With the summer season fast approaching and no major conventions planned due to the coronavirus, Geoff Keighley is expanding his previous “Game Festival” idea to be something even bigger. In addition to July’s “Steam Game Festival,” this summer will see Keighley launch “The Summer Game Fest” as a four-month celebration of the games industry.
Over on Twitter, Keighley shared some details of what he hopes this show will become. “Since I was a kid, one of my favorite parts of the summer has been seeing all the video game companies band together to hype us up about the future of this incredible medium,” he writes. “More than ever, this is a year we need a positive, uplifting center of gravity to bring this global community together.”
Keighley elaborated on the idea further in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. “I found that it didn’t have to be me on a shiny black floor stage hosting a show every day. It’s more just like being a traffic cop to navigate all this for everyone and line things up.” To that end, publishers and developers will be able to showcase their upcoming projects whenever they see fit.
A lot of publishers are already on board to support Keighley’s new idea. Over on the event’s official Twitter page, we see endorsements from 2K, Activision, Bandai Namco, Bethesda, Blizzard, Bungie, and many more. It looks as if everyone is eager to continue the legacy of E3, even if that event is skipping 2020 entirely.
Before its cancelation, Keighley boldly announced he would be skipping E3 for the first time in its 25 year history. As he told GI, “I just didn’t feel confident that the show was going to best represent the industry, and honestly, what I pitched to E3 initially was something that was more digital and global because that’s where I wanted to see things go anyways.”
It looks like Keighley got his wish after all. While it could have come under better circumstances, at least gaming fans across the globe will be able to pretend E3 is still happening. There’s no official start date for The Summer Game Fest, but we’ll be on the lookout for upcoming updates.
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