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The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has been an annual global showcase of the biggest and most prominent video game publishing and development companies from different parts of the globe showcasing their upcoming projects for the foreseeable future and attracted millions of gaming enthusiasts and journalists. But, for the first time in its history, the gaming community has been saddened and disappointed with the cancellation of last year's staging due to the continuing threat of the global COVID-19 pandemic which pushed several gaming companies to stage their own virtual showcase of forthcoming games through a series of smaller gaming events and virtual announcements throughout the summer of 2020.
This year, E3 is set to return to the delightful surprise of gaming enthusiasts anticipating for the said news. However, instead of physically taking place inside the Los Angeles Convention Center, the premier trade show for computer and video games will be a "reimagined, all-virtual" event set to be held on June 12-15, 2021 and will feature content from publishers and developers including Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, Konami, Ubisoft, Take Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games and Koch Media among others slated to be announced in the coming weeks prior to the event. Sony and Electronic Arts, which are not officially part of E3 2021, are likely to hold their own showcase in the coming months. br>
According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), various game publishers and developers will showcase their games at E3 2021 "directly to fans around the world". The event promises to be a "hyper-engaged digital experience" that will pave the way for gamers in 2022 and beyond as it will comprise of live press conferences and four-day long video streams in which gamers and even non-gamers can get unprecedented access for free. ESA president and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis stated in the organizers' press release, “For more than two decades, E3 has been the premier venue to showcase the best that the video game industry has to offer, while uniting the world through games. We are evolving this year’s E3 into a more inclusive event, but will still look to excite the fans with major reveals and insider opportunities that make this event the indispensable center stage for video games.”
The impending return of E3 for 2021 is a surprising development that has been delightfully anticipated by the gaming community, but making the world's largest gaming trade show all virtual and free for everyone is a much more satisfyingly refreshing that can even earn the attention of non-gamers who are always curious and skeptical of what would be the future of gaming. E3 is probably the largest among various gaming events that are greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic where playing video games becomes part of our daily lives in quarantine. With the vaccination program in many countries moving forward, it will only be a matter of time before everything goes back to when and where it was before the start of the pandemic. Hopefully, this year's free and all virtual E3 will successfully become a major catalyst in the growing rise of the gaming industry in the pandemic game.
