(The verge) Ubisoft is backing out of its planned attendance at the E3 2023 in-person expo in favor of its own show in LA on June 12th, the company confirmed to VGC.
“E3 has fostered unforgettable moments across the industry throughout the years,” Ubisoft spokesperson Heather Haefner says in a statement to The Verge. “While we initially intended to have an official E3 presence, we’ve made the subsequent decision to move in a different direction, and will be holding a Ubisoft Forward Live event on June 12 in Los Angeles. We look forward to sharing more details with our players very soon.” E3 organizer ReedPop didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
With Ubisoft backing out, E3 2023, which runs from June 13th through June 16th, increasingly seems like it might be a boring show. Nintendo has already confirmed it won’t be a part of E3, while Microsoft is skipping the show floor to host its Xbox Games Showcase (and a separate, dedicated Starfield show) on June 11th. Sony hasn’t said anything about its E3 plans, but I’d wager it won’t be there; IGN reported in January that Sony wouldn’t be attending, and the company hasn’t been at E3 since skipping in 2019.
E3 will also be contending with Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest, which takes place just a few days before E3 and has become a tentpole event for splashy summer game reveals. (It’s where we got the first Elden Ring gameplay trailer, after all.) Early June in LA is still going to be packed with gaming news, but it’s really starting to seem like the best stuff might happen off the E3 show floor.