E3, the video game industry’s largest annual expo, has been canceled for the second consecutive year due to almost every company dropping out of the event. This year’s event was supposed to take place in June in Los Angeles, but in a joint statement, the US’s Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and events company Reedpop announced its cancellation.

For fans, E3 is known as “video game Christmas” because it has been a staple in the games industry calendar since 1995. It has traditionally been where game publishers and console manufacturers announce their latest projects, including consoles like the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U. The cancellation of E3 leaves the games industry without a dominant focal point for marketing new titles. Instead, publishers have turned to live-streamed shows to announce and showcase new games.

The decision to cancel E3 was a difficult one, as the ESA and Reedpop had put significant effort into making the event happen. However, resourcing challenges made it an obstacle that many companies could not overcome. According to Kyle Marsden-Kish, Reedpop’s representative, “We appreciate and understand that interested companies wouldn’t have playable demos ready, and that resourcing challenges made being at E3 this summer an obstacle they couldn’t overcome.”

E3 has been open to industry professionals and the public alike in the past, with around 66,000 attendees in 2019. Its big press conferences have been live-streamed to a global online audience, creating considerable buzz and wider media attention. In its absence, other online-focused events have sprung up to fill the gap, but none have yet achieved E3’s level of notoriety and mainstream attention.

Despite the cancellation, ReedPop and the Entertainment Software Association plan to collaborate on future events. This means that E3 may return in the future, depending on how the pandemic evolves.

The cancellation of E3 highlights the challenges that the video game industry is facing during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the industry has shown resilience and has adapted to the changing circumstances by turning to digital events to showcase new games. While E3’s cancellation is disappointing for fans, it does not mean the end of the video game industry, and it will continue to evolve and innovate as it always has.