E3 likely to get cancelled, Devolver tells gamers to cancel trip plans

Indie publisher Devolver Digital tells journalists and gamers to cancel their E3 hotels and flights, signalling this year's annual convention has been shut down.

E3 2020 should be the next casualty of the coronavirus outbreak. Games publisher Devolver Digital just told its Twitter followers to cancel and trip plans to Los Angeles. Multiple sources have also told Kotaku's Jason Schreier that the event has been shuttered to limit the possible spread of COVID-19.

Sources tell industry journalist Mike Futter that E3's cancellation will be announced tomorrow morning.

We predicted E3 2020 would be cancelled, and it wasn't hard to see the writing on the wall. First PAX East was impacted, then GDC 2020 was cancelled, followed by a handful of other events like GTC 2020, Mobile World Congress, and more. E3 will hit the industry hardest, at least the Entertainment Software Association, who promised this year's show would be different. Sadly they were right, just in the worst way possible.

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In our coverage, we advised the ESA to pivot towards a digital-based medium to showcase E3. Hopefully the company and the show's exhibitors have followed suit. The coronavirus might actually end up killing the annual gala as publishers switch towards cheaper digital streams instead of costly stage presentations, site demos, and exhibitions.

The ESA has yet to deliver an official announcement on E3's potential cancellation. As of March 2, the group said E3 2020 is still on schedule for June. A lot has changed in those eight days, though, and coronavirus fears run rampant throughout the world.