E3 2021 has kicked off, and today Ubisoft is taking the virtual stage with its Ubisoft Forward showcase, starting with a preshow at 11 am PT/7 pm BST. The publisher always has lots of games cooking so it's bound to be a big show, and while synchronized dance numbers are probably hard to pull off over Zoom, hopefully Ubisoft can make it happen.
The Ubisoft Forward livestream will present new trailers for upcoming games, news and updates for currently released games, and hopefully a few revelations. Provided they don't leak first. That happens a lot when it comes to Ubisoft.
When and how to watch Ubisoft Forward
Ubisoft Forward begins on June 12 at 11 am PT/7 pm BST for the pre-show, and 12 pm PT/8 pm BST for the main show (click here to convert to your timezone). There's also a post-show at 1 pm PT/9 pm BST, so expect the main show to be (at most) about an hour long.
You can watch Ubisoft Forward on YouTube, on Twitch, or on Ubisoft's own site.
What will be in the Ubisoft Forward pre-show?
Ubisoft says the pre-show will mostly focus on news and updates for current Ubisoft games, such as:
For Honor - Year 5 Season 2 starts June 10, bringing new arid-themed versions of a few of the game's maps and a new hero—potentially a Samurai.
Watch Dogs: Legion - Legion recently received a new zombie mode and showed off its revised roadmap. Hopefully we'll hear more about Invasion mode, which was pushed from May all the way back to August, though the show will most likely focus on Aiden Pearce (from WD1) and Wrench (from WD2) who will become playable characters in July.
Also expect some updates during the preshow for:
- Trackmania
- The Crew 2
- Brawlhalla
What can we expect from the Ubisoft Forward main show?
The main show will cover games that are releasing in the future, along with expansions for current games.
Rainbow Six Extraction - Originally called Quarantine, and then Parasite, the name has now been changed to Extraction for pretty obvious reasons. Along with some gameplay trailers we're hoping for a specific release date. It's due to launch this year, so we're sure we'll learn a lot more about the new co-op shooter during the show.
Far Cry 6 - The open world FPS, set on an island nation based on Cuba, is due in October and got its first (of many, no doubt) gameplay trailer in late May. We're still fuzzy on some of the details, but we hope to learn more about how co-op play will work this time, and we'd like to see some of the different enemy types we'll be facing.
The Division: Heartland - A recent leak showed us some footage from the next Tom Clancy's The Division game, a more rural take on the previously urban-focused third-person shooters. We also know it'll be free to play. Maybe we'll get a release date and an official look at some gameplay.
Riders Republic - Oh yeah, Ubisoft makes sports games, too! Riders Republic is a new entry into extreme sports, and the MMO was originally supposed to be released back in February. Maybe it's almost ready now.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla - The main show will also give us a look at updates headed to Valhalla, which is due for another hefty expansion called Siege of Paris sometime this summer. We expect we'll see a specific release date.
Speaking of which...
Will we see a new Assassin's Creed at Ubisoft Forward?
Well, there's not a new Assassin's Creed game planned for 2021, particularly since expansions for Valhalla are still rolling out. We haven't heard anything (apart from a few unverified rumors) about the setting, and considering how often information is leaked from Ubisoft, that might be a sign the game is still in very early development.
But it's not hard to imagine a teaser, even a short one that doesn't show much of anything but a title and a release year. We sure hope so.
Will Ubisoft Forward have a few surprises?
Most likely, if only because Ubisoft specifically said it'll have a few surprises. There are a whole bunch of games in the works that could pop up during the show, including:
Battlecat: A leak this week might point to a new competitive FPS that's a blend of Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, and The Division. It might be called something like Battlecat. Reportedly it is a real game but, also reportedly, it won't be shown at E3. But who knows?
The Ubisoft Star Wars game - Back in January we learned Ubisoft was working with Lucasfilm to develop an open world Star Wars game. Massive Entertainment, developer of The Division series, will bring it to life in the Snowdrop Engine. We're guessing it's still pretty darn early to drop a proper trailer or gameplay footage, but maybe we'll see a teaser? Last we checked, people were sorta into Star Wars stuff.
The Ubisoft Avatar game - The very creative working title, The Avatar Project, first came to our attention way back in 2017. Last year we heard it was still in development. Will this be the year we finally get a peek at it? The next Avatar movie is planned for the end of 2022, so if the game is tied to it, we may have longer to wait.
The Settlers - First scheduled for a 2019 release, then a 2020 release, the city-building strategy has since been postponed indefinitely. But you never know!
Skull and Bones - The multiplayer pirate action game faced multiple delays and a release is now wedged somewhere between April 2022 and March 2023. So don't hold your breath.
Beyond Good and Evil 2 - This would definitely be a surprise. We saw 25 minutes of it back in 2018, but since then there's been nothing but bad news.
Roller Champions - There was a closed alpha of the roller derby game back in March of last year, so maybe Ubisoft is done tinkering and ready to give us a release date. It's supposed to be out sometime this year.
