During a meeting earlier this week at the Los Angeles Board of Commissioners, a packet with updated information surrounding the tourism business in LA may have revealed that E3 2024 and 2025 have been canceled.
In the packet, a chart shows the city’s convention sales for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Underneath the chart, an asterisk notes “includes E3 cancellations for E3 2024 & 2025.”
Following the cancelation of E3 this year, ESA President & CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis talked about the future of the show. “We remain committed to providing a platform for industry marketing and convening but we want to make sure we find the right balance for the industry’s current and on-going needs. We also remain focused on our issue advocacy work on behalf of the most creative and innovative industry in the world. While E3 serves in many ways a public-facing element of what ESA does, our primary focus and our priority remains to advocate for the industry and the workforce that fuels a positive economic and cultural impact.”
Pierre-Louis says the ESA wants to make sure they are providing a platform that works for the needs of the industry. This means asking questions regarding what the ESA can do to help developers but also monitor how they want to deploy their assets in an evolving world. This also means being mindful of the fact that we are in the midst of a very difficult period for the industry in terms of game development and economic headwinds. The ESA wants to provide a platform in a way that is sustainable for today and in the future.
“It’s a matter of finding the right pitch – and I mean that in the sound way – for the needs that are evolving,” Pierre-Louis said. “They’re continuing to experiment with how they market their works. We’re seeing other shows coming back slowly, but coming back. They’re at a different scale and investment commitment than E3 so we have to continue to work on how we create a dynamic and sustainable model that meets the needs of the industry.”
No official announcement has been made yet on the future of E3. An ESA rep told Axios that E3 2024’s fate is TBD.