E3 2021 is taking place as a three-day digital event this year. Here’s everything you need to know about the gaming conference.
E3 2021 is officially underway, but it looks a little different than in previous years. The gaming conference is online-only, running from June 12 to June 15, with publishers and developers hosting their own live streams as part of the event. Following the cancelation of E3 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it remained unclear whether E3 2021 would still go ahead in some form. A digital event was set to take place in 2020 but, due to a lack of support, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) decided to scrap the event altogether – with Geoff Keighley’s Summer Games Fest taking center stage for gaming announcements instead. But this year is different and we’ve seen a few conferences already, with showcases from the likes of Xbox and Nintendo still to come. With all these conferences, it can be hard to keep track of who is streaming when. So we’ve put together this handy guide to all the biggest gaming conferences happening in June and July, so you can keep track of each one. Read on for everything we know so far about E3 2021. Below, we’ve rounded up the biggest showcases that have happened so far and what was announced: Games Workshop’s annual event, previously called Skulls for the Skull Throne, has been rebranded to Warhammer Skulls. This week-long Warhammer event was kicked off with a showcase live on June 3. The showcase included 14 big announcements including the reveal of Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters and updates for Total War: Warhammer 3 and Vermintide 2. You can watch the full showcase above. The Indie Live Expo took place on June 5 and is Japan’s largest indie game festival. This showcase (obviously) focused on indie titles, with 300 games showcased over the stream’s nearly six-hour running time. You can catch up on the full showcase above. The Guerrilla Collective is a digital games festival that primarily focuses on indie titles. This was the first of two Guerrilla Collective events, which seen a myriad of announcements on games including Omno, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and Aeon Drive. This stream was followed by the Black Voices in Gaming stream, which showcased games created by Black developers and titles featuring a Black protagonist. EA DICE revealed the new Battlefield, called Battlefield 2042, with an official reveal trailer on June 9. Battlefield 2042 features huge maps, dynamic weather and three multiplayer modes. You can read all about it right here. Summer Game Fest kicked off on June 10 with the Summer Game Fest: Kickoff Live showcase. The showcase was packed with announcements, trailers and reveals and, while not all of them were particularly awe-inspiring, there were some standouts. The biggest ’surprise‘ of the night was the reveal of a full-length Elden Ring trailer, which gave us our best look yet at the collaboration between George R.R. Martin and FromSoftware and a release date: January 21, 2022. Elden Ring looks to be the natural progression of the Dark Souls series, featuring FromSoftware’s iconic melee combat while adding in a giant open world and horseback traversal. It will be available on last-gen consoles as well as PS5 and Xbox Series X/S via a free upgrade. There was also the official announcement of the Borderland’s spin-off, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, which is a standalone title based around (you guessed it) Tiny Tina. This standalone title is releasing in early 2022 and has a star-studded cast that includes Andy Samburg and Will Arnett. Metal Slug Tactics followed up with a gorgeous anime trailer, taking the revered arcade shooter to a turn-based setting. Elsewhere, the newly announced Planet of Lana looked phenomenal, presenting a gorgeous world contrasted with monstrous creatures. We also got the news that a Death Stranding Director’s Cut is coming to PS5, with a full reveal to take place „in just a few weeks“. We also heard more about Call of Duty Warzone: Season 4, got a glimpse of Overwatch 2’s redesigned characters and Giancarlo Esposito even popped by to taught about his role in Far Cry 6. Overall, while there wasn’t the breadth of big announcements that we hoped for, the Elden Ring reveal more than made up for. The Koch Media conference was a bit dull but we knew that would potentially be the case when the company told fans not to expect Metro, Dead Island or Saints Row at its showcase. Instead, Koch announced a new publishing label: Prime Matter. One of the first games announced for Prime Matter is Payday 3, which will be developed in partnership with Starbreeze Studios. There aren’t any further details for the game at this time except that Payday 3 is being aimed for a 2023 release window on consoles and PC. The IGN Expo featured further details on Gearbox’s Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands plus exclusive reveals of Doki Literature Club Plus, World War Z: Aftermath, AudioClash: Battle of the Bands, Core Keeper, Bramble: The Mountain King and more. The second day of Guerrilla Collective featured games including Among Us, Akatori, Aragami 2, BPM: Bullets Per Minute, Demon Turf, Ghostrunner and more. Date and time: June 12 at 10am PT / 6pm BST / 1pm ET (or June 13 at 3am AEST) How to watch: YouTube What we’re expecting: Wholesome Direct is an independent showcase ran by Wholesome Games that aims to „spotlight uplifting and thoughtful indie games“. This year’s event is set to showcase an hour of exclusive footage, new game reveals, developer interviews and announcements from 75 titles. TechRadar’s Take: In a particularly dark year for many of us, Wholesome Direct couldn’t come at a better time. If you want to watch a stream that showcases games with only good vibes, then this is the one for you. Below, we’ve rounded up all the confirmed dates and times for E3 2021’s conferences. We will continue to update this article as more conference details are confirmed. Date and time: June 12 at 12pm PT / 8pm BST / 3pm ET (or June 13 at 5am AEST) How to watch: Ubisoft Forward site and on the official Ubisoft YouTube channel What we’re expecting: Ubisoft has already confirmed its pre-show (kicking off an hour beforehand) will feature updates on live games such as For Honor, Trackmania, The Crew 2, Brawlhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion. The publisher has also confirmed that its main show will feature world premiere gameplay and trailers for Rainbow Six Extraction as well as further details on Far Cry 6. In addition, there will be news on Riders Republic and updates on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Rainbow Six Siege. TechRadar’s Take: While not confirmed, we’re hoping there will be an update on two games we haven’t heard much on since their announcement: Skull & Bones and Beyond Good and Evil 2. Date and time: June 12 at 1:30pm PT / 4:30pm ET / 9:30pm BST (or June 13 at 6:30am AEST) How to watch: YouTube What we’re expecting: At the moment there’s no indication of what announcements to expect from Devolver but there isn’t long to find out! TechRadar’s Take: While we’re not sure what to expect from Devolver this year, the publisher always hosts one of the most entertaining conferences of the gaming season. So it’s worth watching just for that alone. Date and time: June 12 at 2pm PT / 10pm BST / 5pm ET (or 7am AEST on June 6) How to watch: Twitch What we’re expecting: Gearbox is set to reveal its Borderlands spin-off game called Wonderlands during Summer Game Fest’s showcase, so we’re expecting this conference to follow up with more details.
