Bethesda E3 2015 Press Conference Invite

Having only released three games in 2014 (The Elder Scrolls Online, The Evil Within and Wolfenstein: The New Order) and none whatsoever in 2013, games publisher Bethesda is nowhere as prolific as its competitors Electronic Arts, Activision and Ubisoft. Yet despite the slow Bethesda release schedule, it's games remain as popular and as talked about as ever, in part thanks to each game's high quality.

However, because Bethesda has few games to show off, it means that the publisher often skips or has a smaller presence at the big gaming trade events such as E3, Gamescom and TGS (Tokyo Game Show). In recent years, Bethesda has instead chosen to promote their games at gaming award shows (which is what they did with Skyrim) and with teaser videos (which is how they announced The Evil Within). They still show up at these events, but they avoid the limelight more than most.

Bethesda's First E3 Press Conference

For Bethesda it made sense to announce games this way, as they simply didn't need the pomp and circumstance of a press conference to promote its games, especially when traditional announcements had always done the trick. But now, as Bethesda announces its very first E3 conference, it seems that the publisher will have more than enough to talk about soon.

Bethesda No Games in Development Wii U

Bethesda made the announcement on the Bethesda blog, saying that:

"We’re hosting our first-ever E3 Showcase in Hollywood, CA on June 14th and we’ve saved some seats just for you, our fans. Feel like a celebrity by attending our most exciting event yet, live and in-person! Keep an eye out – in the coming months we’ll be sharing details on how you can register to attend.

Can’t make it out to LA to join us? Don’t worry, we have you covered. On Twitch.TV/Bethesda (Follow here), you’ll be able to tune in on 6/14 and watch every moment live!"

June 14 is over four months away but given recent rumors about what Bethesda and its developers are working on, the Internet is rife with speculation.

Fallout 4 Announcement?

The most likely announcement is Fallout 4, as rumors have surrounded the next game in the Fallout franchise for over two years. Most recently, fans got their hopes up when Video Game Awards host Geoff Keighley tweeted about a meeting with Bethesda ahead of the big show, but Bethesda cruelly dashed those dreams, saying they were there to support Wolfenstein developer, Machine Games.

But in spite of this, there's a lot of evidence suggesting that Fallout 4 will be showing its face come E3 in June. Fallout 3 began development in 2004 before being released in 2008 and in 2010 Todd Howard, the Game Director and Executive Producer at Bethesda Game Studios (who made Fallout 3 and Skyrim) confirmed that the developer had two projects in the pipeline. One was Skyrim and the other, which Howard said was still in pre-production, still hasn't been announced.

On top of that, following the completion of Skyrim's DLC in 2013, the developer announced that they would be moving their focus to their other, in development project. And, just to add fuel to the fire, leaked pages (and leaked info from a Bethesda scouting trip) pointed to the game being set in Boston.

Prey 2

But what if – for whatever reason – Fallout 4 doesn't come to fruition? Bethesda has plenty of other potential game announcements up their sleeves including Prey 2 and a sequel to Dishonored. Three months ago, fans were sad to hear that highly anticipated shooter Prey 2 had been cancelled after originally being announced in 2011. It's said that work on the game did switch hands from Human Head Studios to Dishonored developer Arkane Studios at some point during development, though, but after years of troubled development this was not enough to save it.

This means that Bethesda's first E3 conference could feature a revival of Prey 2 or we could find out what Arkane Studios has been doing since their project got canned. Dishonored was a huge, runaway success that exceeded sales expectations, making a sequel all but guaranteed. A teaser image from last year told us to expect Dishonored 2 at E3 2014 and while that didn't materialize, it got gamers plenty excited for the Dishonored follow-up nonetheless.

One thing we are sure to see at Bethesda's E3 conference is more on The Elder Scrolls Online. It was recently revealed that the game would be dropping its subscription free and would be arriving on PS4 and Xbox One in June, so expect more on that and all of Bethesda's other exciting announcements soon.

Source: Bethesda