E3 2023 is dead, but here's what else is still on
June features major Xbox, Bethesda and Ubisoft shows.
After last night's confirmation that E3 2023 is cancelled, it's worth a quick check of June's calendar - which still has plenty to look forward to in the shape of video game announcements.
We're still several months away, but already we've heard word from Ubisoft, Microsoft and Bethesda about their own livestreamed announcement broadcast. And of course there's Summer Game Fest, the more general live show hosted by Geoff Keighley, with updates from other publishers.
Without further ado, here's what to expect and when.
Thursday 8th June, 8pm UK time: Summer Game Fest
Scheduled for just before the start of the traditional E3 week, this annual showcase features a variety of trailers and world premiere announcements from third-party game studios which typically don't hold their own press conferences.
This year, we're expecting CD Projekt to give us a look at Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Libery expansion, among other things.
Sunday 11th June, 6pm UK time: Xbox Games Showcase + Starfield Direct
Microsoft will broadcast its annual E3 week livestream as a double feature this year, with a long-awaited in-depth dive into Starfield on top of the company's more general Xbox announcements.
Bethesda has kept much of Starfield entirely under wraps as it finishes the sci-fi role-playing game's lengthy development process. As a reminder, Starfield is currently set to arrive on 6th September this year, following several delays.
As for Xbox's showing, we're hoping to get a look at some of the company's long-announced projects which have remained rather nebulous: Rare's Everwild, Playground Games' Fable, and the Perfect Dark reboot. A release date for Ninja Theory's Hellblade 2 would also be nice.
Monday 12th June, 6pm UK: Ubisoft Forward Live
Originally set to be part of E3 2023, Ubisoft will now simply broadcast its own announcement show online, which should hopefully provide us an update on its biggest game for this year: Assassin's Creed Mirage. We've never had a more precise release window for it than "2023" - let's hope it is still on track.
Otherwise, Ubisoft has a long list of projects it could show - some of which we've been waiting to see launch for a very long time. We're in need of an update on Skull and Bones, Beyond Good and Evil 2 and Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake, for example. And that's to say nothing of further-off projects such as Ubisoft's take on Star Wars.
And more?
We're still waiting for other companies to make their own summer announcement plans known, though this is typically the time of year we hear from Nintendo, PlayStation and EA on their own projects.
Nintendo will have launched The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom by then, so it remains to be seen if the company holds a Nintendo Direct in June to cover what's left for the rest of 2023 - or whether it focuses in on specific shows for individual games. (Yes, I'm looking forward to seeing more of Pikmin 4.)
PlayStation's big 2023 game is Marvel's Spider-Man 2, which sounds as if it's set for September. Could we get a State of Play showing more on that? As for EA... will it show more of Dragon Age Dreadwolf?