E3 2021 live event cancelled, LA city says

E3 2021’s live event has been cancelled, according to paperwork filed by the Board of Los Angeles Convention and Tourism.

Last month, we heard that E3’s organiser the Electonic Software Association (ESA) had plans for a digital-focused show, though a live or hybrid event had not been ruled out.

Now, documentation dug up by ResetEra (thanks, Twinfinite) lists the show as a “cancelled live event”, though with a potential license to return in 2022 and 2023.

The show’s production team may use E3’s home at the Los Angeles Convention Centre and its next-door LA Live area for broadcast, the document concludes.

But it now seems clear: do not expect to see anyone walking through the LACC’s doors again this year.

E3 was last held in 2019, after last year’s event was called off in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the disruption it brought. Publishers were left to organise their own digital events online, and reveal events for companies such as PlayStation and Xbox took place across the summer.