E3's Entertainment Software Association Returns With A New Industry Event

Bringing together a "broad spectrum of sectors"

by Liam Doolan Fri, 12:55am

In some industry news, the Entertainment Software Association (which operated E3) has this week announced it will be returning with a new event known as the Interactive Innovation Conference.

This will apparently be a "first-of-its-kind" event taking place in Las Vegas between April 27th - April 30th, 2026 connecting "visionaries, thought leaders and innovators" from across industries within interactive entertainment. The plan is to also bring together a "broad spectrum of sectors that converge with interactive entertainment". This includes "film, television and music, as well as sports, healthcare, education, finance" and more.

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Attendees can expect to "learn from and engage with industry icons" from major companies including Nintendo of America, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Microsoft, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Square Enix, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games, Amazon Games, and Disney.

Here's what the ESA's Chairman of the Board (and NoA president) Doug Bowser had to say about this announcement:

“The Entertainment Software Association and its member companies are among the innovators and leaders shaping the future of culture, business and human connection. It’s a natural role for ESA to host and support an event that fosters an open exchange of new ideas with our peer industry leaders. iicon is bringing together changemakers from across industries to envision how the strengths of the interactive entertainment industry can break entirely new ground.”

'iicon' as it's abbreviated, will supposedly be the "premier summit for discovering new opportunities powered by the industry and its technology". There are more details about this upcoming event on the iicon website including the ability to sign up for future updates.

What are your thoughts about this? Let us know in the comments.

[source theesa.com, via gamedeveloper.com]

Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He's been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief.

1
Xenoblade-Fan
Fri, 1am

If only it started this year, it would coincide nicely with the switch 2 direct.

I'm sure there will be lots of Switch 2 at that event

3
batmanbud2
Fri, 1:15am

WARIO LAND 4 WARIO LAND 4 WARIO LAND 4 WARIO LAND 4

4
RupeeClock
Fri, 1:15am

You know, "iicon" is actually a pretty bad choice of name.
Keyboards and software will frequently auto-correct that to "icon" and make it an actual pain to search online, and hurt its visibility.
They should reconsider.

5
AstroTheGamosian
Fri, 1:19am

I mean, I loved E3 (it was my favorite time of the year, to the point where I even wrote a song set to tune of the Andy Williams Christmas song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"), but I think the writing was on the wall well before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Once industry giants opted for a digital presentation instead of a live stage show and/or floor presence (such as Nintendo in 2013 and Sony in 2019), E3's days were numbered. The pandemic simply accelerated that decline.

With the advent of livestreaming and pre-recorded videos, I doubt the major game publishers will necessarily be willing to support this event for very long, especially if the event organizers can't come up with a new angle to distinguish it from E3.

As much as I love events like E3, even I think it may be time to let the format die and to continue with pre-recorded shows and livestreams going forward. It's the way of the future, after all.

6
Nintendemon
Fri, 1:37am

Reverting back to being an invite only keynote and showcase centric thing is probably the best thing they could've done in starting up an event again.

7
BigRadical
Fri, 1:56am

Despite all the name-drops, it doesn’t really sound like something for videogaming.

8
tektite_captain
Fri, 2:09am

“iicon”? Good lord, just cancel it now.

9
CurryPowderKeg79
Fri, 2:46am

R.I.P E3 i miss you.

10
Lizuka
Fri, 2:52am

@RupeeClock And also you run a decent chance of search result confusion with the old WWE team The IIconics. Just a bad choice of name in general.

11
Zeebor15
Fri, 3:21am

While I hate the fact that the ESA has surrendered June to the Summer Keighly circle-jerk, it stands to reason they don't exactly have the resources to go toe to toe with him directly anymore. What IS surprising is the knowledge that the ESA is controlled by Nintendo of America?!

12
Anachronism
Fri, 3:24am

I'm not exactly confident in their ability to run something like this. E3 used to have an unassailable position as the biggest event on the gaming calendar. Now a few years later it's dead, and a bunch of smaller events are still fighting to fill the vacuum it left like nation states after the collapse of an empire. Maybe they'd already lost that position once companies like Nintendo proved they could hold presentations on their own terms and still get plenty of attention, but to repeatedly try and fail after that point shows they weren't capable of adapting. I hope they've learned some sort of lesson since then, but it's on them to prove the value of this new convention.

13
StewdaMegaManNerd
Fri, 3:42am

…quite frankly, I’ve never been to any of these, and I really don’t feel much of a desire to. Great for those who do care, though. But I’ll just stick to watching video presentations while relaxing and snacking. The only disadvantage is that I’d miss the dance performances. Because everyone knows those were the best.

14
Rhaoulos
Fri, 4:35am

So Nintendo took over ESA and created their own event after boycotting E3 for a decade. Well played, very evil.

15
Thomystic
Fri, 4:47am

Two i's channeling the Wii? Just call it BowserCon, and if it's bad, that's because it's an anti-conference. You were just playing into the shtick.

16
NinChocolate
Fri, 4:53am

"film, television and music, as well as sports, healthcare, education, finance" and more.“

Sounds like the course options of a community college..

17
Coolmusic
Fri, 5:22am

I could be wrong but it sounds more like an industry connection event (basically GDC) than a consumer-facing event or trade show.
Still sounds interesting nonetheless.

That said, "iicon" is not a good choice of a name but oh well.

18
billiybob76
Fri, 6:54am

@Xenoblade-Fan @Automated_Unit_4937

The new event is in one year (April 2026), not this year....

19
timp29
Fri, 7:18am

I thought they were game over.

20
Soroush
Fri, 8:17am

This sounds like an exciting step forward for the industry! It’ll be interesting to see how this event bridges the gap between gaming, film, music, and even healthcare. Looking forward to hearing more details!

21
JohnnyMind
Fri, 9:21am

Hope to be proven wrong, but it smells more of several aspects that people hate about Keighley's events than anything else... and yeah, even if it were good its name definitely isn't as others have already pointed out.

22
thenikdavies
Fri, 10:30am

How do I pronounce that?
Eye-eye-con
Or like I'm part of a pirate crew?
Aye-aye-con!!

23
outsider83
Fri, 10:44am

I forgot about E3. Which is wild. It used to be such a big thing for me growing up. Even during adulthood. It was interesting to see its demise. Which is something I never would have imagined. Then I quickly forget about it. 😩