It has been announced that E3 2023 has been canceled

According to a report by IGN, E3 2023 has been canceled after major publishers declined to attend or had no idea if the event would even take place due to an alleged lack of communication with organizer ReedPop and the ESA. The official E3 Twitter account has now confirmed the cancellation.

However, ReedPop and the ESA will continue to work together on "future E3 events," though it remains unclear if they will try again next year or come up with something completely new under the E3 branding.

The cancellation is not entirely surprising given that the three console makers, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, were reportedly pulling out, with Nintendo formally declining. Ubisoft also dropped out in favor of holding its own live event, and Sega and Tencent followed suit soon after.

E3 had been scheduled to take place at the Los Angeles Convention center from June 13-16 and would have been the first in-person edition since 2019, set up for media and fans to attend.

While the show had been on a decline prior to 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a devastating blow. The 2020 show was canceled, the 2021 version was an online-only event, and the 2022 event was shut down again. With developers and publishers able to deliver big announcements using pre-recorded videos or livestreams without paying the ESA a ton of money for floor space and spending months preparing playable demos, it's become increasingly challenging for E3 to justify its existence in its traditional state.

It remains to be seen what ReedPop and the ESA will come up with in the future, but for now, E3 will continue to lay dormant with an uncertain future.