E3 2018 is just around the corner, which means it’s time to get ready for the show’s many, many big game reveals, trailers, and surprises. Every year, most of the biggest, need-to-know game news comes out of a series of press conferences that take place before the official show floor opens. Digital Trends will be on hand to tell you all about it — so stick with us for complete E3 coverage. But until then, we’ve put together a handy E3 press conference schedule so you can know when to tune in for each presentation.
EA will kick off the E3 press conference parade with its EA Play event at the Hollywood Paladium. We know we’ll see BioWare’s next franchise, Anthem, and the next Battlefield game. We’re also sure to get looks at upcoming Madden and FIFA entries. Here’s our complete look at what we expect from EA.
Microsoft doesn’t have very many announced exclusives right now, but expect the long-in-development and often delayed Crackdown 3 to make another appearance, hopefully with a concrete 2018 release date. It would also make sense to see either Halo 6 or Gears of War 5 on display, and if a Walmart Canada leak proves accurate, Microsoft could be poised to reveal the next Forza Horizon game. The leak said “Forza Horizon 5,” and there hasn’t even been a Forza Horizon 4 yet. So … who knows? Here’s everything we’ve managed to glean so far.
Bethesda’s showcase should be interesting purely for the fact that we have no idea what the studio is up to. The studio behind Doom, Prey, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Wolfenstein currently has exactly zero announced games. A recent leak suggests that Bethesda may announce Rage 2, the surprising sequel to Id’s post-apocalyptic 2010 shooter. Fallout studio Bethesda Game Studios is also due to announce something, as its last game (not counting VR ports) was Fallout 4 in 2015. Here’s a complete list of what we expect from Bethesda … such as it is.
Square Enix hasn’t held its own press conference since 2015, so this one should be fun (it’s a video presentation). The Japanese developer has numerous anticipated games in the pipeline, including Kingdom Hearts III, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Dragon Quest XI, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Both Dragon Quest XI and Shadow of the Tomb Raider have September launch dates, so those have to be there. And Kingdom Hearts III is currently on track for a 2018 release, so Square Enix’s return to E3 seems like a perfect time to follow up with a specific release date. Here’s our full take on what to watch for from Square Enix.
We can check one box for sure: The Division 2 will be unveiled at E3. Racing game The Crew 2 launches a couple weeks after E3, so we imagine we’ll get one last look at it during Ubisoft’s press conference. Piracy sim Skull & Bones is expected to launch later this year, so that appears to be a safe bet as well. Beyond that, could we see more of Beyond Good and Evil 2 or perhaps a new Splinter Cell game? Here’s everything to watch for from Ubisoft.
Sony’s showcase will take place in its traditional time slot, but the setup will be different from previous years. Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Shawn Layden outlined the change to a video format in a PlayStation blogcast. Layden revealed that the showcase will focus primarily on four core exclusives: The Last of Us: Part II, Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding, and Spider-Man. Whew! There’s bound to be more of course … here’s a complete list of what we expect from Sony.
Nintendo will once again go with its Nintendo Direct livestream format in place of a traditional E3 press conference. We know the stream will center on Super Smash Bros. for Switch, and there’s a good chance we’ll get one final look at Mario Tennis Aces right before it launches a week after E3. Last year, Nintendo teased Metroid Prime 4 and revealed a core Pokémon game for Switch. Perhaps those will be on display, and it wouldn’t be surprising to learn of more third-party ports coming to Switch. Also, watch out for looks at upcoming 3DS titles. Despite expectations, Nintendo appears to be focused on supporting its aging handheld through at least 2019 — here’s our complete guide to Nintendo’s E3 presentation.
Imagine tapping a Zelda icon on your iPhone and jumping straight into Hyrule. A new open-source project called nxnative makes that possible by repackaging Switch games you’ve bought into apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with no emulator in the middle.
Why does this run so well on Apple devices?
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.”