Online E3 2020 rumored to replace canceled show

An online E3 2020 conference is rumored to replace this year’s live show. The coronavirus has been causing the closure of gaming conferences around the world, and the ESA may be preparing backup plans to deal with the lack of live crowds.

Bloomberg reports on the recent rumors than an E3 cancellation announcement is arriving later today. The Entertainment Software Association (which runs the show as well as the ESRB) declined to provide a comment, but sources speaking to Bloomberg think that this year’s show might mix things up.

ALSO: GDC will stream many scheduled talks for free next week

Reportedly, an online E3 2020 conference will make up for the lack of a floor show. While most of us do enjoy the conference from home anyways, thousands of people get to play games in person. Developers depend on the press and the general public playing their games and generating buzz.

How exactly this online conference would work is not yet know; perhaps they might do something similar to The Game Awards’ Game Festival last year which made demos temporarily available on Steam. However things turn out, it looks like the ESA is going to be facing a challenging year for one of the world’s biggest gaming conferences.