This year’s E3 kicked off on June 12 and wrapped up with an Awards Show on the night of June 15. The yearly expo was cancelled last year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and was online-only this year for the same reason. Despite having some major reveals from companies like Nintendo and Bethesda, there were some big games that were notably missing.
E3 2021 wasn’t without some big moments, however. Bethesda’s long-awaited Starfield had its cinematic trailer and details revealed, and a few surprises on Xbox like Redfall and updates on games like Halo Infinite were great to see. Nintendo kept this momentum going by revealing several surprise games, like Metroid Dread, while finishing its Direct with new footage of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild‘s sequel.
Arguably, there weren’t as many big announcements at E3 2021 as there have been in previous years, but this may be expected at a time when the pandemic is causing development delays and many companies host their own online showcases throughout the year. The biggest game reveals at E3 this year were mostly games that had already been teased before, and some highly-anticipated games (like Elden Ring) were shown off before the expo even started – during Summer Game Fest 2021. Still, there were quite a few games that were rumored or expected to be at E3 and simply weren’t. Here are some of the biggest games that were missing this year.
Biggest Game Missing From E3 2021 – Final Fantasy XVI
Admittedly, Square Enix’s E3 presentation on June 13 was a bit of a letdown for the many fans who were hoping to see reveals based around the company’s popular JRPG franchises like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and Dragon Quest. Instead, the presentation mostly focused on Marvel games like the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy, although it did announce Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin, a dark take on the first FF game.
So, it was perhaps surprising that Final Fantasy 16 was missing. Some old footage from last year’s reveal trailer was a part of the closing reel, but outside of those few seconds, FF16 was completely missing. It’s strange that the next mainline entry in Square Enix’s flagship series wasn’t given any time at E3 2021. This may be because Final Fantasy 16 is a timed exclusive for PS5, and the game may be a part of PlayStation’s State of Play broadcasts.
Sony hasn’t been a part of E3 for several years now, so if Final Fantasy 16 is a part of its next State of Play, this would explain why Square Enix was holding out on more FF16 footage at the expo. Regardless, it’s still disappointing that such a highly anticipated title was missing from E3 2021.
Biggest Game Missing From E3 2021 – Bayonetta 3
Nintendo’s E3 2021 showcase was full of surprises, but fans who were expecting new updates for Bayonetta 3 are likely disappointed. Since being announced, Nintendo has been fairly quiet about Bayonetta 3, and this trend continued at this year’s presentation. While Metroid fans were given a nice surprise with Metroid Dread (and a small mention of Metroid Prime 4), Bayonetta fans were once again left in the dark.
It’s unclear why Nintendo has been so quiet about Bayonetta 3. First announced in 2017, developers haven’t given many updates on the project, although they’ve made it clear that Bayonetta 3 isn’t cancelled. Since Nintendo’s E3 Direct mostly showed off titles that would be releasing in 2021, it’s possible the company didn’t reveal more about Bayonetta 3 because it’s aiming for a 2022 release date for the game. Hopefully, more information will be shared soon.
Biggest Game Missing From E3 2021 – Grand Theft Auto 6
Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 6 was always going to be a long shot for E3 2021. Still, this didn’t keep a lot of fans from being somewhat hopeful that at least an announcement for GTA 6 would happen this year during the expo. Excitement for the game has reached a fever pitch, as alleged map leaks and Vice City rumors appear online almost continuously.
It’s possible Grand Theft Auto 6 wasn’t at E3 2021 because Rockstar didn’t want to share the spotlight with so many other games. When a GTA 6 reveal actually happens, it’s going to be a huge deal, so it may get its own event – instead of being included with a showcase, like at publisher Take-Two’s E3 presentation. It’s bad news for fans, but perhaps official news of GTA 6 will appear soon – even if the game was missing entirely from E3 2021.
Biggest Game Missing From E3 2021 – The Elder Scrolls 6
Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls 6 three years ago, and the company has given out only nominal updates since, mostly just letting fans know they won’t be seeing any Elder Scrolls 6 news. Still, both Bethesda and Xbox (which now owns the studio after its ZeniMax Media acquisition) had showcases at E3, so many people were theorizing Elder Scrolls 6 might appear at E3 2021. However, these hopes didn’t come to fruition.
Instead, Bethesda focused mostly on future games like Starfield and existing ones like Fallout 76, and Xbox chose to laud its Xbox Game Pass (which is getting bolstered even more by Bethesda franchises like Fallout and Elder Scrolls). For people who were eager to see something more concrete for the Xbox-exclusive Starfield, Bethesda’s presentation was a surefire hit. However, it was still somewhat disappointing to find that Elder Scrolls 6 was missing completely from E3 2021. It’s possible Bethesda simply chose this year’s expo to show off Starfield while waiting until 2022 to give Elder Scrolls 6 the spotlight. Either way, more news will hopefully be shared soon to keep the momentum for the game going.
Of course, fans of other franchises like Tomb Raider and Donkey Kong were also left in the dark, since neither of those long-running series got any new updates or announcements at E3 2021. By comparison, a lot of the expo this year felt smaller, which is likely a byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic causing development delays and companies like Ubisoft and Square Enix hosting their own presentations throughout the year. Despite quite a few big reveals and trailers, perhaps the biggest surprises at E3 this year were the games that weren’t shown off at all.
