It was produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on December 1, 2016, and was live streamed across several platforms.

Prior to the event, Keighley stated that the show would have less reliance on computer generated (CGI) trailers and more on in-game footage, which was due to the effect of No Man's Sky's misleading marketing earlier in the year.

[7] Among games shown during the broadcast included Mass Effect: Andromeda,[8] The Walking Dead: A New Frontier,[9] Prey,[10] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,[11] Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment,[12] Halo Wars 2,[13] Death Stranding,[14] Dauntless from Phoenix Labs,[15] a Bulletstorm remaster,[16] Telltale's Guardians of the Galaxy,[17] LawBreakers,[18] Warframe,[19] Assassin's Creed: The VR Experience, and clips from the 2016 Assassin's Creed film.

Hydrobot, a buff, humanoid robot with a razor blade head, appeared throughout the show and posed with game developer Hideo Kojima.

During a stream before the event, Keighley elaborated more on the situation and explained that the fangames were not legally cleared by Nintendo, who owns the rights to the intellectual property of both games, to be included on the show.