EA Splits From E3 This June

I think I am the only one that is both dreading and endlessly excited for E3, and I’m ok with that. Well, for the most part. The fact that I’ll be death incarnate by the 15th of June isn’t a prospect I’ll enjoy, as F1’s race in Turkey could be fun. Nonetheless, that’s the personal dilemma I’m currently in, looking at my little Christmas in June and F1 colliding into one weekend to kill me. The important bit is E3 is rapidly approaching in what is best described as a blistering pace.

We spoke last week about several partners announced for the event in just under a month. Big Japanese publishers such as Square Enix and Bandai Namco are staying for the long run, but over recent years some have broken away from the conventional showcase and show floor (pre-pandemic). Most notably Sony took their ball and pulled a Nintendo with their 20-minute showcases, which in my opinion fall flat or are jam-packed to the brim. Then you have Devolver Digital doing their… I don’t think I’ve come down from the acid trip from the first year they did their showcase.

EA Play Live is coming back 22nd July. Save the date! pic.twitter.com/bEeX3tzel3

— EA UK (@electronicarts) May 11, 2021

However, the latest publisher to take their ball and run away is EA. Announced through social media posts by EA, EA Play Live will be returning in July and not mid-June. Of course, last year I covered last June’s EA Play Live and called their CEO Andrew Wilson “Android Wilson;” yes, I can hear that F1 2021 press copy flying away already too. Anyway, we (by we, I probably mean me) will be covering the second non-E3 EA Play Live on July the 22nd. There will possibly be updates to Pele’s face, maybe it will have a few more age spots. Skate 4 might show up, and Andrew Wilson personally may tell me to jump off a cliff for being so sardonic.

Let’s take a moment to be very serious. Yes, there are EA games that are good. While Skate 3 was funny for hitting a man’s plums of a hand railing, I just don’t see the need for more Skate. Not to mention my arch-nemesis, the man that bores me to death every Gamescom and yearly Game Adverts (I mean, Game Awards), Geoff Keighley noted that EA’s revenue only came from 26% of the sale of full-priced “premium” games. The rest came from microtransactions, live services, DLC, and mobile games. Though as Keighley later noted in a reply, Wilson is also quoted as saying the upcoming Battlefield reveal trailer looked “incredible” and saw it last week.

Either way, we’ll be there to cover whatever is revealed in July. See you there… maybe, if E3/Android Wilson doesn’t kill me. Maybe we’ll see Dragon Age 4 so Alexx can stop talking about it.