E3 2020, the world’s largest video game trade show, was scheduled for June 9-11. Unfortunately, due to the widespread COVID-19, a deadly strain of the coronavirus, the ESA has canceled the event. This announcement follows many other event cancellations or postponements over the same concerns.
Nintendo was to be attending this year as usual, and the company has already released a statement saying,
Nintendo supports the ESA’s decision to cancel this year’s E3 to help protect the health and safety of everyone in our industry–our fans, our employees, our exhibitors and our longtime E3 partners. We would like to express our concern and support for all those affected by the COVID-19 outbreak during this challenging time.
“We”ll continue to be flexible and redirect our efforts to other ways of keeping our fans up to date about our activities and products. Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, large industry events may be untenable for the foreseeable future. But we are considering various ways to engage with our fans and will have more to share as the year continues.
Nintendo has been using a digital format for its E3 presentations for the past few years rather than live conferences like most large game developers in attendance. Despite that, Nintendo has always had a large presence on the show floor with its impressive booths. For example, the company dedicated most of its space during E3 2016 to displays inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. While Nintendo’s dedication to bringing experiences from its games into reality will be missed this year, it is likely that it was going to continue with its digital presentations anyway.
Nintedo’s E3 2016 booth had some amazing displays that pulled attendees into the world of Hyrule.
Even with E3 2020’s cancellation, the ESA seems optimistic that the show will come back in 2021. We will just have to wait and see.
