ReedPop, the organisation most well known for helming the global PAX conventions, will take over the running of E3 2023 – and it appears there are grand plans to help the show return in a big way. The news was announced by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which has run the event solo for the last few years, both online and in-person.
With E3 becoming an event of diminishing returns in recent times – thanks to companies deciding to forgo it to hold their own showcases, as well as global circumstances – it was clear something needed to change. However, ReedPop stepping in is a major surprise.
The company already has a number of events to focus on in 2022 and 2023, including the in-person return of the highly-anticipated PAX Australia 2022 – but with a history of success and creating good memories, it’s likely E3 is now in the most capable hands possible.
‘It is a tremendous honour and privilege for ReedPop to take on the responsibility of bringing E3 back in 2023,’ Lance Fensterman, president of ReedPop said of the shake-up.
‘With the support and endorsement of the ESA, we’re going to build a world-class event to serve the global gaming industry in new and broader ways than we already do at ReedPop through our portfolio of world-leading events and websites.’
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According to ReedPop’s global VP of Gaming, Kyle Marsden-Kish, the team has listened and learned from community feedback over the last few years, and will work on creating an E3 2023 that is a ‘return to form that honours what’s always worked’ while making distinct changes for everything that doesn’t currently work.
While plans have yet to be formally announced, it appears ReedPop has grand ambitions. We’ll have to wait to see if the company can entice E3 absentees like Sony and
E3 has traditionally been a media and trade-only conference, but it began inviting public attendance in the years preceding the global pandemic.
In a prompt response to the announcement, Geoff Keighley, who organised the ‘not-E3’ replacement event, Summer Game Fest, took to Twitter to restate his intentions to hold the event once more in 2023, with a digital and in-person event.
It’s likely the two events will go head-to-head in June. Stay tuned for more news on the E3 2023 front.
