Many people think that E3 is all about the games. Fans from all over the world tune in to find out when to expect the next entry to one of their favorite franchises or uncover the mysterious project their favorite developer has been working on. But E3 is more than just press conferences and opportunities to play games. It’s also a place where developers can bring their games to life with massive decked-out booths. This year, we saw everything from the Fortnite Battle Bus to an ode to FF7 right on the showroom floor. If you missed out on the fun or want to relive it, take a look at our roundup of all the coolest booths.
The day 2 #NintendoMinute E3 Vlog is live! Today Kit & Krysta play #LuigisMansion 3 and take a tour of the Nintendo booth. Stay tuned tomorrow for the final vlog of the show. pic.twitter.com/WpzHkotIa0
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) June 13, 2019
Should I state the obvious? Nintendo stole the show at E3. Not only did the Nintendo Direct highlight a ton of awesome titles scheduled to come out this year, but its massive booth was an incredible ode to its most-anticipated games.
On one side, you’ll find bellhops in full uniform ushering you to check into the haunted hotel of Luigi’s Mansion 3, as photo-ops with Luigi and Gooigi wait right by the front entrance. On another, trainers ready for gym battle can step into the giant stadium of Pokémon Sword and Shield.
As usual, Nintendo makes it a point to bring a complete E3 experience to its fans, never skimping out on the little details and always pulling out all the stops.
Venture into the Capcom booth #2323 to be the first to play #Iceborne, take an epic photo with the mythical Velkhana… and this adorable Palico!
Stay tuned for live streams and poster signings with the developers! Schedule:
❄️ https://t.co/uiqm24SlOG pic.twitter.com/dmVSbW31M5
— Monster Hunter (@monsterhunter) June 11, 2019
Capcom has been doing really well for itself. The Resident Evil 2 remake, Devil May Cry 5, and Monster Hunter: World have all had great success. This is a drastic change from a few years ago, when you’d be hard-pressed not to stumble across a piece that talked at length about Capcom’s struggles. At E3 2019, the publisher celebrated its success with yet another beautiful Monster Hunter: World-themed booth.
Capcom’s booth this year was dedicated to its upcoming MHW expansion, Iceborne. Featuring the gigantic Elderdragon Velkhana and a winter aesthetic fit with snow-covered branches and terrain, the booth is so stunning, it’s no wonder it seconds as one gigantic photo opportunity.
In front of the gigantic Velkhana statue is a spot for fans to pose with weapons like a hammer, sword, and more. Behind the booth is an adorable scene of a cute little Palico wearing snow-appropriate armor.
Oh my glob #fortnite #E3 #HereWeGoAgain #FortniteSeason9 pic.twitter.com/QK2h7BLyPa
— EkcoTTV (@7fEcho) June 12, 2019
It shouldn’t surprise us that Fortnite had a huge presence at E3 this year. The game launched and has grown exponentially, both in players and in content. The developers at Epic Games have really invested a lot into its Battle Royale mode. We’ve seen everything from a giant, roaming purple cube named Kevin to the emergence of volcanoes and snow biomes on the map. This same imaginative quirkiness showed up on the showroom floor.
The Battle Bus was parked along the side of the booth with its flame still glowing as if it had just arrived. The booth was covered from top to bottom in rainbow neon and people dressed in Fortnite garb could be found walking around with various pickaxes and dancing. One Fortnite character walked inside of a bush and another could be found emoting in the corner in a Burger skin. A giant statue of a smiling banana and a dangling fish with a helmet also decorated the showroom floor.
Look who I found at E3! This is Frank from @Thingergy. He is humble, but he and his team created the *objectively* best larger-than-life statues ever seen at E3! #borderlands3 pic.twitter.com/pAB7mZLzzc
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) June 11, 2019
It’s hard not to love the vibrant art style and over-the-top characters of the Borderlands series. With the Borderlands 3 release right around the corner, Gearbox Software and 2K Games made sure to remind fans of these things at E3 2019. Not only could banners of the psycho mask be found in a variety of art styles in the walkway leading to the South Hall, but the Borderlands 3 booth was also decked out in bright neon colored Psycho art.
The most striking feature of the both, though, were the statues positioned around the booth itself. On the right side, the four new vault hunters stood in fight-ready poses, and on the left side, the Calypso Twins stood menacingly.
Why aren’t more people at #E3 talking about the fact Square Enix built a freaking mako reactor?!? #FF7R pic.twitter.com/T49aJcjvGx
— Sarathûn (@rikkusarah) June 12, 2019
Japanese role-playing games saw a resurgence this year at E3. This was largely thanks to two companies: Nintendo and Square Enix. Since we’ve already covered Nintendo’s booth, Square Enix deserves a shoutout as well. Beautiful cherry blossom trees from FFXIV’s upcoming expansion, Shadowbringers, decorated the center of the booth. On the left side, Final Fantasy VII Remake fans could pose in front of a pseudo-blocked-off entrance to a large Shinra building, complete with smoke pouring out from the top of a Mako Reactor. On a large screen above the showroom floor was a screen that showed the Collection of Mana trailer along with a few other titles announced during Square Enix’s Press Conference. And we can’t definitely can’t forget about the very patriotic Marvel’s Avengers booth on the right.
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.