Following the cancellation of the 2020 event due to covid-19, and much rumor i speculation in regards to this year’s iteration of what was the world’s largest video game trade show, the Entertainment Software Association today announces E3 2021, a free all-digital event from June 12-15. Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, Konami, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games and Koch Media already plan to participate.
The good news is that everyone can go to E3 this year for free. The other good news is that no one has to fly across the country or the world to participate in the annual Los Angeles-based sweat party, E3. Instead, we will all be comfortably at home or at work, seeing our screens as always, only now our screens will have the official E3 logo instead of the E3 logos. two dozen digital events created last year to fill the gap left by the cancellation of E3 2020.
These other events will still occur, but we will also have E3 2021, a program that will connect developers and publishers digitally with fans around the world. ESA’s official announcement does not hint at the look of this digital show. We assume that there will be many trailers and pre-filmed interviews with industry professionals. Whatever form the great destroyer takes, Kotaku has confirmed that the event will be completely free for attendees, with no items locked behind a pay wall.
“For more than two decades, E3 has been the premier venue to showcase the best the video game industry has to offer, while uniting the world through gaming,” said Stanley Pierre-Louis, president and CEO of ESA through a press release. “We are evolving this year’s E3 towards a more inclusive event, but we will still try to excite fans with great revelations and privileged opportunities that make this event the indispensable setting for video games.”
You heard the man. Essential. Try to do without it. You will probably fail. See you at E3 2021.