E3 2016: Thoughts About EA’s Upcoming Press Conference

E3 2016 unofficially kicks off tomorrow, June 12, and it starts with Electronic Arts’ annual E3 press briefing. Electronic Arts, or EA, are doing things a bit different this year, however. Instead of having a booth at the show proper, EA is holding their own event at LA Live next to E3 2016, kicking things off with their press briefing. Electronic Arts’ press briefings have always been defined by a few major franchises: Madden, FIFA, Battlefield and more recently, Battlefront. Here are some speculation and predictions for what you might expect from Electronic Arts on Sunday at 12 p.m.

FIFA Touts Frostbite Engine

FIFA is a massive franchise for EA, and its presence at E3 2016 will be two-fold: Electronic Arts will obviously want to show the new features that FIFA is bringing to the soccer franchise, but the switch to the Frostbite engine will also be touted, and rightfully so. This is the engine powering many of Electronic Arts’ games, such as Dragon Age: Inquisition, Battlefield 1, Star Wars: Battlefront and more. The publishing giant will want to showcase why moving the game to Frostbite was a great move. They may not bring Pele out this year as they did last year, but a large chunk of their EA Sports presentation will be FIFA focused.

Battlefield 1 will steal the show

Battlefield 1, the recently revealed installment by DICE in the Battlefield series, will have its official gameplay debut at E3 2016, and it’ll be primed to steal the show from everything else EA is bringing to bear. The reveal trailer for Battlefield 1 has become one of the most-liked trailers on YouTube, outpacing rival Call of Duty by a comical margin in terms of Likes/Dislikes, and the shooter set in the Great War will go a long way to outstrip even other Electronic Arts titles being shown, such as Titanfall 2. It remains to be seen whether or not a game set in the muck of World War I — known more for the defense than the offense, as well as unspeakable, senseless loss of life — can be translated into real fun on screen, but Battlefield’s fans seem incredibly willing to give it a shot.

Mass Effect: Andromeda will show actual gameplay

Bioware’s Mass Effect series is one of the most popular franchises of the last generation, and the speculation about 2017’s Mass Effect: Andromeda will be fueled even further if Electronic Arts uses their E3 2016 presser to give the world a glimpse of Andromeda gameplay. While it’s been teased in years past, and gameplay has been leaked earlier this year, this would be the first official reveal by Electronic Arts, as they set up their massive franchise for next year. I would go a step further and predict they lead their show this year with Mass Effect: Andromeda, giving eager fans the information they’ve been dying for since the game was teased a few years back.

Star Wars will be shown, but not just Battlefront

Electronic Arts has the license for Star Wars from Disney and they have been using it to great effect in the last year. Battlefront, for all its questions about value versus content, was a massive success, and Electronic Arts isn’t stopping there. E3 2016 may be the place where another Star Wars game is officially revealed. Months ago it was made known that Amy Hennig, one of the writers for Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series, had joined Visceral Games and was working on a Star Wars game, which has been reported to be in the same style the Uncharted games. While the game may be a few years away, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Visceral-developed Star Wars game be teased alongside future Battlefront news at E3 2016.

Have an idea as to what you might see at Electronic Arts’ E3 2016 press conference? Sound off in the comments below.

[Image via Windows Central]