E3 2021 schedule: Every major event you need to know about

Last year’s E3 was reworked at the last minute to accomodate for the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021 E3 is all digital once again — except the world’s biggest gaming companies have more than a month or two to prepare. The world-famous gaming convention will see keynotes and press conferences from the likes of Nintendo, Microsoft, Square Enix, Ubisoft and much more — and will be free for all.

E3 this year runs from June 12 to June 15. We don’t know the entire schedule yet — Nintendo and Square Enix are among the many brands that have committed to the show without revealing the time and date of their presentations — but we’ll update this list as more information comes available. We’ll also update it with links to the streams. 

This isn’t an exhaustive list of everything happening at E3, but scroll down for all the big showings you need to know about. 

Note: You’ll notice Sony is not on this list — that’s because it’s confirmed it’s once again skipping E3 in 2021. 

Summer Game Fest

The cancellations of E3 and GamesCom left a big hole for game companies around the world, who lost a high-profile platform to strut their stuff. Gaming personality Geoff Keighley helped fill that hole with Summer Game Fest, an ongoing series of events that lasted four months. It saw announcements for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time and Star Wars: Squadrons.

This year’s Game Fest kicks off right before E3, on June 10. You can expect some big reveals here.

When: June 10, 11 a.m. PT/ 2 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. BST/ 4 a.m. June 11 AEST.

Ubisoft Forward

Ubisoft is the first big game developer (that we know of) that will run its own press conference at E3 2021. Ubisoft hasn’t said what it’ll show at Ubisoft Forward, but expect to see Far Cry 6, which is due for release this year, as well as Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Quarantine. 

And, hopefully, a nice surprise or two. 

When: June 12, 12 p.m. PT/3 p.m. ET/8 p.m. BST/5 a.m. June 13 AEST. 

Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase

Microsoft officially aquired ZeniMax Media, the owner of Bethesda, back in March, but we still don’t know what exactly that means for the future of Bethesda. We’ll get a good idea on June 13 at the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase — expect some new game announcements, as it’s been said in the past that, while not all Bethesda games will be exclusive to Xbox and PC, several will be. 

When: June 13, 10 a.m. PT/1p.m. ET/6 p.m. BST/3 a.m. June 14 AEST. 

Square Enix Showcase

Yosuke Matsuda, Square Enix’s president, said that the company will be at E3, and will show off a lineup of games. We don’t know when that showcase will happen or what those games will be — but let’s all pray together for Final Fantasy 16 details. Whatever Square Enix shows, it’s likely to be something big: It just unveiled Dragon Quest 12 at an event in Japan, which is a big deal, so whatever it’s saving for E3 should (hopefully) be even juicier. 

When: TBA

Nintendo Direct

Like Square Enix, Nintendo has confirmed it’ll be at E3 but hasn’t said how or when. Bloomberg has reported the Japanese gaming giant will unveil an updated Switch console before E3 so as to focus on software at the games expo, but we’ll have to wait and see how that pans out. 

Time and date: TBA.

GameSpot’s Play For All

Alongside the mania of E3, our sister site GameSpot will be running Play For All. It’s a series of streams, events and interviews with industry figures, all for the purpose of raising money for charity. This year’s cause is AbleGamers, a group that provides equipment so disabled gamers to make the industry more accessible for all. The schedule, which will soon be updated, can be found here.