After being ahead of the pack to confirm its attendance at this year’s E3 event, and the first year back to a physical show format at the Los Angeles Convention Centre in June, Ubisoft has changed tact and pulled out.
VGC has reported the news after receiving a statement from Ubisoft confirming the change in plans, with the company now set to hold its Ubisoft Forward Live showcase in Los Angeles on June 12th.
VIDEO PRESENTED BY PLAYSTATION VR2. CLICK TO LEARN MORE.
A Ubisoft representative reportedly told the outlet, “E3 has fostered unforgettable moments across the industry throughout the years.
“While we initially intended to have an official E3 presence, we’ve made the subsequent decision to move in a different direction, and will be holding a Ubisoft Forward Live event on 12th June in Los Angeles. We look forward to sharing more details with our players very soon.”
With Ubisoft gone, and both Microsoft and Nintendo having already confirmed their non-attendance, there’s a bit of a shadow being cast over this year’s list of vendors at E3 – as yet no other major publishers or manufacturers have indicated they’ll be making an appearance.
The Hype starts now. ?#E32023 will take place in person from June 13-16 in the Los Angeles Convention Center with separated business and consumer days and areas.
More details here: https://t.co/VJc1R7gvrB pic.twitter.com/cHiNgYHjok
— E3 (@E3) September 26, 2022
In response to the original story around the lack of major console vendors, new E3 organiser ReedPop had said:
“E3 is such a significant event for the game industry and being entrusted with an important cultural touchstone is not a responsibility ReedPop takes lightly. Since ReedPop took on the contract to run E3 six months ago, we’ve worked diligently with ESA members based on their feedback to create a new type of E3 that supports their goals and needs.
“This process has taken time due to the tremendous amount of stakeholders offering input, though we appreciate that we could have been more transparent to questions for which we were still finalizing the answers. We continue to work tirelessly to create a show that brings together the global gaming industry. We believe we’ve created a new format for the event that serves the needs of both the industry and its fans, and are committed to building and growing it in the coming years.
“As we spent much of 2022 refining how E3 2023 would take shape, reflecting on the feedback we solicited, we did not send a single contract to an exhibitor until the start of this month. We have received a tremendous amount of interest and verbal commitments from many of the biggest companies in the industry, and when we are ready to announce the exhibitors we are confident it will be a lineup that will make the trip to Los Angeles well worth it for the industry and consumers alike.”
