If the rumors are true, E3 2023 will have a poor line-up, so there may not be much interest in the show…

If it was an anonymous person claiming this, we might as well be suitable to be dismissive, but IGN reports, citing “multiple knowledgeable sources,” that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo will be skipping this year’s E3! For Sony, it isn’t a significant surprise, as it hasn’t been there since E3 2018, and the company prefers to showcase what games are in the pipeline for PlayStation 4 and now PlayStation 5 via State of Play broadcasts similar to Nintendo Direct.

The case of Microsoft is surprising, however: they confirmed last week that they would “return to Los Angeles for our yearly showcase this summer” but did not specify whether they were thinking about E3 2023. Last week, Xbox boss Phil Spencer told IGN that they are trying to time their conference in a way that is “convenient for the press and even that consumers,” and that could just make us think E3, as that event is not open only to the press (it was like that in 2007…).

Nintendo has also been away for several years, as they usually schedule a Nintendo Direct for E3. Then during the Treehouse Live broadcasts, we get more gameplay and previews of upcoming games, so their absence shouldn’t be a big surprise. And of the publishers, it was Electronic Arts that stepped out of the shadow of the Entertainment Software Association, the E3 organizers, and from that came EA Play Live, which the publisher skipped last year because they simply didn’t have anything to show, and instead showed Dead Space Remake, for example, scattered throughout the year.

This year’s E3 will take place from June 13 to June 16 at the Los Angeles Convention Center (i.e., its usual venue). Neither ESA nor the three console companies have responded to IGN’s article, so it’s possible that this year’s E3 won’t be as big of an event as it once was because only the publishers will be making their announcements there in June.

Source: Gematsu