The saga of E3 takes yet another tight turn, as the event organizer has ended their contract with the Entertainment Software Association.
ReedPop says it has ended its contract with the ESA to create at least 2023 and 2024 events. That multi-year deal has now fallen through in what’s being described as a mutual decision.
On top of that, Gamesindustry.biz reports that if a 2024 E3 does happen, it won’t be at the LA Convention Center like it has in the past. Reports back in June showed that the city’s tourism board removed the annual event from their calendars for the next two years. The move is now confirmed.
ESA president and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis says, “we are continuing to explore how we can evolve it to best serve the video game industry and are evaluating every aspect of the event, from format to location. We are committed to our role as a convener for the industry and look forward to sharing news about E3 in the coming months.”
Meanwhile, ReedPop’s Kyle Marsden-Kish says, “We appreciate [ESA’s] commitment to the games industry as a whole… we will not be involved with the future of E3 we look forward to seeing its evolution and where the ESA takes it.”
The future of E3 has been a roller coaster for the last several years. 2023’s event came down to the wire as well, with several publishers backing out of the event, until days later the ESA officially cancelled the show. With fairly safe, blanket statements from both sides of this news, it is still a mystery if E3 will come back at all and if the gaming industry will rally around it like it did for decades.
ReedPop is also the company that runs the popular PAX events. Most recently they held PAX West which ran in Seattle.
