After a ton of speculation, it appears that E3 2022 will take place as a digital event once again. It was recently believed that the event would not only forego an in-person live event but couldn't take place altogether.
This divided the games industry as many people came out claiming that E3 was already irrelevant and no longer a big event on the calendar. Many others, however, believed that the event was still crucial and needed to take place albeit with some changes to the format.
Now we have our first sign that E3 2022 will take place and will continue to adopt the digital-only event for one more year. According to @_Tom_Henderson_, emails have gone out from the ESRB to developers and publishers inquiring about attendance at the show.
It does seem a little strange that it would be the ESRB and not the ESA sending these emails. Historically, the ESRB would deal with a lot of the ratings given to new trailers and any advertisements in and around the Los Angeles Convention Centre. It's the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) who won and run the E3 event.
Regardless, contact being made to key companies does indicate that the event is going to happen. E3 2021 wasn't in any way a failure but was absolutely missing the charm that comes from in-person conferences, interviews and demos.
I always look forward to E3 every year and finally got to cover it for the first time last year. It's become apparent that the show has changed its approach ever since members of the public were allowed to attend.
When - or should I say, If - E3 returns to its in-person events in 2023, there's a huge call for it to be done in the style that it was pre-public ticket availability. There is a risk of the show becoming somewhat of a second rate convention that is more about selling merchandise and promises to fans more than a showcase of what's to come for the industry as a whole on both the game and technology front.