After the cancelation of E3 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Entertainment Software Association isn’t going to miss out this year. E3 2021 is happening, and we finally know exactly when and have a pretty good idea of what publishers we can expect to bring showcases to this year’s event.
E3 2021 is set to run a few days earlier than previous E3 events, from June 12 to June 15. That positioning could be a reaction by the ESA to the multiple events that ran last year to fill the power vacuum that E3 left. It has already been confirmed that Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest, which debuted in 2020, will run sometime this upcoming June. Likewise, Valve is hosting its Steam Next Fest, which will feature a slew of developer interviews, game trailers, a free demos. That event already has a confirmed date, slated to run from June 16 to June 22.
However, neither of these events will likely sport is the long list of high-profile publishers that have already confirmed they will show at E3. Anyone watching the event can expect to see something from Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, Konami, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games, and Koch Media according to a statement released by the ESA. There are some publishers missing though, notably Blizzard Activision and Sony. The former has its own event, BlizzCon, and the latter infamously challenged the ESA last year for how it was presenting E3 before dropping out.
