According to the Los Angeles Convention and Tourism Development Board's upcoming meeting materials (found by a Resetera forum poster), E3 is listed as a "canceled live event in 2021."

E3 2020 was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and ESA looked for ways to replace it with an "online experience," but nothing ever materialized. Earlier this year, ESA indicated that it is "transforming the E3 experience for 2021 and will soon share exact details on how we will connect the global video game community," and the above document includes a note "with the production team about broadcast options on LA Live/LACC. We are working with the production team on the options for broadcasting on LA Live/LACC," the note included. While an online version of E3 is certainly a possibility, Sony had been holding its own events away from E3 before the pandemic, and thanks to 2020, companies like Ubisoft and Bethesda also have experience holding stand-alone showcase events.

The Convention and Tourism Development Board document states that they are "working on licenses for 2022 and 2023," but if things don't come together this year, we may simply not see E3 return.

Last year, the PC Gaming Show was a regularly scheduled online event with over 50 games on display.