E3 Won’t Be Behind Pay-Wall

As much as I do love a good E3, covering them can be a nightmare sometimes. Case and point, Monday, I covered the ID@Xbox showcase from the Friday before and I could hardly keep myself upright. The thing is, it wasn’t a bad show. It was just covered with interviews that didn’t need to be there. Though speaking of the “didn’t/doesn’t have to be,” let’s discuss paid passes for the upcoming digital event for E3 this year. The digital event is something we reported on just under two months ago now.

Well, the rumor mill got spinning again, on April 1st of all days. The rumor was not only on whether or not the event will go ahead, but rather if you’d have to pay to gain access to the event, with premium pass prices floating around $35. The news came via VideoGameChronicle.com, where they claimed that multiple sources had contacted them with the claim that they had been approached by the ESA (operator of the yearly event) to go ahead with the pay-walled idea of the event. Along with this, the premium passes to the digital event would gain you access to demos via Nvidia’s cloud-gaming platform, GeForce Now.

Other changes would include changing the current three Es from Electronic Entertainment Expo to Electronic Entertainment Experience. Now, of course, this could all still ring true, as the expo was expected to make changes last year, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Changes that would be for the physical version of this type of event, which can’t happen when everyone could be spreading a deadly illness. Yes, deadlier than Kevin’s B.O. Even you know it is a Kevin.

E3’s 2021 digital show is a free event for all attendees. We’re excited to fill you in on all the real news for the event very soon. https://t.co/HzTzaQEosx

— E3 (@E3) April 1, 2021

Well, the ESA’s Twitter account for E3 made a statement fairly quickly following these rumors spreading across Twitter. “E3’s 2021 digital show is a free event for all attendees,” which would be true, if you were actually attending anything that wasn’t your toilet. So when they announce Skyrim for the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and beyond, you aren’t ruining the carpet. With this confirmation by the account comes a comment that we’ll get more news soon. That last comment repeats what we’ve been told since February.