Microsoft announces big change to its Xbox E3 plans

Microsoft will have a very different presence at this year’s E3. The company announced today that it’s moving the majority of its Xbox presence — including its annual media briefing and Xbox FanFest activities — to the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Rather than having a dedicated Xbox booth at E3 2018 on the Los Angeles Convention Center show floor, Microsoft is setting up shop at the nearby theater at LA Live. Microsoft said it will still have a “meaningful presence” at the convention center in the form of “a new booth completely dedicated to [video streaming service] Mixer, where you can play, stream and interact with games and catch the latest E3 news live throughout the entire week.”

Microsoft’s Xbox E3 2018 briefing will be held at the Microsoft Theater on June 10, at 1 p.m. PT/4 p.m. ET. Presumably, that will be streamed on a variety of platforms, as Microsoft has done in the past. In years past, Microsoft held its E3 press conference at the Galen Center in LA, so things will look a bit different this year.

The Microsoft Theater will also be home to “various Xbox FanFest activities, hands-on gameplay and demos for all E3 attendees and more,” the company said.

“Not only does the Microsoft Theater allow us to centralize our Xbox presence at E3, but it’s (sic) size enables us to include even more fans and partners in the Xbox E3 2018 Briefing than ever before,” Microsoft said.

Microsoft said the move from the LACC to the Microsoft Theater was done in response to changes at E3 itself, which is once again open to the public and will feature extended show hours in 2018.