What to expect from Summer Game Fest’s big non-E3 event?

Of E3 2022 cancelled† there is a vacuum at the center of the video game marketing season. Many eyes are on Summer Game Fest because he is both the longest and the most comprehensive press on the horizon. But the host, Geoff Keighley, recently thought it appropriate to temper expectations ahead of the show, saying it won’t be on par with the “world premieres” for which his events have become known.

Now in its third year, Summer Game Fest is both a one-of-a-kind event (a showcase featuring trailers from a wide variety of video game publishers) and a promotional tool (a logo plastered onto every piece of video marketing, from Memorial Day to Labor Day). Essentially, it’s a way for Keighley to cement his lifelong tenure as the god of gaming hype. But for all intents and purposes — at least here — “Summer Game Fest” refers to the showcase.

Where to watch

Summer Game Fest kicks off Thursday, June 9 at 2 p.m. ET. And if we can get a “RIP” for me and my colleagues that would be great: A agenda list suggests it takes three hours. †Last year’s event ran for three and a half, but that also included the one-hour indie showcase “Day of the Devs.”) You can stream Summer Game Fest at YouTube† twitchand Twitter† Or, if you For real want to see Kaiju Geoff, it will be broadcast on IMAX theaters in a few dozen cities through the land.

What to expect

During a Twitter Spaces held this weekend, by a VGC transcription, Keighley went into full expectation management mode and said the show will mainly focus on games that have already been revealed. “We’re doing some good things for you, but definitely manage your expectations in terms of the megaton shocks you expect,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of good stuff to show you, but buyers, beware of some of the crazy rumors I’m seeing out there in terms of things people expect to be announced.”

A promotional sizzle reel – set to a cinematic remix of Halsey’s “Young God” – showed glimpses of a slew of games, both upcoming and recently released, that will be appearing in some capacity. And a handful of publishers have already announced which of their titles will be making an appearance. You can expect the following, among other things:

• pronouncedSquare Enix’s action-RPG is slated for a PS5 and PC release in October.
• Sonic Limitswho claims to be Sonic through Breath of the Wild but really just looks like an Unreal tech demo†
• Horizon Forbidden West. The open world game has been out on PlayStation for months and has had several major updates, so maybe this is news of an expansion?
• The limbo-inspired Planet of Lana will have a gameplay reveal†
• The Tactics Game Marvel’s Midnight Sunwhich was initially slated for a spring 2022 release, but has since been pushed to the trap† It currently has no release date.
• Developer Infinity Ward will show the first level from Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2‘s campaign.
• More gameplay from The Callisto protocolwho had a short spot during Sony’s Non-E3 State of Play Event†
• The Lord of the Rings: Golluman adventure game scheduled for September 1, exactly one day ahead of the Amazon LotR premiere of the show.
• Gotham Knights. Last month, developer WB Games released a 13 minute gameplay video alongside an announcement that it had deprecated the earlier versions.
• The sizzle reel showed a split second clip of starfieldthough I imagine Microsoft will save the flesh of Bethesda’s role-playing game for Xbox’s big event on Sunday.
• Also, apparently a game called Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will be there? No idea what it’s about, but I wouldn’t be surprised if gameplay lifts weights at the crack of dawn, co-produces about half of Hollywood’s blockbuster output, and tapping into America’s great political divide for a possible run on president someday.

What to hope for (but not hold your breath)?

Yes, everyone in the world wants news about God of War Ragnarok, the sequel to Santa Monica Studio’s reboot of the action series in 2018. For starters, Sony already had its big PlayStation event of the season (focusing on third-party games, but still). Second, in recent years, Sony has begun to reveal information about its first-party output through dedicated live streams with shorter durations. So it can definitely pop up, but don’t expect too much.

That starfield, Bethesda’s first sprawling role-playing game in 10,000 years, is one of the scourges of Summer Game Fest’s curiosity. Although it was slated for a November 11, 2022 release date, Bethesda . has recently delayed starfield it until the first part of 2023. You’d think Microsoft would hold all of its first-party blockbusters for its own big press, slated for Sunday afternoon. But I suppose with more than two dozen first-party studios under its umbrella, Xbox presumably has plenty of other stuff — possibly even some unannounced games — to show off, so it could be taking its biggest known amount to Summer Game Fest with little to lose.

EA is one of the publishers partnering with Summer Game Fest, so some of the games in the pipeline – Like it skate 4 – could possibly appear. Notably, some huge publishers that typically have a big show during the E3 season, including Nintendo and Ubisoft, aren’t on the list of partners. A representative for Ubisoft told axios it will eschew Summer Game Fest in favor of something “later this year”. Nintendo is meanwhile radio silent.