E3 2021 Leaked To Be All-Digital

To quote Andy Williams, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” I love E3, and I don’t care that I am the only one that does. It is a time of the year that I’ve described as my Christmas, because I hate the one that forces you to be around people you don’t like and make small talk. Well, last year didn’t work out as planned, the phrase that outlasts the year itself. We all made do, though the COVID-19 pandemic made pathos to a number of plans that would be forced into an all-digital event, and it worked out fine.

Around this time last year, we saw some leaks emerge about the plans going ahead for the coming conference scheduled for that June. In the following weeks, we saw the mass cancelation of major events, while the Entertainment Software Association and E3 stood steadfast in steaming ahead. At least until it was apparent nothing could be done that early to predict the pandemic’s trajectory other than upwards. The conferences, of course, went ahead digitally. All the while there were plans were set for a 2021 in-person return. In what was yet another leak from last April, the ESA suggested that the event would be the reimagining plans previously penned for 2020.

Someone ought to get a plumber in that place, because the ESA have yet another leak suggesting how this year’s event will play out. In documents send to publishers and manufacturers such as Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Capcom, Square Enix, and so-on, the plan has shifted back to digital once again. Documents that VideoGameChronicle.com have reportedly seen, include a three-day event slated, filled with live-streams of keynotes, an awards show, a night of previews before it all kicks off, and smaller publisher and ‘influencer’ led streams. All of these things are set to come from the dates of the 15th-17th, with the preview coming on the 14th.

There is no word on what publishers are signed up for E3 2021, with various smaller companies electing to forgo the ESA bill and structure for their own stream surrounding the event itself. It does seem that Microsoft/Xbox intend to have a presence at the event, with previous intentions not to hold any event in-person for the foreseeable future. One would assume that in the coming months as we barrel towards the middle of the year once again, we’ll see publishers of all sizes announcing similarly timed events around the event.