Attendees play games on the new Stadia gaming platform at the Google booth at the 2019 GDC Game Developers Conference.

This year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, has a new entrant and it is raising eyebrows.

The world's largest get-together for some of the biggest names in gaming is set to stage its latest show next week, but one particular name has taken the gaming world by surprise — Google.

The tech giant first announced it was getting into the gaming business back in March, and it recently unveiled a bunch of new details including pricing and games.

Google's gaming effort doesn't take the form of a console. It's a streaming platform, so instead of having to buy a physical copy or download massive files, people can play games that are run on servers at Google's data centers.

The news could spur Microsoft on to reveal more about its own streaming service, Project xCloud. The company has long been a household name in the E3 lineup, alongside Sony — although interestingly, the latter isn't showing up at this year's event.

"Cloud gaming will be front and center of many discussions at E3 as the industry adapts to the changing business models," Candice Mudrick, head of analysis at industry research group Newzoo, told CNBC by email.

"Microsoft and Google are the main ones to watch for, and Stadia has already released details on its service ahead of E3."