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 American summer period. It was created in 2020 following the cancellation of the industry's most prominent events such as Gamescom and the now-discontinued E3, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
| Summer Game Fest | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Status | Active |
| Genre | |
| Country | United States |
| Inaugurated | May 1, 2020 |
| Most recent | June 8, 2023 |
| Next event | June 7, 2024 |
| Organized by | Geoff Keighley |
| Website | www |
List of events
| Event name | Start date | End date |
|---|---|---|
| Summer Game Fest | May 1, 2020 | August 24, 2020 |
| Summer Game Fest 2021 | June 10, 2021 | July 22, 2021 |
| Summer Game Fest 2022 | June 9, 2022 | June 12, 2022 |
| Summer Game Fest 2023 | June 8, 2023 | |
| Summer Game Fest 2024 | June 7, 2024 | |
History
2020
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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,[citation needed] 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 1 to August 24, 2020, helping developers and publisher to host live streams and other events in lieu of the cancellation of E3 and Gamescom. Alongside Summer Game Fest, Keighley promoted the third Steam Game Festival, following after The Game Awards 2019 and from 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 the Summer Game Fest.
Among games and other announcements made during the Summer Game Fest 2020 included:
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, a remastered version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and its sequel for modern systems.
- Unreal Engine 5, the next iteration of Epic Games' game engine to be released in mid-2021.
- Star Wars: Squadrons, a new game from Motive Studios and Electronic Arts featuring team-play combat using the spacecraft of the Star Wars universe like X-wing fighters and TIE fighters.
- Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, a sequel to the original trilogy of Crash Bandicoot games on the original PlayStation console, being developed by Toys for Bob and Activision.
- Cuphead releasing for the PlayStation 4.
2021
The second Summer Game Fest took place from June 10 to July 22, 2021. From June 15–21, 2021, ID@Xbox offered a number of demos of upcoming games on the Xbox platform as part of the Summer Game Fest.
The Summer Game Fest opened with an announcement stream of games hosted by Keighley on June 10, 2021. Among titles presented include:
- Among Us
- The Anacrusis
- Back 4 Blood
- Call of Duty: Warzone
- The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes
- Death Stranding Director's Cut (PS5)
- Elden Ring
- Escape from Tarkov
- Evil Dead: The Game
- Fall Guys
- Jurassic World Evolution 2
- Lost Ark
- Metal Slug Tactics
- Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin (NS)
- Overwatch 2
- Planet of Lana
- Salt and Sacrifice
- Solar Ash
- Tales of Arise
- Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (PC, PS4, PS5, XBO, XBXS)
- Two Point Campus
- Valorant
- Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt
The Summer Game Fest 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:
Koch Media presented a showcase on June 11, 2021, as part of the 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:[citation needed]
- Arcadegeddon
- Deathloop
- Death Stranding: Director's Cut
- Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles
- F.I.S.T.
- Hunter's Arena: Legends
- Jett: The Far Shore
- Lost Judgment
- Moss: Book II
- Sifu
- Tribes of Midgard
2022
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.
2023
The fourth Summer Game Fest was a combined digital and physical event for the first time, held on June 8, 2023, at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles; a physical component was available to the press in 2022.
The following companies were featured:
Nintendo was not featured, instead the company had a Nintendo Direct online presentation on June 21.
2024
The fifth Summer Game Fest will be held at the YouTube Theater on June 7, 2024.
Nintendo as of now is not planning to be in the show, instead deciding to have a Nintendo Direct sometime during June