Ubisoft officially withdraws from this year's E3

Will now host a separate event in June.

Ubisoft has U-turned on its earlier decision to attend this year's E3 and will now hold its own separate event on 12th June.

The publisher initially announced its intention to attend E3's 2023 live show - which is being organised by Eurogamer parent company Reedpop for the first time this year - back in February, insisting it would bring a "strong line-up" of titles to the Los Angeles event.

At the time, Ubisoft was the only major publisher to have publicly committed to E3 2023 - which resurrects the in-person component last since in 2019, prior to COVID - amid reports Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo would all be skipping the expo.

Since then, Nintendo has confirmed its absence, while Microsoft has said it won't have a show floor presence but that its online showcase will be part of an E3-branded week of digital shows.

And now, with those two major no-shows formalised, Ubisoft has officially U-turned on its earlier commitment, telling VGC that while it "initially intended to have an official E3 presence, [it has] made the subsequent decision to move in a different direction".

As such, the company will now host its own Ubisoft Forward Live event on 12th June, with further details set to be shared "very soon".

Earlier this month, Reedpop said "AAA companies... indie darlings and tech and hardware firms" had committed to attending this year's E3 - which runs between 13th and 16th June - and that "the full roster of exhibitors [would] be announced in the leadup to the expo". How Ubisoft's U-turn will affect those plans remains to be seen.

Reedpop declined to comment for this story.