It's very difficult for these events to refund people. Unless they have some big industry sponsors, a lot is based on ticket sales. Deposits on venues are usual

It's very difficult for these events to refund people. Unless they have some big industry sponsors, a lot is based on ticket sales. Deposits on venues are usually made with the profit left over from last year. E3 is different because the big companies can choose to eat or write off the loss, or give money more starting capital to organizers for next year. For smaller events like say, a dance weekend or puppet festival, a lot of those are labour of love type events that have been built up slowly over the years. Those will be the groups hardest hit.