Summer Game Fest Presents Four Months of News, Demos, Panels

E3 2020 might have been cancelled, but there’s still plenty of summer game news to look forward to. Geoff Keighley, executive producer and host of The Game Awards, announced a brand-new initiative today called the Summer Game Fest, four months of video game news from publishers big and small that culminates with Gamescom in August.

Keighley made the announcement on Twitter and also shared an image highlighting some of the participating developers and publishers in Summer Game Fest’s first phase.

Keighley said:

In these uncertain and challenging times, it’s more important than ever that video games serve as a common and virtual connection point between us all.

SGF is an organizing principle that promises fans a whole season of video game news and other surprises from the comfort of home.

In a Reddit AMA, Keighley confirmed more developers and publishers will take part throughout the summer in other phases. Nintendo is currently not included, though that might change. Additionally, next week’s first look at next-gen games for the Xbox Series X is part of the Summer Game Fest.

There’s more to it than game news, though. Like last year’s The Game Awards event, Keighley said Summer Game Fest will bring panels, interviews, alpha and beta versions of games, and full demos.

This won’t apply to every game shown. It depends on what developers are able to compile given current circumstances, and Keighley himself said numerous times on Reddit that all specific questions about development progress and plans should be directed toward developers.

That includes Sony as well.

While Sony and the PlayStation 5 will feature in the Summer Game Fest — which fits with what we know about why Sony skipped E3 — Keighley can’t say what they’ll show or when.

That’s because while Keighley is curating and hosting these events, he said on Reddit they’re actually individual publisher events that Summer Game Fest is just helping promote in the absence of in-person events.

The first event is Steam’s Summer Game Fest, which runs from June 9 through June 14. On Reddit, Keighley mentioned more event dates will go live on the Summer Game Fest website starting Tuesday, so stay tuned to GameSkinny for more Summer Game Fest news as it develops.