Although many of the technology industry events such as CES 2022 have already begun to return to face-to-face celebrations, the Entertainment Software Association has just confirmed that on E3 2022 will finally remain one more year under the exclusively online format . An announcement that, while surprising with the rectification of what was planned, seems a logical decision given the recent massive increase in cases of the Omicron variant in the United States, where the fair was scheduled to take place.
« Due to the continuing health risks surrounding COVID-19 and its potential impact on exhibitor and attendee safety, E3 will not be held in person in 2022. We remain incredibly excited about the future of E3 and look forward to announcing more details soon “shared the official statement from those responsible. Although we will have to wait for additional details, the event will likely take place online this summer in the same general format we saw last year, the association having shared that they are ‘ excited about the possibilities of an online event «.
In fact, this is not the first time that a major event has gone online-only due to the pandemic, health concerns, and regulations restricting large gatherings. Events such as BlizzCon 2021 were held online (although this year’s fair has been canceled for other reasons ), others such as the 2021 Game Awards held the event in person with a public online, while other big events like IFA 2021 were completely canceled .
And it is possible that many of you were wondering about the prematurity of this announcement, taking into account that E3 2022 will not take place until the summer months , usually held during the second fortnight of June. Given the size of the event, the ESA’s decision was most likely made for logistical reasons, so making this early decision to move the event to online will help protect against the possibility of last minute changes that may cause a new and unexpected wave.
So now the great unknown lies in meeting the participants , with great expectations after the great participation of last year.