Since the death of E3, June has descended into a chaotic clusterfunk of trailers, broadcasts, announcements, and a generalised frenzy of publicity-seeking barking noises. Summer Game Fest has emerged as a hub for a lot of developers seeking eyes. The 2-hour show hosted by marketing man Geoff Keighley will be broadcasting on Friday, blasting you in the ocular nerves with, probably, a lot of games. However, most of these games will not be brand new, exciting reveals, said Keighley himself in a fresh Twitch Q & A. “There will be, definitely, new announcements,” he said, “but the show is largely focused on, I think, existing games that have new updates for fans.” He’s mentioning this ahead of time, he said, to set expectations.
During the session, Keighley confirmed that a lot of games wouldn’t be on show. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater will not by shown, for example. Kingdom Hearts 4 is also off the table, as is The Wolf Among Us 2. Neither should we expect anything about upcoming BioShock-like shooter Judas, nor anything on future Five Nights At Freddy’s games. Keighley contrasted the Summer Game Fest with his other big show, The Game Awards, which is normally the place for reveals, he says.
“[The] Game Awards has a lot of usually big surprises – we’re thankful for those – and big, new reveals. This [Summer Game Fest] is largely focused on announced stuff…
“There definitely are things that are being announced but this is not a show that has a lot of like ‘coming in 2026’ or ‘2027’, or teasers for games that are years and years out… That’s generally what I would say in terms of expectation setting.”
It makes sense that the largest reveals will not automatically flock to Keighley’s flag, given the splintered state of the summer games bonanza in recent years. Even before E3 itself was entirely dissolved, many publishers have been hosting their own events in which bigger announcements are traditionally made.
Keighley did highlight some games that would make an appearance, however, including dino-punching hunt ’em up Monster Hunter Wilds, medieval RPG Kingdom Come 2: Deliverance, and Metaphor: Refantazio, the upcoming fantasy JRPG from the creators of Persona. So that’s something! It’s worth noting that Geoff’s Jambalaya is followed by indie-focused showcases such as Day of the Devs and the historically excellent Devolver Digital Direct.