Xavier Woods to Host EA Play Live

The online-only, digital version of E3 is in the books for this year. Now it's time for EA Play to have its day in the sun. This week, Electronic Arts announced the details for this year's EA Play Live. This year's return for EA Play will be a live, digital event in July. EA made the details of this year's even official via Twitter.

The EA Play Live pre-show is scheduled for July 22 at 10:00 am PT/1:00 pm ET. The pre-show will be followed by the main showcase. Additionally, WWE Superstar Xavier Woods, aka Austin Creed, will be hosting this year's event. Woods is probably the perfect choice to host the event between his popularity among fans and having his own video game-themed channel, UpUpDownDown.

As previously noted, Electronic Arts is expected to reveal the revival for an established IP at EA Play Live, and hints by GamesBeat's Jeff Grubb suggest that it could be Dead Space. The Dead Space franchise has been dormant since the release of Dead Space 3 in early 2013.

Besides the prestige of WWE, last November, Woods was announced as part of the new on-air talent lineup for the upcoming 2021 return of G4. The former gaming network is going to be returning on multiple digital and linear platforms. So, there will be synergy on multiple levels here for Woods, who is an excellent choice to host the event.

The lineup for EA Play Live 2021 isn't yet confirmed. Some recently announced titles for EA include BioWare's sequel to the original Mass Effect Trilogy. A teaser trailer released last December announced that BioWare is in the "early stages" of development for a new chapter in the Mass Effect universe. With that in mind, July might still be too early to get any new updates on the next Mass Effect.

Additionally, BioWare is working on the next installment of the Dragon Age franchise, which was first teased at the 2018 Game Awards. In October 2019, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said the new Dragon Age game will probably arrive after the company's fiscal year 2022, but the game does not yet have an official release date (h/t VGC.com).

Regardless, the game is likely further along than the new Mass Effect title and would probably make for a stronger prediction for a possible showcase at EA Play Live 2021.

EA simply hosting its own online show at their own chosen date does seem to make a lot of sense. EA was already operating its own EA Play events independent of E3 in recent years. However, there will be no live, in-person aspects to EA Play live this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

EA's announcements on EA Play Live and Xavier Woods are available below: