The problem with Summer Game Party, like all Keighley’s shows, is that they live and die by the content shown – and this was a particularly weak one. While we fully expect Microsoft to pick up the slack later this weekend, now that the trio of publishers have all been squeezed into one showcase, it’s becoming increasingly clear that AAA gaming is stuck in an endless winter. With development cycles longer than ever before, and the impact of the pandemic still looming, it feels like the medium is paying little attention to the heaviest hitters right now.
That’s not to say there’s nothing to play, there clearly is: LEGO Horizon Adventures exceeded all our expectations and looks like a really entertaining alternative take on Aloy’s escapades; Metaphor: ReFantazio seems locked in as a new must-play RPG from Atlus, the team behind the Persona titles; Slitterhead has all the sharp and unbridled creativity of a Japan Studio cult classic, and; Black Myth: Wukong is actually coming true, after years of anticipation.
But looking at the reactions to the show, it’s clear that most fans felt like it wasn’t buzzing – in fact, it was barely buzzing. And that’s because, with respect, just like Sony Situation recently, gamers in Europe stay up past midnight only to find out that Amazon’s MMO New World is being ported to PS5; in Asia they don’t wake up early to hear that a console port of Valorant is getting a closed console beta. They want to see Naughty Dog; they want to see Sucker Punch. Oh well, they want to see Keighley staring lustfully at Hideo Kojima while he chats for dozens of minutes straight.
Summer Game Fest has other problems, of course, beyond its dramatically extended development cycles. As an independent show, it has to justify its own existence, and so the overly long two-hour running time seems to exist purely so that Keighley can squeeze in enough advertising. As previously reported, these cost an exorbitant amount of money to run, but outside of physical ticket sales they are the only source of revenue that exists to fund the whole thing in the first place.
Keighley is also against the odds, and E3 is still recent enough for fans to remember the glory years. As we recently noted, it’s been less than a decade since Sony showed The Last Guardian, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and Shenmue 3 back-to-back; it’s been even less since the epic press conference showcasing the reboot of God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and much more. The industry is simply in a different place today, yet the comparisons persist. It’s not fair, but Geoff is the one who tried to fill the hole left by the convention, and so he always had to deal with the criticism that came with it.
This was undoubtedly the weakest Summer Game Fest yet, and a lot of that comes down to the fact that there isn’t enough important, noteworthy content to show. For our money, the show peaked with LEGO Horizon Adventures, which was the first title featured. It’s not really Keighley’s fault that he hasn’t been able to close out a single blockbuster game this year, but at the same time it perhaps begs the question: are we? need an independent summer showcase at all?
The media is actually in Los Angeles now to play a number of different games as part of the Summer Game Fest adjacent Play Days. And there will still be showcases from Xbox and Ubisoft in the coming days, which means there will be plenty more games. There still is some value in this seasonal offering of gaming announcements, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that gamers’ expectations are no longer in line with what the industry can actually deliver. And that means that at some point something will have to give.
How would you measure the temperature at this year’s Summer Game Fest? Do you think it’s warm, or have you been cold? As always, let us know in the comments below.