Microsoft confirms skipping E3 2023 show floor

Xbox will only take part in the convention’s Digital Week

Marco Wutz | Mar 13, 2023

Microsoft confirms skipping E3 2023 show floor /

Microsoft has confirmed that it won’t be present on the physical show floor of E3 2023 when the renowned gaming convention finally returns from its pandemic-induced hiatus on June 13, 2023. The company has already announced a digital showcase for June 11, 2023, which will be part of E3 2023’s Digital Week, as it stated towards IGN.

The Xbox Games Showcase accompanies events like The PC Gaming Show, Future Games Show, and Guerilla Collective Show in the Digital Week’s line-up. Bethesda, a Microsoft-owned developer, has also announced plans to hold an event for Starfield on June 11.

“We can't wait to host our Xbox Games Showcase on June 11 and will share more details later. We also look forward to co-streaming our event as part of E3 Digital and will not be on the E3 showfloor,” a Microsoft representative told IGN.

With this decision, Microsoft joined Nintendo in confirming that it won’t have a physical presence at the convention. Sony stopped attending E3 even before the pandemic due to differences with the company behind the convention and won’t be there in 2023 either, leaving the event’s return without any of the “big three” being in attendance.

Microsoft also opted to hold its own events running parallel to E3 in the years before Covid-19, so this move is more or less continuing an established policy by the Xbox owner.

Nintendo stated that E3 simply didn’t fit into the company’s plans in 2023, expressing its continued support for the convention.

Ubisoft is the biggest publisher and developer so far that has announced concrete plans of being on the show floor, though new E3 organizer ReedPop has stated in a press release that “AAA companies, in addition to indie darlings and tech and hardware firms” will be present in the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 13 to 16.

Details will be revealed in the coming weeks leading up to the event, so fans of video games can definitely expect a few other big names to join the roster.

Published Mar 13, 2023

MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg