Publisher THQ Nordic says it’s going to pass on attending this year’s E3 in favor of staying home to watch the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
“It is with great regret that we at THQ Nordic must report that we will be unable to miss a single moment of this great sporting event,” the Vienna-based company said in a news release today. “Therefore, we will be forced to stay in our lovely Viennese beer gardens, blowing the froth off a couple, watching football and one or two cool press conferences on Twitch (looking at you, Devolver) instead of rocking it ourselves.”
Instead, THQ Nordic said it will show its upcoming game lineup, including Darksiders 3, Biomutant, Fade to Silence and Wreckfest, at events like Gamescom, which takes place in Cologne, Germany, from Aug. 21-25, and later at PAX West in Seattle.
The company often held it’s E3 meetings in one of the Los Angeles Convention Center’s smaller, quieter halls. But the move is indicative of a larger trend of game publishers leaving the convention center show floor in favor of other events or locations.
E3 2018 will take place June 12-14 in Los Angeles. The 2018 World Cup will be held in Russia, and will kick off June 14. Austria did not qualify for this year’s competition.
