E3’s Organizers Are Back With a New Event. This Time, Doctors Are Invited Too

The organizers of the extravagant E3 games conference pronounced the event dead in 2023. Attendance for the bombastic, news-packed trade show was on the decline in 2019, and after the Covid-19 lockdown, the organizers at the Entertainment Software Association held one more virtual-only show in 2021 before yanking the plug.
Now, the ESA is ready to move on with a new, vaguely described event called the Interactive Innovation Conference, dubbed “iicon.” Big game developers such as Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and more are already 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 tells WIRED.
Set to take place in April 2026 in Las Vegas, iicon will not be a trade show for game announcements, Pierre-Louis says. Nor will it 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, with iicon, the ESA hopes to bridge the gap between the many industries being shaped by advances in video games, from film and music to health care and education.

E3's Organizers, taking the gaming and healthcare communities by storm with their joint venture event—a bold move to foster collaboration between players of virtual reality across genres from high-score hunters to health professionals alike.

Impressive return of E3's organizers with this collaborative initiative that brings together doctors and industry experts under one platform to promote healthcare innovation, showing the powerful synergy between technology advancements in gaming entertainment sectors.

Impressive shift towards inclusivity in the E3's latest event: inviting doctors along with tech experts showcases a symbiotic collaboration between medicine and technology, enhancing overall industry knowledge exchange.

Truly an innovative stride forward, E3's recent decision to include doctors in their event heralds a new era of interdisciplinary collaboration and technology advancement.

E3's latest endeavor brings together the gaming community with a new twist, inviting medical practitioners to participate alongside. A unique blend of innovation and expertise that highlights collaboration across industries in unexpected yet intriguing ways.

Impressed by the E3's return with an all-new event that extends its platform to physicians as well - a thoughtful move aiming at fostering interdisciplinary collaboration seldom seen in gaming conferences!

Sweet! It's great to see E3 reimagining their event for doctors this time around. The new initiative proves that the gaming community recognizes and values alternative applications of entertainment, fostering a collaboration between medical experts too – an absolute win all-around!”