EA will be at E3, but don't expect a press conference

After Sony pulled out entirely, EA is taking a very different approach to E3 2019, the company announced today.

Instead of a press keynote that shows gamers what they have to look forward to in a single sitting, EA will instead offer multiple live streams throughout the weekend leading up to the show.

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The live streams will go hand-in-hand with the annual EA Play event that will be held in Los Angeles, California from June 7 through June 9. Gamers in the area for E3 will be able to attend EA Play in-person, but will need to register through EA’s website when registration becomes available.

While this sounds like a complete 180 for a company that just a few years ago had a keynote alongside the likes of Sony and Microsoft, EA has slowly been moving away from the traditional approach that other publishers take at the industry’s largest trade show.

The times they are a'changing

According to a blog post on EA’s website, the new format will offer “more gameplay and insights from the teams making the games” and less time with someone up on a stage. And while EA’s blog post explains some of the reasoning behind the approach, it’d be easy to believe there’s more happening behind closed doors that we don’t know about.

Some gamers took to Twitter and Reddit during last year’s EA Play event to announce their discontent with the content of EA’s presentation - all of which could be potentially side-stepped this year if EA allows creators, streamers and developers headline their own mini presentations.

As IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews Ryan McCaffrey pointed out on Twitter, it could also indicate that EA has less to show off and announce this year than in former years when it had games like Star Wars Battlefront 2, Battlefield V and Anthem.

That being said, we're still expecting a few interesting titles at the show, including Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and FIFA 20, plus new projects from EA's PopCap and Ghost studios.