E3 2022 to be digital-only

E3 2022 will be an digital-only event, the Entertainment Software Association confirmed.

“Due to the ongoing health risks surrounding COVID-19 and its potential impact on the safety of exhibitors and attendees, E3 will not be held in person in 2022,” the Entertainment Software Association told VentureBeat. “We are nonetheless excited about the future of E3 and look forward to announcing more details soon.”

The Entertainment Software Association previously planned to return to an in-person event for E3 2022. “The Entertainment Software Association looks forward to coming back together to celebrate E3 2022 in person,” it said in April 2021.

According to former Game Informer editor and F-Squared founder Mike Futter, the Entertainment Software Association had already abandoned its dates for the Los Angeles Convention Center, where E3 is normally held, in the middle of November 2021.

“I heard from sources in mid-November, before Omicron’s emergence at the end of that month that the Entertainment Software Association had abandoned their dates for the Los Angeles Convention Center,” Futter said in a tweet. “The Entertainment Software Association’s event last summer was… not good. And publishers have learned they don’t need to pay exorbitant rates to the Entertainment Software Association to reach press and consumers.”

Dates for the digital-only E3 2022 have yet to be announced.