Xbox is part of E3 week, but it won't actually be at the show

Phil Spencer — (Image credit: Microsoft)

As far as most fans are concerned, Xbox will be kicking off E3 week this year, but the company has just confirmed that it won't actually be on the E3 show floor.

"We can't wait to host our Xbox Games Showcase on June 11 and will share more details later," an Xbox spokesperson tells IGN. "We also look forward to co-streaming our event as part of E3 Digital and will not be on the E3 showfloor."

Earlier this week, Microsoft confirmed the June 11 date for the Xbox Games Showcase, with both it and the June Starfield Direct conveniently timed to the start of the official E3 2023 schedule. That raised some eyebrows about how directly Xbox was participating in the show, given rumors that the Big Three console makers were skipping E3 this year. Nintendo was the first to make it official, and PlayStation hasn't been at the show for years, making its likely absence unsurprising.

It's worth noting, of course, that Xbox didn't make an appearance at the last physical E3 show, held in 2019, either. Skipping again here in 2023 might just be part of a longer-term strategy. But we're now just a few months out from E3, and while event organizers insist there's plenty to be excited about, we still don't have any big names on the exhibitor list. That is aside from Ubisoft, though that publisher hasn't sounded too certain of its appearance.

Of course, unless you're actually going to E3, this probably won't matter much to you. There's still likely to be same week full of press conferences that you're used to watching from home. Just don't expect to be seeing any big hands-on previews on the latest Xbox games coming out of the event.

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.