The first day of E3 2021 promised reveals from big-name publishers Ubisoft and Gearbox Software, along with additional livestreams from the Guerilla Collective, Devolver Digital, and others not officially associated with the E3 expo. After being canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, E3 is returning with an all-digital event that begins on June 12, 2021.
This year's E3 covers four days, from June 12 to 15. As broken down in a handy official E3 2021 schedule graphic, the conference begins with a pre-show at 10 AM PT on day one and concludes with the Official E3 2021 Awards Show at 4:45 PM ET on the final day. E3 fan registration is open for those who'd like access to certain exclusive aspects of the expo. During that span, several non-E3 gaming events are taking place, mostly associated with Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest.
Prior to day one, Ubisoft detailed its E3 plans, announcing the pre-show would showcase updates on Brawlhalla, For Honor, The Crew 2, Trackmania, and Watch Dogs: Legion, while the show proper would feature Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 6, Riders Republic, Rainbow Six Siege, and Rainbow Six Extraction (formerly Rainbow Six Quarantine). Gearbox, meanwhile, announced plans to include Tribes of Midgard, Godfall, the Borderlands movie and the newly revealed Tiny Tina's Wonderlands in its E3 showcase.
E3 Day 1: Biggest News & Announcements From June 12, 2021
The following links lead to Screen Rant's coverage of each individual E3 day one announcement (and some announcements from before E3). Click through for more details. The list does not encompass every reveal and trailer from each day one event - just the most significant news items. The showcases themselves are embedded when possible for full viewing.
Summer Game Fest: Kickoff Live! (June 10, pre-E3)
- Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (Gearbox Software) - early 2022
- Metal Slug Tactics (SNK) - TBA
- Death Stranding Director's Cut (Kojima Productions) - "Coming Soon"
- Jurassic World Evolution 2 (Frontier Developments) - 2021
- Lost Ark (Smilegate RPG) - fall 2021
- Call of Duty: Warzone Season Four (Raven Software) - June 17, 2021
- Among Us update roadmap (Innersloth) - TBA
- Koch Media publishing label Prime Matter gameplay reel
- Payday 3 (Prime Matter) - 2o23
- Crossfire: Legion (Prime Matter) - TBA
- New Painkiller game (Prime Matter, Saber Interactive) - TBA
- Rocket League x Fast 9 crossover (Psyonix) - June 17, 2021
- Vampire: The Masquerade's Bloodhunt (Sharkmob) - 2021
- Overwatch 2 Baptiste & Sombra skin reveals (Blizzard Entertainment) - TBA
- Far Cry 6 Giancarlo Esposito interview (Ubisoft) - October 7, 2021
- Evil Dead: The Game (Saber Interactive) - 2021
- Elden Ring gameplay reveal (FromSoftware) - January 21, 2022
Guerilla Collective
- UnMetal (Fran Games), a Metal Gear Solid parody game
- Firegirl (Dejima), a firefighting platformer
- BATS the Game (One Robot), starring the Bloodsucker Anti-Terror Squad
- Hello Neighbor 2's Mr. Peterson AI learning trailer (Eerie Guest, tinyBuild)
- Archvale (Idoz & Phops), a fantasy Enter The Gungeon-like
- Neverwinter Bard class gameplay (Cryptic Studios)
Wholesome Direct
- Paralives (Paralives Studio), a Sims-like house-builder
- Yokai Inn (ShibaPixel), a Ghibli-style Stardew Valley-like
- The Gecko Gods (Louis Waloschek), a lizard-starring puzzler
Ubisoft Forward
- Brawlhalla x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reveal
- Watch Dogs: Legion Bloodline DLC trailer
- Rainbow Six Extraction story trailer
- Rainbow Six Extraction gameplay
- Riders Republic release date trailer
- Rainbow Six Siege crossplay and Thunderbird trailer
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla Discovery Tour reveal
- Far Cry 6 Anton Castillo cinematic
- Far Cry 6 villain DLC trailer
- Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope reveal
- Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope cinematic and gameplay
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora reveal
Devolver Digital's MaxPass+
- Shadow Warrior 3 gameplay (Flying Wild Hog)
- Trek To Yomi (Flying Wild Hog), a black-and-white samurai side-scroller
Gearbox E3 Showcase
Other