Summer 2020 just got a whole lot more exciting for gaming fans, as Geoff Keighley is announcing the first annual Summer Game Fest. Summer Game Fest will be a four-month-long digital gaming festival starting in May. The festival will include not only major news and announcements, but also in-game events and downloadable, playable content available through Steam and Xbox. Keighley, who produces and hosts The Game Awards each holiday season, describes Summer Game Feest as a "positive, uplifting center of gravity to bring this global community together.
Summer Game Fest isn't just a single event, but a series of events spread across four months done in partnership with over 16 partners. A graphic for "Phase 1" of the Summer Game Fest shows the following partners: 2K, Activision, Bandai Namco, Bethesda, Blizzard, Bungie, CD Projekt Red, Digital Extremes, EA, Private Division, Riot Games, Square Enix, Steam, WB, and Xbox. All digital events will be livestreamed across Facebook, Mixer, Twitch, Twitter, and Youtube.
So far, only one big Summer Game Fest event has been announced -- though Keighley insists there will be many. A "big season finale" will be broadcast on August 24 in partnership with Gamescom: One Night Live and the ex-E3 2020 creative directors iam8bit. This event is planned to be a "developer showcase," thought details regarding exactly what that means remain to be shared.
Keighley did also confirms that some earlier announcements will now be a part of the Summer Game Festival. For example, the Steam Game Festival, which will host at least 40 different game demos starting March 18, is now part of the Summer Game Fest. Xbox will be hosting a similar Game Festival this summer. Xbox's recently announced Inside Xbox, focusing on next-gen third-party game reveals, is also a part of the Summer Game Fest.
The Summer Game Fest schedule will go live soon on the festival's official website. It's unclear if every event will be announced in one fell swoop or if events will be announced week-to-week. Either way, there looks to be a lot of significant events coming from May all the way through August.
There are some notable absences from the initial list of Summer Game Festival partners. For example, Nintendo is not included on the list, despite having previously said it plans to host its own digital E3 alternative. Keighley says that Nintendo "is always welcome!" though. Perhaps Nintendo just isn't able to manage the coordination logistically and would rather focus its efforts internally.
The Summer Game Fest was born out of necessity due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Allowing publishers and developers to share their games without attending a major convention like E3, connecting to gamers at home, is a brilliant and productive idea. It's going to be very different than past summers, but will hopefully also be very exciting. Stay tuned for more Summer Game Fest information in the days, weeks, and months to come.