After the biggest gaming festival of the year got canceled in March, Geoff Keighley made known his intentions to replace the long revered E3 with his own Summer Game Fest. Now, the Game Awards host has announced that the live showcase is being held on June 9.
That’s three days before Microsoft’s big Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, and with so many publishers and developers presumably showing off their projects in Keighley’s event, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to suggest E3 is only dead in name but completely alive in spirit.
Besides the date, Keighley has also announced that his lot is partnering up with IMAX to bring the conference to select theaters. This means that while you may not be among the lucky few to attend the premiere for yourself and get the opportunity to chat up your favorite game devs, you’ll get to experience the show as a community in theaters on June 9.
Over the past decade, the process behind game production has become exponentially complicated, with newer games not only requiring more development time but also a much bigger budget. That has led to many studios around the world spending four or even five years on a single product, which consequently makes it difficult for media entities to schedule showcases or events around these games.
That’s one of the numerous reasons contributing to E3’s cancellation, but since Summer Game Fest is only a single event, Geoff Keighley has had more luck working all the publishers around a single schedule, and the gaming industry is all the better for it.
