EA skipping their not-E3 showcase EA Play Live this year

Who knows what the hell is happening with E3 this year. An official E3 reportedly will happen as an online-only event, but the vast scattering of unaffiliated not-E3 summer games events… ah, no idea. One thing is now clear: EA will not be holding their traditional ‘EA Play Live’ showcase to market their whole upcoming lineup, instead planning to talk about individual games across the year “when the time is right for each of them”.

“We love EA Play Live as it’s our way of connecting with our players and sharing what’s new with all of you. However, this year things aren’t lining up to show you everything on one date,” an EA marketing person told Ian Games Network. “We have exciting things happening at our world-class studios and this year we’ll reveal much more about these projects when the time is right for each of them. We look forward to spending time with you throughout the year!”

Makes sense. E3’s role as an anchor for the year’s video game marketing was already fading as companies realized it’s easy to just stream whatever whenever they want. Skipping a year at the start of the pandemic seemed to seal its fate to become just another video games marketing event, one of on a crowded calendar. I mean, technically EA Play Live wasn’t part of E3, but it followed E3, clung to the shadows at the edge of E3’s fire. Scattering marketing across the year is probably a sensitive shift anyway, especially when when they’re still finishing last year’s games.

At the start of the year, E3’s organizers confirmed E3 2022 wouldn’t happen as an in-person event but hinted they might do an official online replacement instead. Supposedly developers have recently been told yup, an online event is coming.

In an extremely selfish way, I wish everyone would announce their damn events. I can’t plan my life in June or July when I don’t know if Ian Computer will decide to announce a sequel to the PC or whatever. My siblings and I are trying to coordinate spreading our dad’s ashes in June. I’ve had to turn down some of the events around my friends’ wedding. Hurry up already. And please, let’s not again have a dozen events which could easily be condensed into half as many.