Warframe's TennoCon 2018 event is coming up, here's how you can watch from home

Warframe fans already know why the annual event called TennoCon is the most exciting time of year to be into futuristic ninjas with weird suits and cool weapons. For everybody else, it's easy to find out. Set for July 7 this year, TennoCon is an official celebration of all things Warframe (which just so happens to be a longtime contender in our list of the best free games) and an enticing look at its future all rolled into one. Here's how you can join in, even if you don't already have your tickets booked to London, Ontario.

How to watch TennoCon 2018

You can tune in to the YouTube embed above to catch the official stream of Tenno Live, the main event of TennoCon. Tenno Live will be held on July 7 from 6pm to 7pm EDT (3pm to 4 pm PDT / 11pm to midnight BST). It looks like the other panels won't be broadcasted, but you can follow along with official livestreaming partners as they play the game at the London Convention Centre.

What is TennoCon?

TennoCon is a day-long convention that brings together fans of Warframe, the developers of the game at Digital Extremes, and prominent members of the player community. There are panels, cosplay contests, merch, and streamer sessions. It's all capped off with Tenno Live, a glitzy event in which Digital Extremes makes big announcements about the future of Warframe.

Naturally, you also get in-game swag for attending the convention, or by buying a swag-only TennoCon Digital Pack. You'll have to settle for the latter option if you're just finding out about TennoCon now - IRL admission tickets have been sold out for a while.

Oh, and it's called TennoCon because the heroes of Warframe are called Tenno. WarframeCon would have been too on the nose.

What will be announced at TennoCon?

Warframe developer Digital Extremes is keeping its planned announcements for TennoCon 2018 under wraps - understandably so, since it wants you to watch Tenno Live! But the description for the YouTube stream above does tease this: "Did you think our Plains of Eidolon announcement was huge? Just you wait, Tenno…"

If you're not familiar with the Plains of Eidolon, it was an entirely new open-world addition to Warframe that went live back in October 2017. It was easily the biggest update the then four-year-old game had seen, and Digital Extremes is saying that whatever it plans to announce this year will be even bigger. Personally, my money is on a new kart racing area, complete with craftable vehicles. Not really. But maybe really? I mean, a huge open-world area would have sounded about as likely this time last year...

Not sure how to get into the game? Check out why now is the best time to play Warframe. 

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.