Tag: E3 2023

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The next two months of video games are absolutely stacked

Now that we’re halfway through April, it’s getting to be a particularly busy time in the world of games.

Already, we’ve had the likes of Fire Emblem Engage, Hi-Fi Rush, the PlayStation VR2, Metroid Prime Remastered, Hogwarts Legacy, Octopath Traveler II and Resident Evil 4, as well as successful adaptations like The Last of Us and The Super Mario Bros. Movie but that was just the prelude. From the latest entries in several beloved long-running franchises to promising new IPs and major events, there’s a lot to forward to over the next couple of months alone. You might even say it’s the ‘2023 Summer Game Season.’

Read on for a highlight of what to expect:

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor duel

Image credit: EA

Release date: April 28th
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

We’d be remiss not to mention that the de facto start to the busy mid-year stretch has to be Respawn’s sequel to its hit 2019 action-adventure game, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Set five years after the events of that game, Survivor follows Cal Kestis as he continues his battle against the Galactic Empire with the Jedi all but decimated. Gameplay-wise, the sequel offers a variety of improvements, including new lightsaber stances and Force powers and more open and expansive level design (with fast-travel!). The Force is looking pretty strong with this one.

Redfall

Redfall team

Image credit: Bethesda

Release date: May 2nd
Platform: Xbox Series X/S, PC

Arkane (Dishonored) is here with a new first-person shooter IP that’s all about vampire slaying on an island town in Massachusetts. Whether solo or in co-op, you can control one of four unique characters — cryptozoologist and inventor Devinder, telekinetic student Layla Ellison, combat engineer Remi and supernatural sniper Jacob. While there’s been some controversy surrounding the lack of a 60fps option at launch, Arkane’s pedigree certainly speaks for itself.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom freefall

Image credit: Nintendo

Release date: May 12th
Platform: Nintendo Switch

Over six years after the beloved Breath of the Wild, Nintendo is finally here with a direct sequel. This time around, Link must traverse both the land and skies of Hyrule to stop a malevolent force from rising. Between the darker tone, new floating islands to explore and inventive new abilities (weapon-fusing and rewinding time!), it’s shaping up to be another Nintendo game of the year contender.

In related news, MobileSyrup and Nintendo of Canada are running a contest until April 20th where you and a friend will be flown to New York City for the launch of Tears of the Kingdom. Full terms and conditions are available here.

Street Fighter 6

Street Fighter 6 Ryu vs Chun-Li

Image credit: Capcom

Release date: June 2nd
Platforms: PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X and S, PC

Capcom’s iconic fighting game series is back. The game features 18 fighters, including new and fan-favourites like Ryu, Chun-Li and Cammy, as well as three distinct game modes: World Tour, Fighting Ground and Battle Hub. Moreover, it marks a return to Xbox consoles after Street Fighter 5 controversially was a PlayStation 4 console exclusive. All in all, the series looks to be in fighting form.

Diablo IV

Diablo IV combat

Image credit: Activision Blizzard

Release date: June 6th
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S

Eleven years after Diablo III, Blizzard is back with a full-fledged entry in the action-RPG series — no smartphone required. So far, it’s been a big hit with fans, especially after a well-received beta. The game takes place 30 years after the events of Diablo III and sees players having to face off against Lilith, the daughter of Mephisto. It’s also worth noting that Canada’s Rod Ferguson, a key player behind the Gears of War series, now serves as a producer on the Diablo franchise.

Summer Game Fest

Date: June 8th at 12pm PT/3pm ET
Where to stream: TBA

A few weeks ago, the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) was cancelled, confirming weeks-long rumours that the show would be scrapped amid minimal publisher interest. At the same time, Geoff Keighley, the Markham, Ontario-born creator of The Game Awards, promised a bigger-than-ever Summer Game Fest event, including a first-time physical component in Los Angeles. Keighley created the show in 2020 as a digital alternative to E3 during the COVID-19 pandemic, but with E3 tapering off, it looks here to stay. Expect to see game reveals from dozens of companies.

Xbox Games Showcase + Starfield Direct

Starfield planet

Starfield (Image credit: Bethesda)

Date: June 11th (time TBA)
Where to stream: TBA

While E3 has been called off, Xbox is still holding its traditional June gaming showcase. It’s unclear exactly what we’ll see there, but potential titles include Ninja Theory’s Hellblade II, Rare’s Everwild, Turn 10’s Forza Motorsport and Obsidian’s Avowed. What we do know, though, is that Bethesda’s highly-anticipated Starfield is getting its own dedicated ‘Direct’ presentation directly after the Xbox Games Showcase.

Ubisoft Forward

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (Image credit: Ubisoft)

Date: June 12th (time TBA)
Where to stream: TBA

Ubisoft has been pretty quiet as of late, with 2022 being a fairly light year for the publisher outside of Just Dance 2023 and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope. Instead, the company has largely been producing a variety of live service experiences, including the crossover shooter XDefiant and multiple Assassin’s Creed titles. Presumably, this Ubisoft Forward will offer a better look at many of these, as well as the likes of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Assassin’s Creed Mirage.

Final Fantasy XVI

Image credit: Square Enix

Release date: June 22nd, 2023
Platform: PlayStation 5

How do you follow up on one of the biggest comeback stories in games, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn? You make the next mainline single-player entry in the venerable 35-plus-year series. Over the past several years, Square Enix’s Creative Business Unit III has been toiling away at a darker, politically-charged Final Fantasy action-RPG that aims to marry the mature storytelling of FFXIV with the tight and stylish combat of Devil May Cry. Indeed, the story actually hails from Kazutoyo Maehiro, writer of the award-winning Heavensward, while the combat is being spearheaded by DMC alum Ryota Suzuki. Just one month after Tears of the Kingdom and we could very well be getting another Game of the Year contender.

That would be a solid lineup in any year, and the fact that it all spans just two months is particularly impressive. If we look a bit further into the year, we’ll also be getting Nintendo’s Pikmin 4 (July 21st), Canadian-made RPG Sea of Stars (August 29th), Larian’s Baldur’s Gate III (August 31st), Starfield (September 6th) and Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (TBA fall, possibly September), among other games.

What are you most excited to play? Let us know in the comments below.

Image credit: Nintendo, Square Enix

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E3 2023 has officially been cancelled

E3 2023 has officially been cancelled.

IGN first reported the news before the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the lobbying group that organizes the event, confirmed it. Short for Electronics Entertainment Expo, E3 has been a major trade show for the gaming industry since 1995, bringing together the industry to make key announcements related to games and hardware.

In a statement on social media, the ESA noted that will not be going forward either with the traditional Los Angeles-based physical event or any digital alternative this year. However, it didn’t mention plans for 2024 or beyond, and IGN notes that internal emails the group sent to publishers were similarly unclear about the future. Instead, the ESA simply says it’s looking towards “future E3 events.”

Ultimately, news of E3’s cancellation isn’t exactly surprising, given that the writing had been on the wall for some time. Last year, the ESA revealed plans to return to a physical show in 2023 after skipping 2020 and 2022 entirely and doing a poorly received digital event in between in 2021.

As part of that, ESA had partnered with ReedPop, an experienced organizer behind such big conventions as New York Comic Con and Star Wars Celebration. The two had teased a reimagining for the show, but in the months since, not a single publisher had confirmed attendance. Instead, we had only heard that companies like PlayStation, Nintendo, Xbox, Ubisoft and Sega would not be at the show. The ESA says it intends to continue working with ReedPop in the future.

This all comes after questions surrounding E3’s relevance had been raised over the past several years. Even in 2019, the last pre-pandemic event, PlayStation had already withdrawn from the show, while companies like Xbox and EA did their own events in the surrounding Los Angeles area. In the day and age of digital distribution, many companies have taken to video presentations like Nintendo Direct that can be streamed via YouTube and Twitch. Naturally, this is far cheaper and easier to plan than renting out physical booth space at a convention centre, and it still allows companies to directly reach fans at home. The past few years of the pandemic have only made such digital formats more popular.

One of the biggest examples is Summer Game Fest, a new show from Canada’s Geoff Keighley, the creator of The Game Awards. Keighley used to work with the ESA, but pivoted instead towards creating his own shows, like Summer Game Fest and Gamescom’s Opening Night Live.

“Four years ago, I realized that E3 wasn’t evolving as it needed to compete in a global, digital world. So we started building what’s next,” Keighley tweeted in response to E3’s cancellation. He then plugged this year’s Summer Game Fest, which will take place on June 8th. Also confirmed for that month are the next Xbox & Bethesda Showcase (June 11th) and Ubisoft Forward (June 12th).

It remains to be seen if the ESA will manage to bring back E3 in 2024, but given the general lack of industry interest in recent years, it doesn’t seem likely.

Image credit: ESA

Source: ESA

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E3 to get a physical and digital show in 2023 after skipping 2022 entirely

The Electronics Entertainment Expo will return in 2023, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has reiterated.

The ESA, the gaming industry lobbying group that organizes E3, officially cancelled this year’s show in March. At the time, the ESA didn’t provide a reason for skipping this year, although it promised a “revitalized physical and digital” experience in 2023. Now, a few months later, the company maintained that E3 is happening next year in a new interview with The Washington Post.

“We’re excited about coming back in 2023 with both a digital and an in-person event,” ESA president and CEO Stan Pierre-Louis told The Washington Post. The physical event will be held in Los Angeles as normal.

“As much as we love these digital events, and as much as they reach people and we want that global reach, we also know that there’s a really strong desire for people to convene — to be able to connect in person and see each other and talk about what makes games great.”

However, conversations surrounding E3’s relevance have been circulating for years now, particularly due to PlayStation pulling out of the 2019 show. In an age where companies can hold their own virtual events at their convenience, like PlayStation just did last week with its latest State of Play, some have argued that having to commit to an expensive physical presence in Los Angeles is unneeded. The ESA has also come under fire for leaking media’s personal information, as well as the data of members of the general public who took part in last year’s poorly received digital E3.

Given all of this, some have wondered whether the ESA was throwing in the towel, especially amid reports that the group was skipping this year’s show even before COVID cases were on the rise. All the while, the industry has carried on with its own events, particularly Summer Game Fest, which The Game Awards producer Geoff Keighley has put on amid E3’s absence. When The Washington Post asked about all of these reports, Pierre-Louis simply said, “What I can tell you is that COVID has been a driving factor for anyone who conducts physical events for the past three years.”

Assuming it does indeed happen, it remains to be seen exactly what next year’s E3 will look like. It’s unclear which publishers will decide to participate, especially if there are other events vying for their attention. To that point, well-known Twitter user Nibellion tweeted that E3’s offering of a physical platform is something that other events, like Summer Game Fest, have yet to do. In response, Keighley simply tweeted with the “eye” emoji, which could be viewed as a cryptic tease of his plans. Given Keighley’s success with gaming events, it’s not hard to imagine how he might be planning of expanding the reach of Summer Game Fest, including through a potential future physical show.

For now, though, we have Summer Game Fest 2022, which kicks off on Thursday, June 9th at 11am PT/2pm ET. It’s one of many events happening this month — a full breakdown of those can be found here.

Source: The Washington Post