Microsoft revealed on Wednesday that the Xbox E3 2017 press conference will take place on Sunday, June 11th at 5 pm ET. This comes on the heels of EA’s announcement earlier this year that it would host its EA Play 2017 event at the Palladium in Hollywood, California from June 10th-12th — the weekend before E3 begins at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Clearly, a trend is beginning to develop.
Last year (and at every other recent E3) Microsoft, Sony and other major game companies have held their press briefings on Monday — the day before E3 properly kicks off at the convention center. Microsoft was typically relegated to the morning slot, so moving to Sunday will likely give the company more visibility as it announces its game lineup for the coming year and new hardware in the Xbox line.
Brace for big news.#XboxE3 briefing will air Sunday, June 11 at 2 PM PT. pic.twitter.com/EWilMOb47s
— Xbox (@Xbox) February 15, 2017
Speaking of new hardware, the teaser image for the E3 2017 briefing appears to show off a chip with “4K” inscribed on it. We assume Microsoft is hinting at the Xbox Scorpio, which is said to play games at 4K natively. The upgraded console is set to launch at some point in the coming holiday season, so E3 will be Microsoft’s best chance to show off exactly how it compares to the PS4 Pro.
In an email, a Microsoft spokesperson told us that the company will also be hosting another Xbox FanFest this year for fans who can’t make it to E3 (even though the event is open to the public for the first time).
