Recent years have seen some big changes to E3, the yearly conference where the video game industry gathers to show off what’s coming next. The event has long had a home in the Los Angeles Convention Center, but in the last few years, many publishers and developers have been exploring nearby venues for some or all meetings. Most notably, in the last two years EA didn’t have a show floor booth presence, and moved its showings to a different location. This year, Microsoft is also making some big changes, as the bulk of its demos and its press briefing (which has previously frequently been at the Galen Center) will occur across the street from the convention center in the Microsoft Theater. 

The Microsoft Theater at LA Live will first play host to the Xbox press briefing on June 10 at 1:00 pm PST. After that, it’s also where press and fans will find all of Microsoft’s hands-on gameplay opportunities and demos. However, Microsoft isn’t completely departing the E3 show floor. Within the convention center, it will use its floor space to highlight Mixer, the company’s Twitch-like live game streaming service.

The official E3 dates for 2018 are June 12 through June 14, but as usual, Microsoft and other big publishers will kick off the event early with a string of press conferences, streams and other presentations that precede the official show floor dates.

[Source: Xbox Wire]

 

Our Take
Increasingly, publishers are looking for ways to control their own messaging, stand apart from competitors, and dictate the way that players experience early looks at their games. Microsoft’s move to a new venue for its E3 presentation keeps with all of those goals. However, speaking as a longtime working attendee, spreading out to other venues that are further away does little to aid efficiency or help fans or industry professionals get a good picture of the entire show as it unfolds in a singular space. With that said, LA Live and the Microsoft Theater are just across the street from the convention center, so it's not likely to be as inconvenient as some other options that might have arisen.