It’s been a wild ride leading up to E3 2020. Many changes have been made to the massive trade show recently, and after the huge media breach that publicly revealed thousands of attendees’ personal information, the show has a lot to prove this year, especially when it comes to digital security. The ESA is off to a bad start. A recent leak revealed the list of attending exhibitors for this year’s show. This page has since been locked behind a password-protected login, but a ResetEra user managed to save an image of the list for the public to see. As the page noted, the list will be “continually updated,” so it isn’t final.
There are some notable absences so far, like Microsoft, Nintendo, Atlus, and other big companies that typically attend. Microsoft might not be listed since their E3 showing is typically hosted adjacent to E3 at the Microsoft Theater, down the street from the E3’s LA Convention Center and not technically part of the ESA’s event. Nonetheless, the list looks barebones compared to previous years, though the list is not final and may have a number of additional exhibitors added before this summer. As expected, Sony is not listed either. The Japanese company will be skipping the show for the second year in a row in favor of “hundreds of consumer events” throughout the year.
Editor’s Note: It’s also unknown to what capacity these exhibitors will be on the show floor. Activision, for example, has in recent years taken to meeting rooms instead of building a massive booth on the show floor. Likewise, Take-Two’s booth is traditionally closed off to those without meetings and appointments. So while you may see exhibitors listed, that doesn’t guarantee their accessibility to the general public passes.
Here’s the E3 2020 lineup, so far, according to the leaked list:
E3 2020 Exhibitor List
- Activision Publishing
- Amazon Game Studios
- Bandai Namco Entertainment America
- Bethesda
- Capcom USA
- Epic Games
- Kalypso Media Group
- NCSOFT
- RDS Industries
- SEGA
- Square Enix
- Take-Two
- Tencent
- THQ Nordic
- Ubisoft Entertainment SA
- UnnamedVR by Paracosma
- Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment
- XSEED Games
The other factor that might raise some eyebrows is the fact that the list leaked to begin with. It doesn’t feature anyone’s personal information, but the ESA’s questionable cybersecurity has undergone immense scrutiny since the huge media breach last year. After promising reinforcement of digital security measures for E3 2020, having the E3 2020 exhibitor list leak before the site is live isn’t a great look.
Earlier today, industry veteran Geoff Keighley confirmed his absence from the show after feeling a general sense of discomfort with what he’s heard about E3 2020 so far. What this means for the E3 Coliseum show remains unknown. Without Keighley producing it, it’s uncertain if the ESA will try to keep it. And after the ESA announced a partnership with iam8bit to “shake things up” at E3 2020, the event seems to be going in a very different direction.
[Source: ResetEra]
