Sorry, Mr. Caffeine fans…
Today will see Sony host a brand new State of Play presentation, kicking off what is expected to be another long summer of online showcases and news streaming events — in lieu of the still missing-in-action E3. However, it seems that one of the industry’s biggest publishers will not be joining the party, as Ubisoft has announced that it has no live stream on deck for the coming month.
Speaking in brief comments to Axios, Ubisoft noted that it would be foregoing its usually summer presentation, and instead expects to hold its next major live stream, Ubisoft Connect, “later this year.” This will mark the first time in some years that the Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, and Rainbow Six Siege publisher has not put in a showing during what would usually be “E3 month.”
It should also be noted that Ubisoft did not feature on Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest partner list, a who’s who of industry names that included Capcom, Atlus, Sega, PlayStation, Warner Bros., Xbox, 2K Games, and many other globally successful developers and publishers. One might assume that Ubisoft is not quite ready to reveal further details on its upcoming releases, including the development-limbo sequel Beyond Good and Evil 2, and smaller projects such as the Prince of Persia remake and Assassin’s Creed Rift.
While there is no doubt that the coming months will see a vast amount of headlines, trailers, game reveals, and exciting updates, this summer’s gaming extravaganza is looking a dot quieter than previous years, with companies such as EA choosing to mix their announcements in with larger shows, rather than hold their own individual live streams. This will be better in the long run for everybody, respecting the time of both audiences and the media, while allowing a tighter focus on each publisher’s bigger releases over needlessly drawn-out theatrical segments.
