E3 2021 and the rest of the summer games schedule
So many marketing blasts coming our way
After skipping 2020 due to the pandemic, E3 returns this year as a virtual event. E3 tends to be the anchor for a summer of marketing events blasting announcements and trailers, with loads of publishers and websites and such holding their own showcases around then too. So here's our handy schedule of what's on when this summer, from E3 through to Gamescom. We'll keep updating as more events are announced and detailed.
June 2021
- 5 June: Indie Live Expo
- 5 June: Guerrilla Collective day 1
- 8 June: Playdate
- 9 June: Battlefield reveal
- 10 June: Summer Game Fest starts
- 11 June: Netflix Geeked Week: Gaming
- 11 June: Koch Primetime
- 12-15 June: E3 2021
- 12 June: Guerrilla Collective day 2
- 12 June: Wholesome Direct
- 12 June: Ubisoft Forward
- 12 June: Devolver Digital
- 12 June: Gearbox E3 Showcase
- 12 June: Upload VR Showcase
- 13 June: 24 Entertainment
- 13 June: Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase
- 13 June: Square Enix Presents
- 13 June: Warner Bros. Games: Back 4 Blood
- 13 June: PC Gaming Show
- 13 June: Future Games Show
- 14 June: Take-Two Interactive
- 14 June: Mythical Games
- 14 June: Freedom Games
- 14 June: Razer E3 Keynote
- 14 June: Limited Run Games showcase
- 14 June: Capcom
- 15 June: Nintendo Direct
- 15 June: Bandai Namco
- 15 June: Yooreka Games
- 15 June: Official E3 2021 Awards Show
- 16-22 June: Steam Next Fest
- 23 June: Sonic Symphony Orchestra
- 24 June: Windows reveal
July 2021
- 4-11 July: Summer Games Done Quick
- 6 July: Nacon Connect
- 9 July: WitcherCon
- 17 July: TennoCon
- 21-23 July: FarmCon 2021
- 22 July: EA Play Live
- 29 July: Annapurna Interactive Showcase
August 2021
- 19-21 August: QuakeCon
- 25 August: Gamescom Opening Night Life
- 26-27 August: Gamescom
TBA?
June 2021
Indie Live Expo
Saturday 5 June, 10:00 (02:00 Pacific)
The Japanese indie games festival returns for a third time to showcase more games, not all from Japan.
Watch on YouTube and Twitch. Also broadcast in Japanese and Chinese. Visit the official site here.
Guerrilla Collective day 1
Saturday 5 June, 16:00 (08:00 Pacific)
Announcements, trailers, gameplay videos, and such with confirmed games including Sable, Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night, Chernobylite, and Industria.
Watch on Twitch or visit the official site.
Playdate
Tuesday 8 June, 17:00 (09:00 Pacific)
The Playdate is a bizarre handheld console with a crank for controls, which isn't PC gaming but sure, I'll take a look.
Watch on YouTube. See its website for more.
Battlefield reveal
Wednesday 9 June, 16:00 (08:00 Pacific)
Various leaks have suggested the new game will be Battlefield 2042, and this is when we'll find out what it actually is.
Watch on YouTube.
Summer Game Fest 2021
Thursday 10 June, 19:00 (11:00 Pacific)
Announcements, trailers, and such from Geoff Keighley (host of The Game Awards) and chums. Weezer, the band from the Windows 95 CD-ROM, will perform a new song from a mysterious video game soundtrack. Sounds like Among Us will reveal more about the next update too. Doubtless Geoff will be teasing more scloosies as the event approaches. And, uh, Geoff Goldblum will be there?
Watch on YouTube. Watch the official site for more info.
Netflix Geeked Week: Gaming
Friday 11 June, 17:00 (09:00 Pacific)
Geoff Keighley and Netflix team up to "debut shows and films based on your favorite games!" The streaming service's gaming lineup includes Cyberpunk 2077, Tomb Raider, Assassin's Creed, Devil May Cry, Dota 2, League Of Legends, Beyond Good & Evil, Dragon's Dogma, and Sonic The Hedgehog, plus more are rumoured. That's an awful lot. No clue what specifically they're showing here, mind.
Koch Primetime
Friday 11 June, 20:00 (12:00 Pacific)
Presumably announcements from the parent company of studios including Volition, Free Radical, Warhorse, and Flying Wild Hog. I'd go for some more Saints Row, if they're offering.
Watch on Twitch. See the official website for... no more info?
E3 2021
Saturday 12-15 June
After skipping last year and being replaced by a raft of events run by publishers and media, the Entertainment Software Association's marketing bonaza returns. Its role seems diminished, with many of these replacement events still running this year, but E3 is traditionally the banner which the biggest announcements rally around.
More details about the schedule to be revealed, keep watching the website.
Guerrilla Collective day 2
Saturday 12 June, 16:00 (08:00 Pacific)
More announcements, trailers, gameplay videos, and "surprises" from the second Guerrilla Collective event. Games today include No Longer Home and oh hell yeah, Death Trash. Death Trash!
Watch on Twitch. See its website for more.
Wholesome Direct
Saturday 12 June, 18:00 (10:00 Pacific)
Over 75 feel-good indie games will be present for announcements, trailers, and interviews.
See its website for more.
Ubisoft Forward pre-show
Saturday 12 June, 19:00 (11:00 Pacific)
Ahead of their big blast, Ubisoft will be talking about news and updates for Trackmania, For Honor, The Crew 2, Brawlhalla, and Watch Dogs: Legion.
Watch on YouTube and Twitch. More info over here.
Ubisoft Forward
Saturday 12 June, 20:00 (12:00 Pacific)
Ubisoft promise "fan favorites, newly announced titles, and a few surprises, too" for their E3 keynote. Games confirmed include the zombie-busting Rainbow Six game previously known as R6 Quarantine, Far Cry 6, and Riders Republic. They'll also gab about things coming to R6 Siege and Assassin's Creed Valhalla. I hope they have Just Dance dancers again this year, socially distanced? And who knows, it might be a year they acknowledge Beyond Good & Evil 2.
Watch on YouTube and Twitch. Website is this-a-way.
Devolver Digital
Saturday 12 June, 21:30 (13:30 Pacific)
The rowdy crowd of indie games have become hella self-indulgent with their E3-y presentations which lampoon marketing while telling a story of corporate power struggles and so much blood. And it's great. Hoping that'll continue this year as they announce more games, or whatever it is they're up to.
Gearbox E3 Showcase
Saturday 12 June, 22:00 (14:00 Pacific)
The Borderlands gang will do... something? Going by all their tweeting, I'd guess maybe it will involve that there Borderlands movie. But we can never rule out the threat of a sequel to Duke Nukem Forever. Gearbox do have a publishing label too.
Upload VR Showcase
Saturday 12 June, 23:00 (15:00 Pacific)
The VR games site return with another showcase promising game reveals and trailers.
Watch on YouTube. See the announcement for more info.
24 Entertainment
Sunday 13 June, 17:30 (09:30 Pacific)
The makers of Naraka: Bladepoint will be showing off their magical melee battle royale, which has already run an open beta.
Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase
Sunday 13 June, 18:00 (10:00 Pacific)
The corporate siblings display their newfound love with a 90-minute showcase of games from "Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda, and many game creators from our partners around the world." Topics we know they'll hit include the holiday season lineup and upcoming Game Pass additions. Who knows, maybe they'll say something about Bethesda's sci-fi RPG, Starfield. Probably wouldn't expect The Elder Scrolls 6, though.
Watch on YouTube and Twitch. Website is over here.
Square Enix Presents
Sunday 13 June, 20:15 (12:15 Pacific)
Squeenix say their E3 keynote will reveal a new game from Eidos-Montréal, the folks behind the Deus Ex and Tomb Raider revivals. Also confirmed to be on the docket are Life Is Strange: True Colours, the remastered Life Is Strange games, details about the Black Panther update for Marvel's Avengers, and news on Babylon's Fall, the new game from Bayonetta devs PlatinumGames. You know, I really am about ready for a new Deus Ex - fingers crossed!
Watch on YouTube and Twitch. More info on the Square Enix Presents website.
Warner Bros. Games: Back 4 Blood
Sunday 13 June, 22:00 (14:00 Pacific)
WB have clarified that Back 4 Blood is the only game they'll be showing. Guess you'll have to wait for more on Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League?
PC Gaming Show
Sunday 13 June, 22:30 (14:30 Pacific)
Cheery RPS fanzine PC Gamer return with another showcase of announcements, trailers, and chat for PC gaming only.
Watch on YouTube and Twitch. See its website for more.
Future Games Show
Sunday 13 June, 23:59 (16:00 Pacific)
GamesRadar return to show off "a mix of indie and AAA titles".
Watch on YouTube and Twitch. See the announcement for more.
Limited Run Games
Monday 14 June, 21:00 (13:00 Pacific)
The company who make physical releases of games and soundtracks promise "over 25 exciting announcements about new games, physical editions of cult favorites, and reprints of classic titles". They mostly focus on consoles but do PC too. See the announcement for more.
Watch on Twitch.
Take-Two Interactive
Monday 14 June, 18:15 (10:15 Pacific)
The owners of 2K, Rockstar, and the Private Divison publishing label have not yet announced quite what they're doing at their press conference. Take-Two have said 2K were doing a new game with Borderlands devs Gearbox, and that they had other new games coming beyond the usual annual sequels, but dunno if any of that will be here.
Mythical Games
Monday 14 June, 19:10 (11:00 Pacific)
God help us, an E3 presentation from people who do blockchain games.
See Mythical's website for more.
Freedom Games
Monday 14 June, 20:30 (12:30 Pacific)
The wee publishing label will have trailers and videos and news and things.
See their website for more on their games.
Capcom
Monday 14 June, 22:30 (14:30 Pacific)
Capcom have said their E3 showcase will have games including The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, Monster Hunter Stories 2, Monster Hunter Rise, and Resident Evil Village.
Razer E3 Keynote
Monday 14 June, 23:00 (15:00 Pacific)
The hardware manufacturers promise "a series of innovative hardware built with Razer's best-in-class technology and design that will continue to raise the bar for PC gaming." Yeah yeah, but will they announce more gamer gum flavours or telescopic straws or other weirdness?
Watch on YouTube and Twitch. Official website is over here.
Nintendo Direct
Tuesday 15 June, 17:00 (09:00 Pacific)
Sure, Nintendo will only be showing Switch games, but they're bound to have lots of nice and colourful things to enjoy looking at. And they might have third-party games which are also coming to PC. The stream will be followed by a Nintendo Treehouse Live stream showing gameplay for a few hours too.
See Nintendo's website for more.
Bandai Namco
Tuesday 15 June, 22:25 (14:25 Pacific)
WILL BAMCO FINALLY SHOW ELDEN RING? No idea, cos they haven't said anything about their E3 presence yet. But we're long overdue an update on the new game from Dark Souls devs FromSoftware and throne fan George R.R. Martin. But beyond that, they have plenty of other games brewing too.
Yooreka Games
Tuesday 15 June, 23:20 (15:20 Pacific)
The Chinese publishers are at E3 for some sort of doodad.
See their website for more.
Official E3 2021 Awards Show
actually Wedneday 16 June for us, 00:45 (16:45 Pacific on the 15th)
The final day of E3 brings a pointless awards show to celebrate marketing, which also promises some "exciting announcements and reveals".
Steam Next Fest starts
Wednesday 16 June, 18:00 (10:00)
Running until June 22nd, Valve's latest virtual festival will bring more demos, live streams hosted by developers, and more. These always have so many more demos than anyone can ever play, so that'll be fun.
Take part on the official website.
Sonic Symphony Orchestera
Wednesday 23 June, 20:00 (12:00)
A different form of marketing bonanza. Celebrating the 30th birthday of everyone's favourite turbo-charged tiggywinkle, the Sonic Symphony Orchestera will perform tunes from across the decades. I hope this includes some of the Sonic Adventure songs with astonishingly daft lyrics.
Microsoft's Windows reveal
Thursday 24 June, 16:00 (08:00)
Windows is the foundation for a lot of PC gaming, so I'll be interesting to see them reveal "what's next for Windows". Presumably this is the update codenamed 'Sun Valley', which is rumoured to refresh the user interface, overhaul the garbage Microsoft Store, help improve battery life on laptops, give the ability to uninstall more of the built-in apps, and more. Some folks think they might call it Windows 11, some think it might just be a Windows 10 update. Dunno. We'll see!
See Microsoft's page for more.
July 2021
Summer Games Done Quick starts
Sunday 4 July, 17:00 (09:00)
Related to E3? No. Great? Oh yes! Running until July 11th, the speedrunning bonanza will this year blaze through games including Factorio, Dragon Age: Inquisition, blindfolded Trackmania, and GeoGuessr.
See the schedule for all the games.
Nacon Connect
Tuesday July 6, 18:00 (10:00 Pacific)
The French publishers promise gameplay footage, announcements, and such. Games confirmed so far include Blood Bowl 3, Steelrising, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong, and Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown.
WitcherCon
Friday 9 July, 18:00 (10:00 Pacific)
The joint effort between the CD Projekt and Netflix, the makers of the Witcher games and the broadcasters of the Witcher show, will not include the announcement of a new Witcher game. CD Projekt Red have stated that quite clealry. But they do say it'll have panels with people who make the games and show, probe the stories of the Witcher world, give behind-the-scenes peeks, and such.
Watch on YouTube and Twitch. See the WitcherCon website for more.
TennoCon 2021
Saturday 17 July
Warframe's annual fan event is usually when the devs reveal the new hotness.
See the TennoCon website for more.
FarmCon 2021
Wednesday 21-23 July
Not to be confused with the other Farmcon which is for "movers and shakers in the ag sector", this one is for virtual farmers. The official Farming Simulator fan event will focus on the next game in the series.
Watch on Twitch.
EA Play Live
Thursday 22 July, 18:00 (10:00 Pacific)
After a disappointing event last summer, with only vague teasers for new games, hopefully EA have more to show this time. Presumably we'll see more of the newly-announced Battlefield 2042 and hopefully the new Dragon Age, Need For Speed, and Skate games they vaguely gestured in the direction of? Plus new announcements, probably?
See the EA Play website for more.
Annapurna Interactive Showcase
Tuesday 29 July
The indie publishers say their first showcase will bring "exclusive gameplay reveals, new game announcements and some fun surprises".
August 2021
QuakeCon
Thursday 19-21 August
Id Software's event became a Bethesda event after they bought Id, though maybe that'll change now that Microsoft have bought Bethesda? MS and Bethesda are holding a joint showcase in June, after all. Whatever QuakeCon is this year, I assume it'll have announcements and dev chat. But as they're skipping an in-person event this year, maybe no Bawls.
Watch the QuakeCon website for more.
Gamescom: Opening Night Live
Wendesday 25 August
Geoff Keighley and chums will have more news and scloosies and trailers and that ahead of Gamescom.
Follow Gamescom's website for more.
Gamescom 2021
Thursday, August 26-27
The German games show is all-digital again this year, what with the pandemic and all. It usually brings a load of announcements, trailers, gameplay vids, and the like - a sort of European E3.
Follow Gamescom's website for more.
Yet to be announced?
Sony
Sony have skipped E3 for the past few years, and are skipping it again. However, it seems incredibly likely that they'll be holding a big blast of their own at some point this summer. And hey, they are actually releasing games for PC these days. Uncharted 4 is expected next.
