E3 organizers announce a new game event

Summary

The E3 ESA organizer announced a new game event: Interactive Innovation Conferences or Iicon.
Iicon is an event only for an invitation that will take place in Las Vegas at the end of April 2026.
Iicon will differ significantly from the modern E3 in that it is a completely event focused on industry.

Entertainment Software Association (ESA), best known as an organizer E3She announced a new game event called Interactive Innovation Conference. The first confirmed details of the upcoming event suggest that its concept will vary significantly from the E3 concept, at least in comparison with the last editions of the fair.

The latest Electronic Entertainment Expo took place in 2021. ESA reportedly lost millions of dollars on E3 2021, then canceled the following two iterations of the fair. In December 2023, the organization based in Washington announced that it decided to interrupt the E3.

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14 months after the official killing of E3, ESA is now back with the announcement of another game event – a conference on interactive innovations or iicon (stylized as “Iicon”). Like his nickname, Iicon was presented as a conference on thinking, where experts in the field can learn and network. ESA describes this as “the first event that is designed to connect visionaries, thought leaders and innovators from the entire industry,” all to help them “use the strength of interactive entertainment”.

Overview of interactive innovation (iicon)

Data: 27. – 30th April 2026
Place: Fontainebleau Resort, Las Vegas, NV
A confirmed lecturer: Amazon Games, Disney, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Microsoft, Nintendo of America, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Square Enix, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft, Warner Bros.

Iicon will be held between 27 and 30 April 2026. Many long -term E3 partners have already agreed with the mission of representatives to host key notes at the event. The list of confirmed Iicon 2026 lecturers among the main lecturers include Nintendo of America, PlayStation, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts and Tate-Two Interactive. The conference will only be an invitation and potential participants can already apply for updates to organizers on the official Iicon website. Most invitations are likely to act as exclusive paid tickets, although it is currently not clear when they will be available.

Iicon will differ from modern E3s

The nature of the event only causes that it differs significantly from the modern E3 iterations, which were largely focused on consumers. At the same time, this exclusivity and focus on innovations and network networks are reminiscent of the original E3 concept. Between 1995 and 2016, Expo Electronic Entertainment EXPO was only an industrial event and its release from 2017 was the first to open to the public.

The first event that is designed to connect the visionaries, thought leaders and innovators from the whole industry to take advantage of interactive entertainment.

Regarding the notification of games, this aspect of E3 has already been effectively replaced by Summer Game Fest events and publishers, which the second aces quoted as the main reason for interrupting its long-term business show. However, Iicon's announcement suggests that ESA still sees a place for an industry game gaming event.