Ubisoft rules out attending the physical event of E3 2023. The company, one of the few large publishers that had announced its support for the organization of E3 this year -June 13-, backtracks on its statements and replaces the veteran fair with its own event, as they will do other publishers on those dates; in the case of Ubisoft, will celebrate Ubisoft Forward Live on June 12 in Los Angeles.
“E3 has hosted unforgettable moments for the industry over the years,” a spokesperson told VGC. “Although we originally intended to have an official presence at E3, we have made the decision to go in another direction and we will hold a Ubisoft Forward Live on June 12. We look forward to sharing more details with players very soon.” ReedPop, organizer of this year’s PAX, EGX, Star Wars Celebration and E3, had no comment on this new twist from Ubisoft.
Ubisoft was the first publisher to support E3 2023, although it did so with somewhat confusing statements: “If E3 is held we will be there and we will have many things to show”said Yves Guillemot, chief executive of the company that prepares Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Splinter Cell Remake or multiple sets of Assassin’s Creed. That “if it is celebrated” did not like ReedPop too much and needed a later clarification to ensure that Ubisoft would have space at the LA Convention Center, a presence that is now falling.
No console manufacturer will be at E3 2023
The E3 is the only face-to-face fair that does not seem to recover its strength before the COVID pandemic, and even before it showed signs of deterioration. This year neither Sony will attend -which It was unmarked since 2019 for considering it obsolete- neither Nintendo nor Microsoft. Without other publishers like Electronic Arts and now Ubisoft, E3, which a few years ago was the most important fair of the year in the industry, has ceded all the ground to online broadcasts -Summer Game Fest or its own programs- and mixed Gamescom-type events, with an Opening Night Live gala by Geoff Keighley.