Despite the ESA’s best efforts to forge ahead with E3 2020 in the face of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, last year’s physical show was ultimately cancelled – and plans for an alternate online event, originally scheduled for June, were eventually abandoned in favour of a “reimagined” show this year. All’s been a little quiet on the update front since then, but now the ESA has emerged to confirm its plans for an E3 in 2021 are still go.
Dates for E3 2021 have been earmarked since last April, and while a physical event still hasn’t officially been ruled out, a report by VGC, based on pitch documents seen by the publication, suggests a digital event running 15-17th June is now the ESA’s favoured approach in 2021.
According to VGC, the ESA is proposing an E3 2021 consisting of a preview night on 14th June, an award show, two-hour keynote sessions from games partners, and smaller streams from publishers, influencers and media partners. This would be supplemented by media previews for key titles one week earlier, scheduled meetings between developers and media featuring remotely streamed playable demos, plus consumer demos across all platforms.