Expect new Madden NFL and FIFA games at EA Play 2020, run by the publishing giant that also oversees Star Wars, The Sims and Dragon Age franchises.

An all-digital event is on the schedule for Electronic Arts.

Annual video game preview EA Play has been a fixture since 2016, when Electronic Arts pivoted from a traditional presence at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) to a standalone event held nearby.

Its 2020 edition will be a digital event called EA Play Live, with the company staking out a June 11 date.

The date falls on the last day of what would have been the 2020 Electronic Entertainment Expo.

EA Play Live begins at 4pm PST (8am next day, Malaysia), several hours later than previous iterations of the EA showcase, which could prove detrimental for prospective live audiences in Britain, Europe, western Russia and India.

As well as the yearly releases of games in the Madden NFL and FIFA Soccer sports franchises, EA studios are known to be working on new entries to the fantasy adventure franchise Dragon Age, licensed Star Wars games and a VR entry to wartime action series Medal Of Honor.

The studio behind EA's Battlefield V (2018) and Star Wars: Battlefront II (2017), DICE, last week announced that it was turning its attention to new projects, with a new "Battlefield" expected in 2021.

EA Play joins a number of other video game events moving online in the wake of anti-coronavirus measures and the associated cancellation of E3 2020.

Among them, a series of events held under the Summer Game Fest banner, running between May and August, will include a Steam Game Festival between June 9 and 14.

Sony and Microsoft are launching new PlayStation and Xbox game consoles towards the end of the year and will helm their own events in the lead up to release; Xbox has a games showcase set for May 7.

 - AFP Relaxnews