More publishers pull out of E3 2023, raising questions about the event's future months ahead of its intended June launch.
A day after Ubisoft said it was skipping out on E3 2023, both Sega and Tencent have also backed off from attending.
Per IGN, the two publishers are among several who've pulled out of the in-person return for the annual game event. Several sources speaking to IGN explained they lacked substantial information from ReedPop and the Electronic Software Association (ESA) to decide whether it was worth showing up at E3.
Last year, ReedPop confirmed E3 would return for a summer 2023 date, marking its first in-person event in years following the pandemic. But in recent months, it's beginning to look less likely that E3 2023 will happen the way ReedPop wanted it to, if at all.
Compared to previous years, plans for this E3 reportedly aren't as firmly in place. IGN claimed everyone involved was locked in a stalemate trying to see who would back out from attending first. Ahead of Ubisoft's departure, one source reportedly said there was "no possible way this show can happen."
Other publishers who plan on skipping the event but have yet to formally announce it include Square Enix, Warner Bros., and Activision Blizzard.
The future of E3 is up in the air, not helped by the shift in game marketing while it was gone. In the past four years, developers have focused on having their own game showcases, and relying on Geoff Keighley's Summer Games Fest to also help in promoting upcoming titles.
This morning (March 28), Nintendo held a 10-minute showcase for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. While Nintendo hasn't truly attended E3 in a decade, the developer's strategy has effectively become the norm for the entire industry in some form or fashion.
Beyond that, the ESA has notably suffered from privacy issues that resulted in personal information for thousands of attendees being leaked. While improved data security was part of the ESA's overhaul for E3 the following year, distrust around the event (and the ESA in general) still remains.
2022 saw E3 get canceled in its entirety, and it's worth wondering if that is due to happen again before E3 2023 starts on June 13.
You can read IGN's full report on the state of E3 2023 right here.
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