We can expect big things from Square Enix at E3 2021, likely including more information regarding Final Fantasy 16 after it was first revealed last year.
With great titles like Nier Replicant and Outriders behind them and Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade in front of them, it's hard to not get excited for what they could show at E3 this year
Here's everything you should know about this year's conference.
LATEST - Microsoft To Announce Acquisition
With Sony choosing not to attend E3 this year, all of the eyeballs are on Microsoft and their Xbox presentation, especially considering they have released very few exclusives so far for the Xbox Series X|S.
Current rumours suggest that they could be gearing up to announce another acquisition, after having finalized their deal with Bethesda in recent months.
Speaking on the Windows Central Discord server, Windows Central editor Jez Corden said that he expects "at least one Xbox acquisition being announced at E3 2021".
The rumour mill is claiming that Crytek is set to be acquired by Microsoft, but nothing has been confirmed so far.
We will have to watch this space during E3 2021 and see what Microsoft announces.
Conference Date Revealed
In a recent post on their site, E3 announced the conference dates of a multitude of this year's attendees. Square Enix was among them
Alongside Microsoft, Warner Bros and PC Gaming Show, the Square Enix conference will take place on June 13th. The show will start at 3:15pm EDT / 9:15pm BST
Final Fantasy Origin Leaked
According to numerous sources, collated by Fanbyte, there are reports that a new Final Fantasy title is coming from Team Ninja and will be announced during Square Enix's Square Enix Presents at E3 2021.
Team Ninja are the studio behind the Nioh series and there are reports that gameplay will be similar to this, Souls-like if you will.
We don't know too much more about the game itself but it's expected to take place canonically at the same time as the original Final Fantasy title (from 1987) and it will launch as a PS5 console exclusive.
If this is true, it looks like Final Fantasy will be fully completing its trend away from the turn-based combat that it was built on. Is this a good thing?
E3 2021 Schedule So Far
So far, many of the dates and times are fairly undefined, we will update here as we find out.
Not Main Conference:
June 5
- 5am EDT / 10 am BST- Indie Live Expo
- 11am EDT / 4pm BST - Guerrilla Collective 2 start
June 10
- 2pm EDT / 7pm BST - Summer Game Fest start
Main Conference
June 12
- E3 start date
- 3pm EDT / 8pm BST - Ubisoft Forward
- Gearbox
June 13
- TBD - PC Gaming Show
- TBD - The Future Games Show
- 1pm EDT / 6pm BST Xbox
- 3:15pm EDT / 9:15pm BST Square Enix
June 15
- Nintendo
- Bandai Namco
June 16
- Steam Next Fest start
July 22
- TBD - EA Play Live
What Can We Expect To See?
As Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade will release just days before the conference, we can expect to see a follow-up there as well as some potential information on what comes next for Cloud and the crew.
We can also expect to see some information on the planned Final Fantasy battle royal game and, if recent leaks are to be believed, some very interesting news for Final Fantasy.
Final Fantasy Leak
A resetera user by the name Navtra has recently revealed some possible information on the PS5 exclusive Square Enix game. They have a history of accurate predictions but they should be, in their words, "taken with a grain of salt."
They believe two major reveals will come out during the conference. One of these will be a cross-gen Eidos title and the other will be a PS5 exclusive Final Fantasy Title. This is all pretty interesting information, especially off the back of the PC debacle last year with FF.
Updates
Alongside new titles, we should also receive updates to current ones. A lot has happened over the last 9 months since the release of their Avengers game. For this reason, we might see a major update or DLC here.
As well as this, the huge launch of Outriders means the next step for the team has to be in content updates. We will likely see this mentioned somewhere.
Finally, with a huge new FF14 DLC on the way, we might see mention of something here too. This being said, the recent fan fest may have covered most of this ground.
Not only are they a big developer, but Square Enix are a big publisher and have many titles behind them. Although we know a lot about what we might see, they have the capability to shock us this year. Here's hoping they do.