The Electronic Entertainment Expo is returning in 2021, as confirmed by its organizer The Entertainment Software Association, after months of speculation as to whether the event will be going all-digital.
E3 2021 will take place June 12-15 in an all-digital format, an ESA press release has announced. The ESA has already tapped Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, Konami, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games and Koch Media (Deep Silver) to participate in the event according to the release, though how they will do so or any word on official show structure has not yet been revealed.
The news of the all-digital event follows weeks of rumors and speculation, including the possibility of some information and events being held behind a paywall. The official E3 Twitter account was quick to dispel the rumor, saying “E3’s 2021 digital show is a free event for all attendees. We’re excited to fill you in on all the real news for the event very soon.”
Via the press release:
“For more than two decades, E3 has been the premier venue to showcase the best that the video game industry has to offer, while uniting the world through games,” Stanley Pierre-Louis, President & CEO of the ESA, said in the official release. “We are evolving this year’s E3 into a more inclusive event, but will still look to excite the fans with major reveals and insider opportunities that make this event the indispensable center stage for video games.”
This will be the first official E3 show to go all-digital, and the first time E3 has held any sort of event since the live E3 2019 event in Los Angeles. Other developers that have featured at the annual expo before the COVID-19 pandemic, including Square Enix, Koei Tecmo, Sega, and Activision, have not yet announced their involvement with the all-digital show.
