Even when E3 is canceled, E3 drama perpetuates, it seems. A new report says that E3 organization the ESA has tried to deliver on its plan to create a digital alternative to the convention. Publishers received what was described as a "last ditch" effort several weeks ago for a digital E3 2020. The pitch was described as "shot down."
As reported by Mike Futter, former News Editor at Game Informer, the ESA proposed partnering with a variety of individuals and organizations to put on a show. Potential partners included Andrea Rene, who would assuredly serve as a host, Mat+Lo Creative for PR, Good Morning America, and then Twitch/IGN/Mixer for news syndication.
Fuller points out the irony of the ESA pitching IGN as a potential partner for its E3 alternative. IGN announced just yesterday that it would be holding its own digital mini-E3 named the Summer of Gaming in June. IGN has 10 or more publishers already partnered for the event. Basically, rather than partner with ESA as a middleman organization, IGN decided it would be better without the ESA.
For the time being, it appears there will be no E3 digital alternative organized by the ESA. It's still possible that the ESA could endorse or support IGN's Summer or Gaming, or some other smaller-scale event that manages to organizes bigger partners like Microsoft and Nintendo. Odds are that ESA will just take 2020 off and try again with E3 2021.