Just a year after the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced that E3 is coming back both in-person and online this 2023, they made a surprising announcement that E3 is canceled for 2023.

The ESA issued a statement about their decision, with eReedPop Global VP of Gaming Kyle Marsden-Kish, the event organizer for E3, stating that “we can’t put on the showcase you deserve and that you’ve come to expect from ReedPop’s event experiences.”

This is not the first time that E3 was canceled. In 2022, there were plans to bring back E3 in both in-person and online, but did not push through because it was planning to pull off a much better hybrid event. The last time E3 had a physical event was in 2019, and that was the time when the next-generation Microsoft XBox was previewed. E3 did return as a fully digital show back in 2021 but has yet to bounce back since then.

While ReedPop said that they will continue to work together with ESA “on future E3 events”, it remains to be seen how relevant is given the changing gaming industry. Brands have been hosting their own events for their major reveals: Nintendo has its Direct Video Presentations that revealed products like the Switch OLED, while Sony PlayStation has its State of Play events. For game publishes, Ubisoft has its annual Forward events, while Blizzard has BlizzCon.