The Company Behind E3 2020’s Creative Direction Has Stepped Down From The Role

It looks like things are looking slightly dire for this year’s E3 2020 event.

iam8bit, the company responsible for heading the creative direction of the event, has resigned from the role. While the company did not specify its reasons for doing so, it released a statement about the matter:

“It’s with mixed emotions that iam8bit has decided to resign as creative directors of what was to be an evolutionary E3 2020 floor experience. We’ve produced hundreds of gaming and community events and it was a dream to be involved with E3. We wish the organisers the best of luck.”

Shortly after, the event’s organizers from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) also confirmed the situation:

“We can confirm that iam8bit is no longer part of the inter-agency group working on E3 2020. We greatly value their passion for the video game industry and the contributions they brought toward our vision for this year’s show. We have an innovative and experienced team in place including Endeavor’s creative agency 160over90, event innovators Mat+Lo and longtime E3 partners, GES, Dolaher Events and Double Forte—all collaborating to bring to life an exciting and authentic experience for fans, the media and the industry.”

Previously, Sony had confirmed that it would not be attending this year’s E3 – but would instead attend other consumer events. Likewise, Game Awards host Geoff Keighley announced that he would be skipping the event this year. Nintendo and Microsoft’s Xbox team will still be attending, as at the time of writing.

While the ESA has stated previously that the ongoing coronavirus outbreak would not deter the event from taking place as planned, iam8bit’s departure seems to indicate that the event has other internal issues to worry about. Let’s hope things hold together until June 2020.