Summer Game Fest


Summer Game Fest is a live video game event organized and hosted by game journalist Geoff Keighley. The event takes place annually over multiple live streams during the North American summer period, the most notable of which is the "main show" which usually airs on the first day of the event and showcases upcoming major releases. The "main show" is usually then followed by multiple streams over the next few days from other publishers or groups, such as an Xbox Game Studios showcase or "Day of the Devs" featuring several indie games.
While Keighley had been involved in events associated with E3, one of the game industry's prominent events, he had expressed concern and dissatisfaction with the direction the Entertainment Software Association had planned for the event in 2020, and withdrew from participation. When the COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of physical events for E3 and Gamescom in 2020, Keighley established the livestreamed Summer Game Fest presentation to help replace these events. Following the ESA's decision to discontinue E3 after 2021, Summer Game Fest has become the default mid-year showcase for game announcements, and often is nicknamed as "not-E3" because of this substitution.

List of events

History

2020

Games journalist Geoff Keighley had been working with the ESA since before 2000 to support the E3 convention typically held in June of each year, including running the E3 Coliseum, a side event to give developers and their games more exposure than the standard press conferences. Ahead of the planned E3 2020 show, the ESA had announced a number of changes to its approach, aiming the content of the show towards what it described as a "fan, media and influencer festival". This change of approach was criticized by some in the industry, and Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that it would not be participating in the event, after missing E3 2019, as the vision offered by the ESA did not match its expectations; Keighley also opted out of the show, noting he did not "feel comfortable participating" due to the changes.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ESA canceled the physical event for E3 in 2020. Keighley began working with numerous developers and publishers to run a four-month Summer Game Fest from May 7 to August 24, 2020, helping developers and publisher to host live streams and other events in lieu of E3 and Gamescom. Alongside Summer Game Fest, Keighley promoted the third Steam Game Festival, following The Game Awards 2019 and the previously canceled 2020 Game Developers Conference, which ran from June 16–22, 2020. Over 900 games had demos available on Steam for players to try, alongside a slate of interviews with developers throughout the period. A similar event for Xbox One games occurred from July 21–27, 2020, as part of Summer Game Fest.
Announcements made during Summer Game Fest 2020 included:
The second Summer Game Fest took place from June 10 to July 22, 2021, coinciding with E3 2021. From June 15–21, 2021, ID@Xbox offered a number of demos of upcoming games for the Xbox One and Xbox Series X and Series S consoles as part of Summer Game Fest.
Summer Game Fest 2021 opened with an announcement stream of games hosted by Keighley on June 10, 2021. Titles presented include:
Summer Game Fest 2021 included the first Tribeca Games Spotlight on June 11, 2021, featuring games that had been nominated for the inaugural Tribeca Film Festival video game award. These games included:
  • The Big Con
  • Harold Halibut
  • Kena: Bridge of Spirits
  • Lost in Random
  • NORCO
  • Sable
  • SIGNALIS
  • 12 Minutes
Koch Media presented a showcase on June 11, 2021, as part of Summer Game Fest. Alongside introducing their new publishing label, Prime Matter, Koch Media's presenting covered the following games:
  • The Chant
  • Codename Final Form
  • Crossfire: Legion
  • Dolman
  • Echoes of the End
  • Encased
  • Gungrave G.O.R.E.
  • King's Bounty 2
  • The Last Oricru
  • Painkiller 2
  • Payday 3
  • Scars Above
Sony participated in the event by holding a State of Play on July 8, 2021. Announcements made during the event include:
The third Summer Game Fest ran throughout June 2022, with its core programming from June 9–12. Participating publishers with individual showcases included Capcom, Devolver Digital, Epic Games, Netflix, Nintendo, Sony, and Xbox.
The following titles were showcased:
  • Aliens: Dark Descent
  • American Arcadia
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
  • The Callisto Protocol
  • Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course
  • Fall Guys
  • Flashback 2
  • Fort Solis
  • Goat Simulator 3
  • Gotham Knights
  • Highwater
  • Honkai: Star Rail
  • The Last of Us Part I
  • Layers of Fears
  • Marvel's Midnight Suns
  • Metal: Hellsinger
  • Midnight Fight Express
  • Neon White
  • Nightingale
  • One Piece Odyssey
  • Outriders: Worldslayer
  • The Quarry
  • Routine
  • Stormgate
  • Street Fighter 6
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
  • Warframe: The Duviri Paradox
  • Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
  • Witchfire
  • ''Zenless Zone Zero''

    2023

The fourth Summer Game Fest was a combined digital and physical event for the first time, held from June 8 to 11 2023, at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California; a physical component was available to the press only in 2022.
The following companies were featured:
Nintendo and Konami did not participate. Nintendo instead hosted a Nintendo Direct on June 21, while Konami announced their games at the Tokyo Game Show in September.
The following titles were showcased during the main show:
  • Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
  • Mortal Kombat 1
  • Path of Exile 2
  • Exoprimal: Street Fighter 6 Collaboration
  • Dead by Daylight: Nicolas Cage as playable character
  • Witchfire
  • Crossfire: Sierra Squad
  • Remnant 2
  • Sonic Superstars
  • Honkai: Star Rail: PlayStation 5 release
  • Lies of P
  • Sand Land
  • Throne and Liberty
  • Warhaven
  • Party Animals
  • Alan Wake 2
  • Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
  • Yes, Your Grace: Snowfall
  • Toxic Commando
  • Baldur's Gate 3
  • Spider-Man 2
  • Palworld
  • Black Desert Online: Land of the Morning Light
  • The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
  • Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis
  • Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
  • Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
  • Under the Waves
  • Call of Duty: Season 4
  • Fae Farm
  • Marvel Snap: Conquest mode
  • King Arthur: Legends Rise
  • Wayfinder
  • Stellaris Nexus
  • Space Trash Scavenger
  • Star Trek: Infinite
  • Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior
  • Immortals of Aveum
  • Fortnite: Chapter 4 Season 3
  • ''Final Fantasy VII Rebirth''