Ubisoft will no longer be attending E3 and instead will hold its own event in June. The news comes after Ubisoft confirmed its attendance at the video game industry trade event only last month. E3 will also be held on a similar date; audiences will be able to visit from June 13 to 16.E3 has suffered plenty of blows already this year. At the end of January, the news started circulating that neither Sony nor Nintendo will be attending the event. While Xbox will be also skipping on the showfloor, it will be co-streaming its Xbox Games Showcase on June 11 as part of E3 Digital. This will be E3's first in-person event in four years and with new management since ReedPop has taken over from the Entertainment Software Association. Traditionally, Ubisoft was a strong supporter of E3, therefore this decision comes as a surprise. With the departure of Ubisoft, currently, there are no major companies confirmed to attend. ReedPop said the full list of attendees will be made public in the leadup to E3, and also claimed there are "AAA companies, in addition to indie darlings and tech and hardware firms" who will be returning.In a statement to VGC, Ubisoft has said it has decided to "move in a different direction," and its own event, which is named Ubisoft Forward Live, will be held on June 12 in Los Angeles. There was no reason revealed by Ubisoft as to why this sudden change has been made. Regardless, Ubisoft stated, “E3 has fostered unforgettable moments across the industry throughout the years,” but when it comes to its own event, it looks forward to sharing more details with its players very soon. Last month, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot talked about plans to show a lot of games at E3, so likely all these titles will now be transferred to Ubisoft Forward Live. One of the closest releases fans are looking forward to is Assassin's Creed Mirage, but among Ubisoft's upcoming titles are games such as Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Skull and Bones.
In addition, Ubisoft's exit has started speculations when it comes to the potential failure of E3. Although it is also worth noting other conventions have started to return to in-person events as well and without the attendance of the above-mentioned companies. There are still plenty of video game companies that interest fans and can provide exciting updates during E3.
At the same time, Ubisoft has experienced troubles in the last few months, having to cancel titles and deal with accusations of unhealthy crunch culture from its employees. So whether E3 or Ubisoft will emerge better off in the middle of June will be interesting to see.