May is over, the winners of this year’s contest have been contacted, and suddenly we’re right on the doorstep of Not-E3 2025.

I was actually surprised to realize just how close it is. It starts at the end of this week!

So let’s take a look at the upcoming showcases.

June 4
State of Play – 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET

June 6

Summer Game Fest 2025 – 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET
Ball x Pit: The Kenny Sun Story (Devolver) – 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET
IO Interactive Showcase – 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET

June 7

Wholesome Direct 2025 – 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET
Future Games Show: Summer Showcase 2025 – 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET

June 8

Xbox Games Showcase & The Outer Worlds 2 Direct – 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET
PC Gaming Show – 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET

In addition to these, there are also a bunch of smaller and indie showcases throughout as well, which I’ll probably cover highlights from if anything especially stands out to me. There are also rumors of a Nintendo Direct soon, so I’ll consider that part of “Not-E3” if it occurs in the same time frame.

Not-E3 2025 Hopes and Dreams

It’s actually incredible how many of my one-time “pipe dreams” have been removed from the list due to actually coming true. Last year I added a Xenoblade Chronicles X remaster to the list, and that’s already happened! And the wish that once seemed to be one of the least likely to come true, an Ace Attorney Investigations 2 localization, finally can leave the list as well.

What does that leave me with for pipe dreams?

• Tales of Symphonia prequel
• Xenosaga HD
• A classic-style Paper Mario
• World of Final Fantasy 2
• Mother 3 localization
• Untranslated Tales games
• Like a Dragon Kenzan and Kurohyo

I’ll also add one more: a remaster of Rhythm Thief & the Emperor’s Treasure. What I really want is a sequel, but a remaster would be a great first step in that direction.

As for a hope I consider realistic enough not to put it on the list of pipe dreams… yes, I think this is finally the year. I’m hoping for a brand-new Ace Attorney announcement. Capcom doesn’t appear to have its own showcase, but they’re listed as a partner for Summer Game Fest, and Ace Attorney could believably show up in a Nintendo Direct, too. With all the games except for the crossover now available on modern platforms, I really think our chances are good of seeing a new Ace Attorney game announced.

My other realistic hope is for a new Tales game. It’s been four years since Arise, and while that wasn’t exactly one of my favorites, I have my fingers crossed for a new one.

And, while I already have RGG Studio on my list with a couple pipe dreams, I’d not only love to see a new Project Century trailer, but I also have my fingers crossed for a third Judgment game.

What games are you hoping will be announced during this year’s string of game showcases?

Table of Contents

Guerilla Collective
Summer Game Fest
Devolver Direct
Wholesome Direct
Future Games Show
Xbox Games Showcase
PC Gaming Show
Ubisoft Forward

PC Gaming Show

After the Xbox Games Showcase yesterday, the PC Gaming show was held in the evening. I’ll be covering highlights for this one, since only a few games stood out to me across the two-hour show.

Wander Stars is a turn-based RPG in which you use words to fight, a unique enough idea that I’m intrigued.

Steel Seed had an interesting trailer, but it didn’t show enough for me to get an idea of what it was about. Meanwhile, the musical-based puzzle game Tempopo looks like it could be fun.

Action RPG Last Moon looks like it has potential, and every time I see another trailer for Demonschool, I get a little more interested in it. The rhythm-adventure game Unbeatable also looks interesting.

There was another trailer for Cat Quest III, too, and it’s adorable. That’s a series I definitely want to try.

Meanwhile, the latest trailer for Still Wakes the Deep looked interesting enough that I’m tempted to give it a chance after all. If it was from any other developer, I’d probably be talking about how I want to play it. It’s just that it’s from The Chinese Room, who previously made Dear Esther and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, neither of which I was exactly crazy about. I haven’t played any of their games after those. Will this be the one I finally take a chance on?

The fantasy farming yokai game Tales of Seikyu also got a new trailer here. It was in one of the other recent showcases, and I have to admit it looks intriguing even though I’m not the biggest farming game fan.

All in all, the show didn’t have a lot of great announcements for me, but there were still some nice games shown.

Ubisoft Forward

Finally, our last showcase of Not-E3 2024 so far was Ubisoft Forward this afternoon. A pre-show began half an hour before the main show, but since its goal was to deliver updates on live service games, I didn’t watch.

I’m not the biggest Ubisoft fan, so once again I’m only going to cover the highlights. They began with an extended look at Star Wars Outlaws, and while I don’t think I’ll play it, I have to admit it looks good.

They also gave updates on the Prince of Persia series! Now as they were discussing DLC for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and new content for The Rogue Prince of Persia, I couldn’t help but wonder if they were going to mention the Sands of Time remake at all or if it’s effectively dead.

And they did! It’s not dead after all! …It’s now planned for 2026 and got a short teaser trailer that showed basically nothing, so it really sounds like they must have restarted the whole thing.

A considerable portion of time was also given to Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Assassin’s Creed is one of those series where I find some aspects of it interesting but doubt I’d enjoy playing it, so I’ve never given them a try.

And that brings us to the end of Not-E3 2024, for now at least. I was hoping the Nintendo Direct would be tomorrow, but it looks like it won’t be. Of all the showcases so far, which have you enjoyed the most?