It was already bad enough for E3 2023 that Sony, Nintendo, and Xbox all elected to leave the show behind; now the show is losing out on other big games studios – namely Sega, Tencent, and Ubisoft.
Ubisoft announced its decision to leave the show behind this past Monday, stating that it wanted to “move in a different direction” and will instead hold its own showcase on June 12th. That was shortly chased by announcements yesterday from both Sega and Tencent’s Level Infinite.
Sega said in a statement it looked forward to “sharing more information on announced and unannounced projects in the future,” while a Tencent spokesperson confirmed Level Infinite would bow out but also said a Play Days 2022 event it was a part of ended up being “an ideal experience for showcasing [its] games to the media.”
Finally, Devolver Digital has elected to axe its satellite events around E3 but will still hold its own digital showcase in June.
News of these companies jumping ship is the latest hit to some already shaky confidence that E3 will happen at all. IGN reports that multiple games industry publishing and PR agencies admitted they aren’t even sure which studios are still attending, while others point to a “significant lack of communication” from the ESA and E3 organizer ReedPop. Further complicating things is an internal email suggesting that ReedPop president Lance Fensertman will be stepping down next month after a total of 17 years at the company.
