Xbox, Nintendo and Sony to skip E3 2023

E3’s “triumphant” return is apparently going to happen without all three major console makers as Xbox, Nintendo and Sony will each be skipping the event this year. What this means is that each of the “big three” will have no official presence at E3 2023, which will be the first live and in-person E3 in four years.

The news comes as a blow to the expo, which is hoping to reclaim its prominence—E3 has historically been the gaming industry’s biggest showcase event. E3 will return to the Los Angeles Convention Center this June.

Xbox recently announced that its annual summer showcase event would would also return to Los Angeles, and it is believed the Xbox Summer Showcase will happen alongside (but not part of) E3. According to Xbox head Phil Spencer,

Well, we pick our time for our showcase specifically so that we’re there. E3 is just, to me, one of the seminal moments of gaming. I love the history of going down to LA, thousands of people there, getting to see great new things…getting to see people in the industry, the fan events that we’ve had. I definitely want that to continue.

The Xbox Summer Showcase announcement came on the heels of last week’s Xbox & Bethesda Developer_Direct event. The first such showcase for Xbox, the Developer_Direct was by all accounts a smashing success, with almost universal praise of its no-fluff format.