Summer Game Fest is around the corner, but don’t expect a showcase full of world premiere announcements and major reveals. Host Geoff Keighley has come out to do some “expectation setting” for the annual game showcase, and it looks like this June, viewers should strap in for announcements mostly about games we already know about.
After decades of E3, and now Summer Game Fest, viewers are pretty accustomed to those major, “one more thing!” style announcements and massive reveals, but Keighley is keen to make sure fans don’t go in to this year’s gamer Christmas expecting the same. During a Q&A on the official Game Awards Twitch channel, the host spoke about what the showcase will include, as well as what it won’t.
“There will be, definitely, new announcements,” Keighley said of Summer Game Fest, “but the show is largely focused on, I think, existing games that have new updates for fans.” What this means practically is that we’re likely to see new content for games that have already been released, as well as trailers and updates for already-announced titles that haven’t launched just yet. “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,” Keighley said.
Despite this, Summer Game Fest will “definitely” include some new announcements – although fans shouldn’t expect anything blockbuster-level big to drop. Keighley also confirmed that we won’t be seeing anything on Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Kingdom Hearts 4, The Wolf Among Us 2, or Ken Levine’s Judas. However, we will get a look at Monster Hunter Wilds, as well as Atlus’ Metaphor: ReFantazio.
The Summer Game Fest official Steam page provides some additional clues about games we’ll be seeing during the kick-off to June’s showcase-packed weekend, and while it’s not clear whether all of the titles featured will get a major look-in or just a brief spotlight, we can expect to see more from Palworld, Mecha Break, The Finals, and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, among others.
If you’re more in the market for those major, groundbreaking surprise reveals that have coloured previous Summer Game Fest and E3 presentations though, they’re not entirely a thing of the past – Keighley says The Game Awards in December is the place to go for these. The reason for this seems to be due to every developer and their dog trying to get in their own showcase during June to reveal their projects direct to fans, whereas The Game Awards is pretty standalone in the gaming event calendar. As a result of this, Keighley says The Game Awards “has a lot of usually big surprises,” as opposed to Summer Game Fest, which is “largely focused on announced stuff.”
While we’re not getting any major global premieres from the sounds of it, there’s still plenty to be announced over Summer Game Fest (and both the associated and unassociated showcases taking place the same weekend) and we’re likely to see some pretty cool new stuff, even if it isn’t mega blockbuster announcements. If you’re keen to check out everything going on this weekend and when you can watch live in Australia (if you too are committed to ruining your sleep cycle even more), you can check out the Summer Game Fest schedule and Australian watch times here.
What are you hoping to see announced this weekend? Let us know in the comments.
Image: JC Olivera / Stringer via Getty Images
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