E3 2018: Predictions & Best Guesses

The annual Electronic Entertainment Expo has been one of the biggest highlights in the calendar for gamers around the world for more than two decades now. One of the main reasons for this is that some of the biggest companies in the industry start the expo with their own giant conferences and streams dedicated to exciting announcements and reveals. This is usually the place to be if you want to see the first glimpses of previously unannounced games and deeper dives into upcoming games, so it's not surprising that many of us have high expectations for what we'll see each year. Some would even say that one of the best parts of the expo is the speculation before it even starts, so let's do exactly that. What do we know, expect and hope to see at EA, Microsoft, Bethesda, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Sony and Nintendo's events? Let's take a look...

Electronic Arts at 7 PM BST / 8 PM CEST on June 9
We usually know most of the announcements EA will make during their conference weeks before it starts because the giant publisher is known for its annual franchises. That's to some degree the case for this year's EA Play as well. Bioware has said that they'll give us an extensive look at Anthem, DICE will show off Battlefield V, EA Sports titles have their usual segment with FIFA 19 and company set to feature, while The Sims 4 is confirmed to appear with a reveal of what we're guessing is a Nintendo Switch version.

EA has also given us a few less predictable announcements over the years as well though, so what might they have in store this year? Amazon listed a book that referred to Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 3 a few months ago, and we know that Coldwood Interactive has been working on an Unravel sequel for two years now. Both of these seem primed for their official unveiling. How about those annual Skate 4 rumours and dreams? And could Respawn be ready to show off its Star Wars game? We think there's a chance we'll see all of these games, so EA might start E3 with a bang on Saturday.

Microsoft at 9 PM BST / 10 PM CEST on June 10
Microsoft knows that they have to deliver something truly special this year, as they've been criticised for not having enough or better exclusives this generation. That's why it's all the more exciting that they've been bold enough to say that this will be their biggest E3 ever. An interesting statement considering the only games we can be sure to see are Crackdown 3, Forza Horizon 4 and Ori and the Will of the Wisps along with their respective release dates. However, rumours and common sense makes it clear that those aren't the only things we'll see.

343 Industries made it very clear that it wouldn't unveil the next Halo before last year's conference, but have said nothing of the sort this time. There have also been rumblings of several Gears of War games in development, so we should hear from at least one of those on Sunday. Playground might not just reveal Forza Horizon 4 either. The internet has been overflown by rumours and job listings claiming that the second team is working on a new game in the Fable franchise. Could this be the time to finally hear that beautiful theme song again? And what did Phil Spencer mean when he said that JRPGs would be a part of the conference? Top this with third-party deals with Ubisoft for the rumoured Splinter Cell, Rocksteady's unannounced game, CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 and Remedy's next game and you might understand why our hearts will be pumping when the conference kicks off on Sunday evening.

Bethesda at 2.30 AM BST / 3.30 AM CEST on June 11
Most of Bethesda's E3 conference was leaked long before it started last year, which might be the reason for the company's interesting choice to unveil both Rage 2 and Fallout 76 early this year. The publisher has also all but announced an expansion for Prey, so you might be worried that it doesn't have more to show when the actual show starts. We doubt it, as Pete Hines has said that the conference might be two hours long. Fair enough, Bethesda is known for dedicating a lot of time to each game, but we think they have a few extra surprises up their sleeve. The Australian Classification Board recently rated Quake Champions, which indicates that the game might be leaving Early Access sooner rather than later.

How about unannounced games? We know that id Software isn't the main developer behind Rage 2 this time around, so it's possible that they're working on Doom 2. Machine Games might also have something lurking in the shadows if Doom 2 isn't ready. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus launched last October, so might we get an expansion in the same way that The Old Blood landed one year after Wolfenstein: The New Order. And what about The Evil Within 2? We also shouldn't forget that Bethesda Game Studios is working on two other titles besides Fallout 76. Could we see two announcements from them this year?

Square Enix at 6 PM BST / 7 PM CEST on June 11
Square Enix won't have a traditional conference but instead will stream its announcements. That doesn't make it any less exciting, however, as you'll surely learn more about Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Kingdom Hearts III's release date, and Final Fantasy XV's upcoming expansions. We'll also hopefully see more gameplay from Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, get Dragon Quest Builders 2's western release date, and reveal a new Octopath Traveler character. The Japanese company even has a few few other goodies that we'll be very glad to see.

Walmart Canada's insane E3 leak claimed that Just Cause 4 is coming, while we already know that DontNod is working on Life is Strange 2 and Crystal Dynamics is hard at work on the Avengers game together with Eidos Montreal. Recent images have also shown that Square Enix is making some progress on Final Fantasy VII: Remake. Enough to show something noteworthy during their stream? Time will tell.

Ubisoft at 9 PM BST / 10 PM CEST on June 11
Ubisoft has been very transparent about most of the games they'll show off during their E3 conference. They decided to confirm Assassin's Creed Odyssey shortly after a keychain leaked the game a few days ago, and made it clear that we'll learn much more about The Division 2 when the game was confirmed back in March. Ubisoft Montpellier said that the new footage we got from Beyond Good & Evil 2 in early May was just a taste of what awaits at the show, For Honor has been teasing a new faction, we'll get a closer look at the recently delayed Skull & Bones, and The Crew 2 is ready to show how polished it is this close to release. Starlink: Battle for Atlas and Transference have stayed under the radar since they were announced at last year's conference, so it'll be interesting to see how far they've come now. Those of you who love dancing are likely to get another Just Dance too.

Even with all this transparency, you shouldn't believe that we know everything Ubisoft has in store for us. They've gotten a reputation for their surprises over recent years, and we think there are one or two hiding in the shadows this year as well. One person that is known to do just that is Sam Fisher, who recently made a significant cameo in Ghost Recon: Wildlands. Top this with Ubisoft registering the trademark "Splinter Cell" in several territories the last few months and the fact that we know that we're getting a yet to be announced AAA game before next April and you might understand why we keep thinking the iconic trio of green lights are closing in on us.

PlayStation at 2 AM BST / 3 AM CEST on June 12
Sony has made it clear that this year's conference will be different from the two before it. This includes focusing on four of their most anticipated games: Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima, Spider-Man, and The Last of Us: Part II. We've heard very promising things about all of these showings, so consider us intrigued. People would riot if those were the only things shown at the briefing though, so expect Sony to have a few other tricks up its sleeve as well.

Third-party games and indies will obviously make an appearance as well, so this might be the place for more information about Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's Blackout mode, Destiny 2's Forsaken expansion, Guacamelee 2's release date, gameplay from Spelunky 2, the rumoured Devil May Cry V and more. Some of these might even be shown before the briefing, as Sony is set to reveal several things every day this week. Who knows, maybe they're even pulling our leg and will show off another first-party game? Either way, this year's show will be different, and that in itself has our attention.

Nintendo at 5 PM BST / 6 PM CEST on June 12
Nintendo's announcements are some of the hardest to predict because they'll spread the different reveals across their pre-recorded Direct show and their Treehouse streams. One thing you can be absolutely sure of however is that we'll see plenty of Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo Switch, including what we think we be a release date that also represents the launch on Nintendo Switch Online. In fact, Nintendo's wording indicates that their Direct will only show off games for their hybrid console. This makes us believe that we'll see more of the recently announced Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu/Let's Go Eevee, Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion, the upcoming Yoshi for Nintendo Switch and the all but confirmed Switch versions of Fortnite, Dragon Ball FighterZ and the yet to be announced Overcooked 2.

A few things we're less certain about are some of the games Nintendo just announced with incredibly vague teasers last year. Could this be the time for updates from Metroid Prime 4, Bayonetta 3 and Pikmin 4? And what the rumoured Star Fox racing game Retro is allegedly working on? A resurgent Nintendo has to build on its recent hardware success and fans will be eagerly awaiting some announcements about the company's biggest franchises.