Geoff Keighley to Skip E3 2020

"Given what has been communicated about E3 so far, I just don't feel comfortable participating this year," the Game Awards creator and host of E3 Coliseum tells THR.

Geoff Keighley, the creator and host of The Game Awards, will skip this year's E3 convention in Los Angeles.

"Given what has been communicated about E3 so far, I just don't feel comfortable participating this year," Keighley tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Keighley has hosted the E3 Coliseum event, a live-streamed show that welcomes developers and various Hollywood stars onstage near the L.A. Convention Center throughout the run of the convention, for the past three years. He declined the offer to produce this year's planned E3 Coliseum.

Last month, following the announcement that Sony would skip the annual video game convention for the second year in a row, the Entertainment Software Association, which organizes E3, released a statement about this year's upcoming event: "E3 2020 will be an exciting, high-energy show featuring new experiences, partners, exhibitor spaces, activations, and programming that will entertain new and veteran attendees alike."

The ESA and E3 have come under fire recently for leaking the personal information of thousands of media attendees and, Wednesday morning, the official E3 2020 website was leaked, showcasing what developers would be in attendance at this year's show (Activision, Ubisoft and Bethesda among them).

"For the past 25 years, I have attended every Electronic Entertainment Expo," says Keighley. "Covering, hosting, and sharing E3 has been a highlight of my year, not to mention a defining part of my career. I've debated what to say about E3 2020. While I want to support the developers who will showcase their work, I also need to be open and honest with you, the fans, about precisely what to expect from me."

On Wednesday afternoon, the ESA issued the following statement: “Geoff has been, and continues to be, a strong industry advocate and champion. He played a critical role in developing E3 Coliseum, a platform reintroduced three years ago that brought fans together for important conversations with industry luminaries and leaders in celebration of video games. We appreciate his contributions and hope to have future collaborations. In 2020, we look forward to presenting a reimagined E3 that will connect and delight fans worldwide.”

E3 has undergone a number of changes over the past few years, including selling public tickets to the convention in 2017 for the first time. Originally launched in 1995, E3 has grown into one of the world's largest video game conventions (last year's event welcomed more than 66,000 attendees, down slightly from 2018's 69,000) and has traditionally been a platform for studios, developers and publishers to debut first looks at their upcoming titles.

Feb. 12, 4:42 p.m. PT: Updated with ESA's statement