With the current pandemic going on, many publishing studios and most industries have seen a plummet in sales and also canceled their major events. Still, a handful of game publishers are determined to carry on with their events digitally, of course.
Publishers like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, tend to have planned events to show this year, especially when the last two would be releasing the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 this year.
Interestingly, VentureBeat’s thoughtful voice, Jeff Grubb, has recently been needling rumors about the upcoming slew of digital events. Two days ago, he dished out some information he heard about the three big console manufacturers’ plans.
I wrote about the Summer Game Mess and updated the calendar.
June 4 PS5 event is moving (probably to eff me), but it's a matter of days not weeks.
Xboxing Day is still same week.
These things change. https://t.co/MDkP3r8rkp pic.twitter.com/FwUc8NyFVi— Grubb (@JeffGrubb) May 18, 2020
The gist? Sony is planning two gigantic events this summer – one in early June that is already made known by various sources, and another coming in August. Both June and August events will depict a combination of third-party and first-party next-gen game titles.
Also, for the opportunity to get an authentic look at the PlayStation 5 hardware, Grubb says that we’ll likely get the chance to take a real look during the August event, stressing that the June event could probably be the big unveiling.
What about Microsoft? We know they’re going to reveal the new Xbox Series X information monthly as part of the Xbox 20/20 program. They’ve also said they’d show first-party Xbox Series X games this coming July, but based on the details Grubb unveiled; we could likely get a closer look at the hardware next month on June 9 or June 10.
Now, speaking of Nintendo, as reported before, Nintendo likely may not hold their usual E3-season Nintendo Direct this June. Still, there has been no confirmation for a Nintendo Direct event, and some Switch games may surprisingly be unveiled like Paper Mario: The Origami King this past week.
Finally, on the issue of third parties, there are events like Ubisoft Forward, EA Play Live, however, word on the street is that Riot Games and Blizzard are also up to some events this summer.
Fingers crossed, even if Jeff Grubb has been a badass when it comes to dropping legit information, we shouldn’t rule out the fact that COVID-19 has the power to jolt every laid-out plans for these upcoming events. The only thing we can do is to be hopeful as everything evens out.
By the way, will the Xbox Series X first-party reveal live up to its hype? Well, we can only wait and see!
