Feeling the tug of loss and grief from just about every big videogame event being canceled? You aren’t alone and the void opened up by this worldwide pandemic is one that’s left a major mark on a year that was meant to be the ramp-up to the next generation of gaming. Ubisoft is the latest publisher putting a foot forward in being proactive about future reveals, announcing that it will host an all-digital showcase called Ubisoft Forward. Will it just be an entire week of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla information? Probably not, but only time will tell.
Save the Date Join us July 12 for Ubisoft Forward, a fully digital showcase with exclusive game news, reveals and more! Stay tuned…#UbiForward pic.twitter.com/yEtoEX3pJN
— Ubisoft Nordic (@ubisoftnordic) May 11, 2020
The announcement on the Ubisoft Nordic Twitter page is devoid of any real information other than that the event happens on July 12 at 12 pm PDT/9 pm CEST. While there’s no overt confirmation of this, it feels like Ubisoft Forward will essentially be Ubisoft’s yearly E3 Showcase, now in a completely digital form (and a bit later in the year than usual). Hopefully, this offering will be mostly bereft of the attempted memery and cringe that has been known to plague the company’s usual yearly offerings.
So, be sure to rev up the speculation machine for this one. Next-gen announcements? Is Rayman coming back? (Editor’s Note: Oh please be a thing that is happening. The world is missing so much Rayman right now.) Does Watch Dogs: Legion still exist, and just how much has it changed since we last saw it? Will we get significant next-gen news about PS5 and Series X games from Ubi? Anything feels possible as developers continue to take control of their own reveal and release destinies in an attempt to salvage something from this seemingly null year in which everything feels like its in a state of flux. At the least, I think we can expect to hear far more about Assassin’s Creed and the upcoming Rainbow Six: Siege esports league that Ubisoft is directly handling.
Look for more information in the coming weeks as the Ubi Forward showcase event on July 12 gets closer.
In addition, Geoff Keighley revealed the Summer Game Fest earlier this month, a show that provides a banner under which all gaming events this summer can fly. It’s effectively like a four-month-long all-digital E3 that keeps players excited for plenty of game announcements to come throughout the summer.