Video Game Industry Comes Together For Digital-Only Summer Game Fest

This was set to be a big summer for the video game world, as hype built around forthcoming consoles from Sony and Microsoft. Then the coronavirus hit, forcing the cancellation of real-life events — not least the vast trade show Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), which was due to take place in L.A. in June. Enter the Summer Game Fest, a new initiative that aims to keep the momentum of industry news going.

The Summer Game Fest is an ongoing online event that started earlier this month and will end in August. It describes itself as “a season of digital video game events from publishers, select playable content, in-game events, and more,” and it is shaping up as a centralized platform for the sorts of announcements, showcases, and demos that would normally take place at and around E3 (and other events like it).

The festival is the brainchild of video game journalist Geoff Keighley, the producer of the annual Game Awards. He’s lined up an impressive array of official participants, including Microsoft, Sony, Electronic Arts, Bungie, Blizzard, Square Enix, Riot, and Bandai Namco. (There’s no sign of Nintendo, which was planning to attend E3 this year.) The festival plans to stream events across Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Twitch, and other major platforms.

An early event happened last Thursday, when Microsoft unveiled new footage of third-party games for its new console Xbox Series X. On the schedule for tomorrow is a surprise game reveal.

Beyond that, Keighley aims to develop the infrastructure for fans to demo games from their homes, and to host “in-game events, live game launches, and so on.” Expect attempts to replicate other fixtures of the normal event circuit, such as concerts and tournaments. Keep an eye on the Summer Game Fest website for the growing schedule and other announcements.