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E3 2019 schedule - Dates, timetable and what to expect

Photo credit: 	Yuki Cheung / EyeEm
Photo credit: Yuki Cheung / EyeEm

From Digital Spy

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This year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in LA is set to be quite a spicy event for gamers – even more so than usual – if rumours are to be believed.

It feels like we are on the very brink of a new series of consoles and the next generation of gaming appears to be right around the corner – but will we see all of this at E3 2019?

Short answer? Most of it, probably, yes.

While Sony has stated it won't be doing any keynotes this year and with Google already having announced its Stadia (with a further Stadia Connect confirmed for June 6), we still think the gaming giants will be showing off a little of what's to come.

There are also a bunch of super exciting games coming out in the next year or so that should be teased, like Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding, Cyberpunk 2077, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

So with all that in the pipeline, what can we actually expect to see from E3 2019?

When is E3 2019?

Photo credit: Cavan Images
Photo credit: Cavan Images

E3 is the biggest gaming event of the year for console and video gaming news.

While it might change structure with each passing year, there's always a huge amount of hype about new games and how graphics, story and gameplay will evolve over the next year.

This year, the official conference announcements will run from Tuesday, June 11 through until Thursday, June 13, though there are always early keynotes and additional announcements before and even after the main event, with many companies announcing their roster as early as June 7 (just to make a journalist's life more difficult).

The schedule might be a bit mixed up this year, as Sony and EA – both staple parts of the E3 announcement – won't be hosting press conferences this year.

This fills a big gap for other developers (Microsoft, we're looking at you with a new Xbox...) to step in. More on who will and won't be taking part below.

E3 2019 Schedule

Friday, June 7

EA

Photo credit: EA
Photo credit: EA

Livestream here

As mentioned, EA is not strictly doing a big conference this year, which is surprising given its recent announcement of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and its usual line-up of FIFA and Madden NFL games.

However, the EA Play event is happening at the Hollywood Palladium on the Friday before E3, where new games will be showcased to those who rock up.

We do expect to see a bit more Star Wars news here, but EA might even host its own event later on in the year to expand on its recently-released trailer.

Titanfall 3 is a game that has been rumbling around the internet for a little while now. And, seeing as Apex Legends became such an unprecedented hit, we can only imagine that a more single-player-driven giant mecha game could be on the way.

Speaking of Apex Legends, more news and updates will be given here, with EA explaining more of that complicated battle pass, and maybe plans for the future of the game?

There is also the super-slim chance we will see Dragon Age 4 from Bioware but, given the immense backlash to Anthem earlier on in the year, EA might decide to hold back on that one to temper expectations.

Saturday, June 8

Nintendo

Gamers are super hyped for what Nintendo has in store for us at E3, and with good reason.

Photo credit: Nintendo
Photo credit: Nintendo

The Nintendo Direct broadcast is on at 5pm BST (12pm ET) on June 11, but there will be plenty of fun and games throughout the week, especially with the Super Smash Bros Ultimate World Championship 3v3 on the Sunday.

We have already heard rumblings of an update to the Nintendo Switch console, with two new versions supposedly on the horizon.

This might also expand further into the Labo VR experience and its massive library of games.

For example, we will likely hear more about both Pokemon Sword and Shield, Animal Crossing and maybe even a new Mario Kart game.

With these new consoles supposedly arriving, we should also expect a few new big games to arrive. We haven't heard anything yet, but The Legend of Zelda could do with a new adventure and Mario is always up for a new game.

Sunday, June 9

Microsoft

Expect big things from the team at Microsoft, as it's the last big console-maker to announce its next-gen plans.

It will hit the stage on Sunday at 1pm PT (that's 10pm UK time), and will likely show off everything from a slew of new games to a new Xbox console.

Photo credit: Microsoft
Photo credit: Microsoft

Livestream here

Xbox head Phil Spencer has already said the firm plans to "go big" this year, and we expect nothing less. Project Scarlett (the next-gen console) is rumoured for a big E3 reveal – and it might just be the best place to announce it, considering the lack of competition at the event from Sony.

We will definitely hear more about the new Xbox One S all-digital console, as well as XCloud, which is Microsoft's gaming streaming service.

In terms of games, you should expect Gears 5, Halo Infinite and a new Forza game to be the headline reveals (but please don't bring ANOTHER McLaren super-car on stage).

Bethesda

The game developers will take to the stage at 5.30pm PT (1.30am on Monday morning UK time), straight after Microsoft, and we'd like to think they will be showing off quite a lot this year.

We're almost guaranteed to see more details about updates and expansions to The Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76 and Doom Eternal, which will be welcome news for fans.

Photo credit: Bethesda Softworks
Photo credit: Bethesda Softworks

While we are all sat here hoping to see a new trailer for Elder Scrolls VI and Starfield, it is pretty much just not going to happen this year, unfortunately.

Bethesda exec producer Todd Howard has already said it's too early to show off anything meaningful for these games and we likely won't get anything concrete until 2020. Booo.

Monday, June 10

Ubisoft

Ubisoft is a bit of an unknown for E3 2019, though there are a few things we expect to see.

The devs take centre-stage at 10pm UK time on Monday, June 10, and will hopefully show us something new this time round.

We know for a fact that we won't be seeing a new super-sneaky Assassin's Creed game this year, as the studio announced it would be skipping a release in 2019. We put this down to the fact that the next Assassin's Creed game will be on the next-gen console only, but that's just a guess.

Having said that, we will probably get a sniff of what is to come with the franchise, and we wouldn't be surprised if we at least got a title and a teaser for the next game.

Photo credit: Ubisoft
Photo credit: Ubisoft

In place of AC though, we might learn a little more about Beyond Good and Evil 2, with another trailer that shows off more from last year's teaser.

We would also hope to see more of Skull and Bones, a swashbuckling adventure that looks like an updated Black Flags game outside of the AC universe.

Square Enix

The Japanese devs are up at 2am on Tuesday morning for UK fans (6pm PT) and have some interesting things to show us, most importantly the new Avengers Project.

We're all desperately hoping for an incredible superhero game from Marvel's greatest heroes, and this Square Enix attempt might just be it.

All we know is that they will be showing us all exactly what this will be on the Monday, and that it might be a four-player game.

Rumours suggest it might be a multiplayer experience with a continual single-player narrative – whatever that means – and that you will be able to customise your character to suit your power needs and play style.

Bagsy Iron Man.

Tuesday, June 11

Nintendo Direct (again)

Nintendo has historically held a pre-recorded conference on the Tuesday showcasing some more details about its upcoming games, so we expect it to do exactly that again now that we're getting two new consoles.

June 11-13

This is where E3 gets less interesting for the casual observer and more interesting for attendees and journalists. The conference opens up to allow people to play demos of new games and consoles, as long as they are OK with patiently queuing up for hours on end.

Photo credit: Sony
Photo credit: Sony

You can buy tickets to E3 for these few days here if you want to be among the first to play the latest games.

The best of the rest

Sony

Yep. Sony won't be at E3 2019, which is astonishing considering its future line-up of games.

This almost certainly means it will be hosting its own conference this year to reveal its plans. Having said that, Sony always says it is reducing its presence at E3 and still always manages to grab headlines.

Photo credit: Sony
Photo credit: Sony

We know that the PS5 is a thing now, so we will definitely be hearing more from them soon, but what about the games?

We also know that The Last of Us Part 2 finished its photography for mo-cap recently so we should be seeing more details about that soon, and Sony is itching to tell us more about Hideo Kojima's mind-bending Death Stranding.


We will probably see another weird trailer for that around E3, or whenever Sony decides to announce some more news, as well as the highly-anticipated Samurai slasher Ghost of Tsushima.

Google

We got to see a bunch of new details about the Google Stadia earlier on this year, so Google likely won't be revealing anything at E3 2019.

However, some game developers might sneakily announce that their games will be compatible for play on new consoles, so keep your eyes peeled.

Cyberpunk 2077

Many a games journalist will have told you that their "hot take" is that Cyberpunk 2077 will release this year – they are probably wrong.

In fact, we are willing to go out on a limb here and say it DEFINITELY WON'T.

While we will probably see more gameplay footage – and maybe even an extended demo to play – there will be no chance that its ready in time for a 2019 release date.

The gorgeous demo we saw at E3 last year shows off an ambitious game from CD Projekt Red that will likely still need a lot of polish to release.

But we will still be super happy if they just show off more of that soundtrack, to be honest.

We will be updating this page with all the latest news, releases and trailers as we get them, so make sure you bookmark it!


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