The COVID-19 pandemic growing to a global scale unsettled many lives and events last year, with E3 2020 canceling due to concerns about its attendees' safety. But now E3 is back as a digital event with E3 2021, and one of the show's first announcements was that E3 2022 will take place in Los Angeles, California as an in-person event.
E3 2020 was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The June that followed was silent without E3, with a drought of gaming announcements and releases as many publishers and the industry itself had to adjust to working from home.
E3's Livestream opened up by showing off what companies were participating and naming the many hosts of the event, including a special announcement from the Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti. With a heartfelt speech talking about how Los Angeles loves E3 and gaming, he revealed that next year the Electronic Entertainment Expo plans to come back as a full press convention with attendees.
The hosts voiced their excitement, happy to once again experience E3 the same way gamers have since 1995. Beyond the fact that the ESA looks toward being able to run the show in person again with no difficulties next year, not much is confirmed in the way of dates yet, but those will probably come with the end of this year's show.
Hopefully E3 2022 lives up to the expectations and makes up for the year that it lost. Even though E3 2022 is back to being at full capacity with attendees, it has a high bar to reach with making the next show spectacular upon its return. Perhaps with the time away, there's been enough analytical changes to how the show runs to make it an even far better experience than what came before.
One thing that is not known for the convention going forward is how E3 will manage the digital side of its presentations. Trying to put an entire convention as big as E3 online seems far more accessible to fans all across the world, so to go back to one location in California may seem like a step backward. With the inclusion of the app and online portal for the event, though, if used right, E3 2022 may end up being the best one ever experienced no matter where a player is.
Source: E3