Microsoft confirms its absence on E3 2023 show floor

Microsoft won’t be present on the exhibit floor when E3 returns to the Los Angeles Convention Center in June for the first time since the outbreak of the epidemic. A Microsoft representative told IGN on Friday, “We can’t wait to hold our Xbox Games Showcase on June 11 and will reveal more details later” (via The Verge). While we won’t be on the E3 show floor, we also look forward to co-streaming our event as part of E3 Digital.

After IGN announced that Microsoft, along with Sony and Nintendo, would not have a presence on the show floor, concerns about the company’s E3 2023 attendance started to surface. As Microsoft said it would stream a special Starfield demonstration on June 11, the day E3’s “Digital Week” begins, there was some hope the business community might still attend the event. After Nintendo’s announcement that it would not be attending E3 at all earlier this month, Microsoft has decided to forego the in-person component of the show. Sony has not yet declared its attendance at E3 2023.

The Entertainment Software Association has suffered a great deal because not a single console maker was present on the E3 show floor. Since the ESA accidentally released the contact information of more than 2,000 journalists, analysts, and content producers in 2019, the exhibition has lost a lot of its luster. The pandemic and the creation of rival circumstances like Summer Game Fest haven’t allowed it to regain its power.