The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has been a strong summer gaming event to look forward to, however Covid did snuff out the 2020 event but it won't stay down.
According to E3 2021 pitch documents sent to games publishers and seen by VGC, the ESA has now outlined its proposals for this year’s event, which would see three days of live-streamed coverage held during the previously announced dates of June 15-17.
The ESA’s intention is to hold multiple two-hour keynote sessions from games partners, an awards show, a June 14 preview night and other smaller streams from games publishers, influencers and media partners.
The broadcast event would be supplemented by media previews the week before, as well as demos released on consumer platforms, according to the ESA’s proposal.
The ESA also says it will allow partner companies to remotely stream playable game demos to the media across “thousands” of scheduled meetings, with one-to-one assistance from developers. Many companies have used similar on-demand streaming solutions during the pandemic to allow the media to remotely play their games for preview purposes.
However, the E3 2021 plans still require the approval of ESA’s membership, which is made up of the industry’s biggest games companies and who have significant influence over the direction of the show.
The ESA was already facing significant pressure to reinvent E3, with several major publishers including EA, Sony and Activision having abandoned the event in recent years – and that was before 2020’s cancellation, after which many companies such as EA and Ubisoft enjoyed success running their own digital events.
E3’s long-time collaborator Geoff Keighley, who quit the show last year due to a disagreement over its direction, also launched the successful Summer Game Fest in 2020. Keighley confirmed to VGC over private message that the event would return this year and said he would again not be involved with E3.
It’s unclear how many publishers have signed up for E3 2021’s digital event, though at least one major games company VGC spoke to indicated that it would continue to run its own separate digital showcase, rather than paying the six-figure sums required to join E3 2021’s schedule.
source E3 pushes forward with plans for a digital 2021 event | VGC
According to E3 2021 pitch documents sent to games publishers and seen by VGC, the ESA has now outlined its proposals for this year’s event, which would see three days of live-streamed coverage held during the previously announced dates of June 15-17.
The ESA’s intention is to hold multiple two-hour keynote sessions from games partners, an awards show, a June 14 preview night and other smaller streams from games publishers, influencers and media partners.
The broadcast event would be supplemented by media previews the week before, as well as demos released on consumer platforms, according to the ESA’s proposal.
The ESA also says it will allow partner companies to remotely stream playable game demos to the media across “thousands” of scheduled meetings, with one-to-one assistance from developers. Many companies have used similar on-demand streaming solutions during the pandemic to allow the media to remotely play their games for preview purposes.
However, the E3 2021 plans still require the approval of ESA’s membership, which is made up of the industry’s biggest games companies and who have significant influence over the direction of the show.
The ESA was already facing significant pressure to reinvent E3, with several major publishers including EA, Sony and Activision having abandoned the event in recent years – and that was before 2020’s cancellation, after which many companies such as EA and Ubisoft enjoyed success running their own digital events.
E3’s long-time collaborator Geoff Keighley, who quit the show last year due to a disagreement over its direction, also launched the successful Summer Game Fest in 2020. Keighley confirmed to VGC over private message that the event would return this year and said he would again not be involved with E3.
It’s unclear how many publishers have signed up for E3 2021’s digital event, though at least one major games company VGC spoke to indicated that it would continue to run its own separate digital showcase, rather than paying the six-figure sums required to join E3 2021’s schedule.
source E3 pushes forward with plans for a digital 2021 event | VGC
