Few people in the video game industry continue to be as influential as Geoff Keighley, whether it is bringing industry powerhouses together for the annual Game Awards show or his notable, longtime friendship with Hideo Kojima. It continues in 2022 with the third Summer Game Fest, which has become the Game Awards' sister show to help kick off the summer in style for gamers who have been stuck at home. However, this looks set to change in 2023 as the next iteration of Summer Game Fest will be an in-person affair for gamers who want to see Keighley and these reveals live.
Summer Game Fest began in 2020, which Keighley organized to serve as a sudo-replacement for the annual E3 expo, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event proved to be enough of a hit to expand in 2021 with a specialized stage set and running alongside an all-digital E3, effectively kicking off a summer of showcase events and livestreams. The 2022 iteration of the event once again ran solo and featured extended looks at games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Street Fighter 6, and The Callisto Protocol.
As mentioned above, though, one of the biggest pieces of news came at the end of the Summer Game Fest 2022 livestream as Keighley ran down the schedule of upcoming events, including the Devolver Digital livestream and Xbox and Bethesda Showcase. Keighley said along with the digital showcase, the 2023 Summer Game Fest will be a "digital and in-person event to bring the gaming community together" in June 2023. He provided no other information or teases about what this could entail, likely saving this for Gamescom Opening Night Live in August or the 2022 Game Awards in December.
Keighley's announcement is a big deal for the video game industry because, as GamesIndustry's James Batchelor pointed out, it comes on the heels of ESA president Stan Pierre-Louis saying E3 will be returning in 2023. Pierre-Louis told The Washington Post the ESA is currently planning to hold E3 2023 as a digital and in-person event in June, as well, marking the first full E3 event since 2019.
It is worth noting no dates have been set for either, and, given Geoff Keighley's history and relationships in the industry, it is unlikely his event will compete directly with the E3 relaunch. It wouldn't be surprising if the ESA works in tandem with Keighley, using one of the shows to kick off one of the biggest months in gaming as the two sides did in 2021, though on a much bigger scale.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz