enough people that this style of expo was important four years after the last physical event.
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What we lose
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E3 2023 has officially been canceled by the ESA and ReedPop
E3 logo

The Entertainment Software Association and ReedPop confirmed that E3 2023 has been canceled following a report that broke the news. E3 2023 was supposed to take place between June 13 and June 16.
Earlier today, IGN reported that two of its sources received an email from the Entertainment Software Association saying that this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo has been canceled because it "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." Soon after, a tweet from the official E3 account confirmed that "both the digital and physical events for E3 2023 are canceled."
https://twitter.com/E3/status/1641546610218811393
E3 was once a prominent annual video game industry trade show but has struggled to re-emerge since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. E3 did not take place in 2020 or 2022, and a digital-only attempt at the show in 2021 did not live up to expectations. The ESA was attempting to bring the show back this year with the help of PAX organizer ReedPop, and even approved press passes for the event already, but it appears the developers and publishers have lost faith in E3. Ubisoft pulled out of the show earlier this week after initially committing to be there, while Sega, Bandai Namco Entertainment, and Level Infinite confirmed they wouldn't be there in the following days.
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