‘Darksiders III’ publisher THQ Nordic is skipping E3 to watch the FIFA World Cup

By Gabe Gurwin Published April 13, 2018

BIOMUTANT Cinematic Trailer + Gameplay - PS4/Xbox One/PC (2018)

Austrian game publisher THQ Nordic — the company behind upcoming titles like Darksiders III and BioMutant — could have had quite the showing at this year’s E3 event in June. However, the publisher won’t be in attendance, as its employees will apparently be too busy watching the FIFA World Cup.

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“It is with great regret that we at THQ Nordic must report that we will be unable to miss a single moment of this great sporting event,” the company said in a press release. “Therefore, we will be forced to stay in our lovely Viennese beer gardens, blowing the froth off a couple, watching football and one or two cool press conferences on Twitch (looking at you, Devolver) instead of rocking it ourselves.”

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You’ll still be able to see THQ Nordic’s lineup of games before the summer is over, however. The publisher will have a presence at Gamescom in August, following by PAX West. In addition to the aforementioned games, Fade to Silence, Wreckfest, and unannounced games will be on display at the events.

Darksiders III has been a long time coming. The sequel to 2012’s Darksiders II, the game is being developed by Gunfire Games, a studio made of former Vigil Games employees. Vigil previously developed the series as a THQ-owned studio before the publisher went bankrupt. The rights to the THQ name were eventually purchased by Nordic, allowing the series to (kind of) come full circle.

BioMutant, on the other hand, is an original new game from Experiment 101, a studio featuring former Mad Max and Just Cause developers. We’ve liked what we’ve seen so far, though we felt its martial arts combat still had room for improvement.

Though publisher Deep Silver is now a subsidiary of THQ Nordic, the latter publisher’s decision to skip E3 will not affect Deep Silver. Digital Trends reached out to Deep Silver and we were told it would be operating as a “separate entity.” This means we’ll likely see the return of its shooter Metro: Exodus, which is scheduled to arrive to consoles and PC later this year. Coincidentally, the Metro series originally began under THQ, as well, before it was sold to Deep Silver in 2013.

Updated with confirmation that Deep Silver will still attend E3.

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Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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Nintendo confirms that it won’t be part of E3 2023

Pikmin and Bulborb in Pikmin 4.

Nintendo has confirmed reports that it won't be participating in E3 2023, meaning the gaming trade show will be missing one of its key vendors when it returns in-person this June.
"We approach our involvement in any event on a case-by-case basis and are always considering various ways to engage with our fans," a Nintendo spokesperson said in a statement to The Verge. "Since this year’s E3 show didn’t fit into our plans, we have made the decision to not participate. However, we have been and continue to be a strong supporter of the ESA [Entertainment Software Association] and E3."
After taking 2020 and 2022 off and being digital-only in 2021, this year was supposed to mark the grand return of E3, which was once a dominant game industry trade show that attracted every big video game company. Although Sony hasn't participated since 2019, it still came as a shock in January when IGN reported that both Nintendo and Microsoft would not be attending E3 this year as well. It appears that the report is true, as Microsoft has not confirmed any E3-related events outside of its independently run Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase.
Nintendo skipping E3 2023 not only takes away a vendor that dominated the show floor in previous years, but also raises questions about whether or not the company will hold an exciting Nintendo Direct around then. While Nintendo typically holds a big showcase with lots of first-party game announcements around June every year, in 2022 it only held a third-party driven Partner Showcase in June. Now that we know it won't be at E3 2023, we're left to wonder when exactly then next big Nintendo Direct will be.
E3 2023 will take place between June 13 and June 16, but don't expect Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft to have a big presence there.

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Here’s what E3 2023 could look like without Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft

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Let's start with the good news: E3 2023 will be held in its in-person format once again after three long years of digital events necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this time with ReedPop at the helm. The bad news is that Sony, Xbox, and Nintendo -- gaming's "Big 3" -- may not show up at the industry’s biggest convention this summer.

This is according to a report from IGN citing multiple sources, who claimed the companies won’t be a part of the show or make appearances on the floor at the Los Angeles Convention Center in any way. Their absence from this year’s E3, especially Nintendo’s, may come as a shock to the gaming community, but it's not such a surprise when looking at the past few iterations of E3. Even before the pandemic locked everyone down in 2020, Sony and Xbox had been hosting their own E3-style livestreams, so it was more likely they would do it again this year anyway. Nintendo, on the other hand, managed to show off its upcoming games via Nintendo Direct streams and at its booth, console kiosks and all.

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Summer Game Fest returns just before E3 2023 next June

The official artwork confirming Summer Game Fest's return on June 8, 2023.

Geoff Keighley has confirmed when Summer Game Fest will return in June 2023. It will begin with a live kickoff show on June 8, 2023, placing Keighley's game announcement alternative less than a week before E3's grand (intended) 2023 return.
Unlike past years, Summer Game Fest Live Kickoff 2023 will feature a live audience, like Geoff Keighley's The Game Awards. It will take place in the YouTube Theater at Hollywood Park, with tickets going on sale in early 2023. It will still be livestreamed across platforms like YouTube and Twitch, though. It's currently unknown who's participating, how long Summer Game Fest will run afterward, or if it will feature a Summer Game Fest Play Days-like element for fans. Still, Keighley says all of that info will be revealed ahead of the event next year, teasing what people can expect.
"In keeping with tradition, we'll have tons of exciting announcements from the developers that are pushing the games industry forward, and will once again highlight other publisher digital events, demos, and more surprises to be announced in the coming months," Keighley says in a press release.
That June 8 start date, and the other Summer Game Fest events likely to follow, put Keighley's show just ahead of E3 2023. The ESA and ReedPop plan to bring E3 back between June 13 and June 16, 2023. With five days of lead time on E3, Summer Game Fest can coexist with the long-running gaming conference and encompass the plethora of publisher showcases that tend to precede E3.
Geoff Keighley made it clear that he wants Summer Game Fest and E3 to coexist for a while. "We've had extensive conversations with ReedPop about E3," he said in an interview with Epic Games Store. "I think it'll kind of fit together and flow kind of from what we're doing into what they're doing and stuff. E3, to me, is this kind of master brand that represents gaming news in June."
With the start date of Summer Game Fest confirmed, the coexistence of these two summer gaming events is a reality. Summer Game Fest returns on June 8, 2023.