E3-Less Summer Takes Shape as EA Announces Digital-Only Play Live

• EA has announced a digital-only Play Live event set for June 11 at 4 PM PST.
• The event will feature ‘world premiers, news and more’ although EA stopped short of providing concrete details.
• EA is the first publisher to offer a firm date for its E3 replacement plans.

Electronic Arts announced today that it plans to host a digital-only edition of its familiar E3-accompanying EA Play Live showcase this year.

With E3 off the cards this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, publishers and developers such as Xbox, Ubisoft, and Square Enix have offered vague assurance of alternative events to fill the gap in early June. EA is the first such company to come out and provide a firm date to pencil into our diaries.

A Digital-Only EA Play Live For 2020

Taking to Twitter, EA says that EA Play Live is going digital this year . On June 11, at 4 PM PST, viewers can tune in to catch ‘world premiers, news and more.’ Although not stated, we can expect the stream to hit the usual platforms such as YouTube, Twitch, and the like.

Since 2015, EA has hosted a peripheral event away from the hustle and bustle of the E3 expo at the LA Convention Center. The news isn’t, therefore, too much of a departure from the norm. Except this time around, EA will not be hosting its tailgate-style multi-day event; instead, the publisher is condensing it down to a one-day live-streamed affair.

It’s unclear whether we are looking at multiple streams on the same day or one condensed E3-style presentation.

While a digital EA Play Live is welcome news to those worried about an E3-less month of June, EA is keeping its cards close to the chest. What we can expect from ‘world premieres, news and more’ remains to be seen.

Project Maverick, Anthem Revamp, Next-Gen Plans?

Pushed to speculate, we’d say a look at EA’s annual sports franchises is almost guaranteed. Equally likely is an introduction to EA’s next-gen roster with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X slated for release at the end of the year.

We may also get a first look at EA Motive Studio’s mysterious Star Wars Project Maverick title, which accidentally found its way onto a PlayStation Network listing earlier this year. We can’t discount a peek at what BioWare has been up to with the promised No Man’s Sky-style revamp of the troubled Anthem.

In other summer gaming event news, The Game Awards host, Geoff Keighley, announced last week the Summer Game Fest. As a four-month-long event, the festival will feature news, announcements, playable demos, and more from an enviable roster of the most prominent developers and publishers in gaming.