Despite originally suggesting some sort of digital presence in 2020 in lieu of the canceled E3 2020, the ESA has ultimately decided to plan a comeback for next year. While it seems like the ESA has written off 2020 entirely, dates have been announced for E3 2021. If everything goes well this time, E3 2021 will be held on June 15 through 17 of next year. [Thanks, Gamesindustry.biz!]

The ESA reportedly announced this plan to its business partners, and Gamesindustry reported that the plan is for E3 2021 to be a “reimagined” version of the event. That word could mean anything, but it is important to note the ESA was already planning to drastically alter what E3 2020 would have been. Companies like iam8bit were hired (although iam8bit resigned shortly before the pandemic) to facilitate a new look and feel.

E3 2020 was a hot topic of conversation, even before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After opening to the public more than ever before in 2017, E3 has increasingly become more of a fan-oriented event. The path forward was unclear to outsiders this year, as more and more major publishers, even Sony itself, were dropping participation entirely.

We’re still a ways off from June 2020, so it’s going to be a long wait to see what E3 looks like on the other side of all this.