E3 organizers announce a new gaming event

Summary

E3 organizer Esa announced a new gaming event: Interactive Innovation Conference or IICON.
IICON is an inviting event that will take place in Las Vegas at the end of April 2026.
IICON will differ significantly from modern E3S in that it will be a completely industry -focused event.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), best known as the organizer of E3Has announced a new gaming event called The Interactive Innovation Conference. The first confirmed details of the upcoming event indicate that its concept will differ significantly from E3, at least compared to the latest editions of the fair.

The last electronic entertainment exhibition occurred in 2021. ESA reportedly lost millions of dollars on the E3 2021 and then canceled the two subsequent iterations in the fair. In December 2023, Washington, DC-based organization, announced that it had decided to cancel E3.

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14 months after he officially killed E3, ESA is now back with the announcement of another gaming event – the interactive innovation conference, or IICON (stylized as “IIICON”). Like his moniker suggests, Iicon has been imagined as an anti -thinking conference where industry people can learn from and networks with each other. ESA describes it as “a first-in-it-type event designed to connect visionaries, thought leaders and innovators from entire industries”, all with the goal of helping them “utilize the power in interactive entertainment.”

Interactive Innovation Conference (IICON) Overview

Date: 27-30 April 2026
Venue: Fontainebleau Resort, Las Vegas, NV
Confirmed Keynote presenters: Amazon Games, Disney, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Microsoft, Nintendo of America, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Square Enix, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft, Warner Bros. Games

IICON will take place between 27 and 30 April 2026. Its choice of location is Fontainebleau Resort, a five -star hotel in central Las Vegas. Lots of long-term E3 partners have already agreed to send representatives to host keynotes at the event. The list of confirmed IICON 2026 Keynote presenters includes Nintendo of America officials, Playstation, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive, among others. The conference will be inviting, and prospective participants can already register for updates from the organizers on the official IIICON website. Most invitations are likely to serve as exclusive paid tickets, although it is currently unclear when they will be available.

Iicon will differ from modern e3s

The event's invited nature makes it considerably different from the modern iterations of E3, which was largely consumer -oriented. At the same time, this exclusivity and the event's focus on innovation and networks are reminiscent of E3's original concept. Between 1995 and 2016, Electronic Entertainment Expo was an industry event, and its edition in 2017 was the first to be open to the public.

A first-in-the-use-cheek event designed to connect visionaries, thought leaders and innovators from the entire industries to utilize the power of interactive entertainment.

In the case of gaming messages, that aspect of E3 was already effectively replaced by the Summer Game Fest and Publisher-specific event-the later that ESA quoted as the main reason for canceling its long-standing fair. However, the IICON CEO indicates that ESA still sees a place for an industry-focused gaming event.