by The organizers of The extravagant E3 Games conference declared the event dead in 2023. The presence for the bombastic, newspaper packed stock exchange was a decrease in 2019, and after the COVID-19 Lockdown the organizers of the Entertainment Software Association still had a virtual more virtual tone before before before you pull the plug.
Now the ESA is ready to continue with a new, vaguely described event called the Interactive Innovation Conference, called “Iicon”. Large game developers such as Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and more have already been confirmed for the show.
But ESA president and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis wants to make one thing clear: “This is not the new E3,” he says Wired.
Iicon will take place in April 2026 in Las Vegas and will not be fairs for game announcements, says Pierre-Louis. It will also not be a consumer show with demos or a forum to talk about game development. He says there are already events “that do all those things very well.”
Instead, Iicon de Esa hopes to bridge the gap between the many industries formed by progress in video games, from film and music to health care and education.
“We are proud of the history we had to organize E3 and what it did to bring our industry together,” says Pierre-Louis. “But this is a completely special event with a different purpose and another audience.”
The recording of Hollywood studios is logical. Games and Hollywood enjoyed a successful marriage, from the Super Mario Bros. film and its performance as one of the most profitable animation films of all time, to the acclaimed HBO adjustment of The last of us. The crossover with the music industry also feels natural, because musicians such as Travis Scott and Ariana Grande have held virtual concerts in Fortnite.
More opaque is the connection between video games and an industry such as healthcare. According to Pierre-Louis, however, they are more connected than you think. “Surgeons learn their trade through mixed reality VR to understand how they can make improvements in their skills,” he says. “ADHD and Alzheimer’s are now being treated via video games, sometimes via recipes.”
Organizers have not yet released details about speakers or panels that appear, but according to Pierre-Louis, the schedule will not resemble those of the shows that have risen to take the place of E3. “If you look at how interactive entertainment is used in a number of other areas,” he says, “you can see that it has a big impact, even if people don’t recognize or celebrate it that much.”
The new event is ‘only inviting’, so interested participants must register to participate. This makes room for big names in several industries. “What has been missing since the sunset of E3 is the opportunity to bring everyone together to come together, while the broader business community brings in,” says Pierre-Louis.
