E3 2021 is officially a free, all-digital event featuring Nintendo, Microsoft, more

By Giovanni Colantonio April 6, 2021

The ESA finally revealed the first official details about E3 2021 after months of rumors. The show will be all-digital in 2021 and feature many major gaming studios — and some notable absences.

E3 2021 will take place from June 12 to June 15 as originally scheduled. While the ESA danced around whether or not the show would be in-person, today it officially confirmed a full digital pivot. The ESA previously said that the event would be a “reimagined” version of the show.

According to ESA CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis, this year’s edition will be business as usual for the show despite the format change. It’s expected to feature game announcements and reveals as it has in previous years.

“We are evolving this year’s E3 into a more inclusive event,” says Pierre-Louis in a press release, “but will still look to excite the fans with major reveals and insider opportunities that make this event the indispensable center stage for video games.”

While few details were revealed, the ESA did share a list of partners who will be involved in the show. Nintendo, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Konami, Warner Bros., and more are among the list of publishers who will showcase games at the event.

Notably absent from the list are Sony and EA. Both companies had ditched E3 entirely in recent years prior to the show’s cancellation in 2020. At the moment, it appears that neither company will return for the digital show.

The ESA emphasizes that the event will be free. That comes after recent speculation that the show would feature some form of a paid tier for fans to get exclusive access to demos. The E3 Twitter account denied those claims. No further details about how the show will be structured were revealed.

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Giovanni Colantonio

Senior Gaming Editor

As Digital Trends' Senior Gaming Editor, Giovanni Colantonio oversees all things video games at Digital Trends. As a veteran…

Gaming

Here’s what E3 2023 could look like without Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft

Playstation character wall at E3 2018

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This is according to a report from IGN citing multiple sources, who claimed the companies won’t be a part of the show or make appearances on the floor at the Los Angeles Convention Center in any way. Their absence from this year’s E3, especially Nintendo’s, may come as a shock to the gaming community, but it's not such a surprise when looking at the past few iterations of E3. Even before the pandemic locked everyone down in 2020, Sony and Xbox had been hosting their own E3-style livestreams, so it was more likely they would do it again this year anyway. Nintendo, on the other hand, managed to show off its upcoming games via Nintendo Direct streams and at its booth, console kiosks and all.

Gaming

Summer Game Fest returns just before E3 2023 next June

The official artwork confirming Summer Game Fest's return on June 8, 2023.

Geoff Keighley has confirmed when Summer Game Fest will return in June 2023. It will begin with a live kickoff show on June 8, 2023, placing Keighley's game announcement alternative less than a week before E3's grand (intended) 2023 return.
Unlike past years, Summer Game Fest Live Kickoff 2023 will feature a live audience, like Geoff Keighley's The Game Awards. It will take place in the YouTube Theater at Hollywood Park, with tickets going on sale in early 2023. It will still be livestreamed across platforms like YouTube and Twitch, though. It's currently unknown who's participating, how long Summer Game Fest will run afterward, or if it will feature a Summer Game Fest Play Days-like element for fans. Still, Keighley says all of that info will be revealed ahead of the event next year, teasing what people can expect.
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That June 8 start date, and the other Summer Game Fest events likely to follow, put Keighley's show just ahead of E3 2023. The ESA and ReedPop plan to bring E3 back between June 13 and June 16, 2023. With five days of lead time on E3, Summer Game Fest can coexist with the long-running gaming conference and encompass the plethora of publisher showcases that tend to precede E3.
Geoff Keighley made it clear that he wants Summer Game Fest and E3 to coexist for a while. "We've had extensive conversations with ReedPop about E3," he said in an interview with Epic Games Store. "I think it'll kind of fit together and flow kind of from what we're doing into what they're doing and stuff. E3, to me, is this kind of master brand that represents gaming news in June."
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Gaming

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