E3 2021 Kicks Off Fully Digital, and the Reveals Are Coming Fast
Microsoft, Ubisoft, and Nintendo open E3 2021 with Halo Infinite multiplayer, Far Cry 6, Metroid Dread, and a Breath of the Wild sequel tease.
E3 is back, sort of. There’s no LA Convention Center this year, no show floor to wander, no lines for demo booths — the whole thing is running fully digital from June 12 through 15. It’s a weird format for an event that’s always thrived on being physically overwhelming, but the first wave of showcases proved you don’t need a crowd to generate buzz.
EA kicked things off with the reveal of Battlefield 2042, and it’s an ambitious pitch: a modern-day setting, a promise of massive-scale battles, and a clear signal that EA wants to reclaim ground it’s ceded to Call of Duty and Warzone the last couple of years. Whether the execution holds up is a different question, but the ambition is there on paper.
The Xbox and Bethesda joint showcase was the one everyone had circled, and it delivered the moment Xbox fans have been waiting on: Halo Infinite multiplayer. After last year’s underwhelming gameplay reveal, this felt like a course correction — cleaner presentation, a real sense of what the sandbox will feel like. Forza Horizon 5 also got its unveiling, and Arkane’s Redfall — a co-op vampire shooter — was probably the most interesting new IP shown. For Xbox, this showcase mattered as much for tone as content. They needed a “we’re back” moment, and multiplayer Halo footage is about as close as it gets.
Ubisoft leaned on Far Cry 6 to headline its segment, continuing the series’ habit of building the game around a larger-than-life antagonist. Nothing about the presentation suggested a radical departure from the Far Cry formula, but that formula still sells, so it’s hard to fault the strategy.
Nintendo’s morning surprise
Nintendo’s Direct-style showcase was shorter and, characteristically, more news-dense per minute. Metroid Dread — a name that’s been floating around as vaporware for over a decade — is real and shipping, which alone would have been the headline. Mario Party Superstars looked like comfort-food Nintendo, remixing classic boards for the Switch crowd. But the moment that’ll dominate timelines for days is the first look at the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It was brief, mostly vibes and a floating island aesthetic, but after four years of near-silence on the project, even a glimpse counts as an event.
What’s striking so far is how little the loss of the physical show has cost these companies in terms of impact. The trailers cut the same, the reveals land the same, the internet reacts the same. Maybe the in-person floor was always more for press and creators than for the audience actually watching from home. Two more days of showcases to go, and if the pace holds, this could end up being one of the more memorable digital E3s yet — not because the format improved, but because the games themselves are carrying it.