Bethesda won’t replace its E3 plans with a digital showcase

Bethesda has decided not to replace its E3 plans with a digital showcase of its upcoming titles.

Organiser the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) cancelled E3 2020 in March due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, forcing many games companies to change promotional activities they had planned for the event in June.

While multiple firms subsequently announced plans to host digital events to showcase games that would have been at E3, Bethesda is taking a different approach.

“Given the many challenges we’re facing due to the pandemic, we will not host a digital Showcase in June,” Pete Hines, Bethesda’s VP of global marketing, tweeted on Wednesday.

“We have lots of exciting things to share about our games and look forward to telling you more in the coming months,” he added.

Two eagerly anticipated Bethesda RPGs, Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI, were absent from the publisher’s E3 2019 showcase, which featured Fallout 76, Id Software‘s Doom Eternal, and new game announcements in the form of Arkane Lyon’s Deathloop and Tango Gameworks’ Ghostwire Tokyo.

Bethesda and Id Software also confirmed this week that QuakeCon 2020, which had been due to mark the 25th year of the event in August, has been cancelled due the logistical challenges and uncertainties currently being faced because of the coronavirus.

Announcing E3 2020’s cancellation last month, the ESA said it was exploring options “to coordinate an online experience to showcase industry announcements and news” in June 2020.

Xbox will hold a digital event to replace its plans for the show, as will Devolver Digital and Limited Run Games.

Ubisoft has said it will “explore” the option of a replacement online event, while Nintendo has said it’s considering various ways to engage with its fans following E3’s cancellation.

Warner Bros. Games reportedly had big announcements scheduled for E3 including a new Batman title, an open-world Harry potter game, and the next project from Arkham developer Rocksteady Studios.