Watch the Xbox E3 2018 press conference right here

By Gabe Gurwin Published June 6, 2018

The E3 2018 madness is upon us, and in the massive wave of news and game announcements, it can be tough to decide how you’re actually going to sit down and watch everything unfold. The first major press conference of E3 2018 proper — rather than Electronic Arts’ own EA Play event — is Microsoft’s show, and who better to watch it with than the Digital Trends crew?

Microsoft’s Xbox E3 press conference will take place on Sunday, June 10, at 4 p.m. ET, and we’ll be livestreaming and reacting to the announcements on this page. Join senior editor Matt Smith, producer Jake Rossman, and staff writer Brendan Hesse as they see what Phil Spencer and his team have to offer. On Twitter, gaming editor Mike Epstein and staff writer Will Fulton will also be live-tweeting their experience from the event itself.

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If you prefer your E3 press conferences without the company of friends, that is a little rude, but you do have plenty of other options. Microsoft will be streaming the event on the Xbox website, as well as its Mixer, Twitch, and YouTube channels. Mixer is a great option for viewing it, if 2017’s conference is anything to go by. During that event, Microsoft gave away free games and DLC to anyone watching through their Xbox Live account.

What can we expect to see from Xbox at E3 2018? We have a full piece outlining what we think Microsoft is bringing to the show, but sequels like Ori and the Will of the Wisps and Crackdown 3 are almost inevitable. We also expect to see the unannounced Forza Horizon 4, and it’s possible we will get a first look at games in the Halo and Gears of War series, as well. We have even heard rumors that three different Gears of War games could make an appearance, including a battle royale game and a real-time strategy spinoff.

There have also been signs that Forza Horizon developer Playground Games could be working on a new open-world Fable game. Stay tuned for our reactions to that and everything else Microsoft announces during the show, and let us know what your favorite announcement was!

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

Gaming

Ubisoft will not attend E3 2023, but it will still host a summer live stream

Basim showing off his hidden blade in front of the Bagdad cityscape.

Ubisoft will no longer be attending E3 2023, even though it said it would participate in February. Instead, the game publisher behind Assassin's Creed and Far Cry plans to hold its own Ubisoft Forward Live event in Los Angeles this June.
Ubisoft confirmed its change in plans to Video Games Chronicle today, with a spokesperson saying that while Ubisoft "initially intended to have an official E3 presence, we've made the subsequent decision to move in a different direction." This is a change in messaging from just over a month ago when Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said, "If E3 happens, we will be there, and we will have a lot of things to show."
What caused this change of heart in Ubisoft is unclear. However, it seems like the company found that it could still successfully promote its game lineup without being attached to the Entertainment Software Association's event. We don't know much about the Ubisoft Forward Live event other than it'll take place on June 12 in Los Angeles, but Ubisoft tells VGC that "we look forward to sharing more details with our players very soon."
This puts E3 2023 in a weird overall spot, as we currently know more about the companies that won't be at the event -- like Microsoft, Ubisoft, and Nintendo -- than we do about the publishers that will actually be there. After being canceled in 2020 and 2022 and being digital-only in 2021, E3 2023 was supposed to be the annual gaming trade show's grand return. Right now, though, the relevance and viability of E3 2023 are questionable.
ReedPop has not yet commented on the fact that Ubisoft is no longer attending E3 2023.

Gaming

Nintendo confirms that it won’t be part of E3 2023

Pikmin and Bulborb in Pikmin 4.

Nintendo has confirmed reports that it won't be participating in E3 2023, meaning the gaming trade show will be missing one of its key vendors when it returns in-person this June.
"We approach our involvement in any event on a case-by-case basis and are always considering various ways to engage with our fans," a Nintendo spokesperson said in a statement to The Verge. "Since this year’s E3 show didn’t fit into our plans, we have made the decision to not participate. However, we have been and continue to be a strong supporter of the ESA [Entertainment Software Association] and E3."
After taking 2020 and 2022 off and being digital-only in 2021, this year was supposed to mark the grand return of E3, which was once a dominant game industry trade show that attracted every big video game company. Although Sony hasn't participated since 2019, it still came as a shock in January when IGN reported that both Nintendo and Microsoft would not be attending E3 this year as well. It appears that the report is true, as Microsoft has not confirmed any E3-related events outside of its independently run Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase.
Nintendo skipping E3 2023 not only takes away a vendor that dominated the show floor in previous years, but also raises questions about whether or not the company will hold an exciting Nintendo Direct around then. While Nintendo typically holds a big showcase with lots of first-party game announcements around June every year, in 2022 it only held a third-party driven Partner Showcase in June. Now that we know it won't be at E3 2023, we're left to wonder when exactly then next big Nintendo Direct will be.
E3 2023 will take place between June 13 and June 16, but don't expect Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft to have a big presence there.

Gaming

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

Playstation character wall at E3 2018

Let's start with the good news: E3 2023 will be held in its in-person format once again after three long years of digital events necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this time with ReedPop at the helm. The bad news is that Sony, Xbox, and Nintendo -- gaming's "Big 3" -- may not show up at the industry’s biggest convention this summer.

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.