There are numerous annual gaming events during the spring and summer presenting gamers with the year’s upcoming games, including E3 and GDC. But 2020’s lineup was shaken due to the ongoing pandemic, just as Sony and Microsoft prepare to release their next-generation hardware.
In place of this year’s annual gaming events, The Game Awards and other organizations will produce several online presentations. And the Summer Game Fest will bring a lineup of announcements to gamers eager for news on forthcoming titles.
What is the Summer Game Fest?
The Summer Game Fest is the digital replacement for annually recurring events such as Gamescom, E3, and more. As coronavirus concerns remain high, gaming companies have found a workaround in place of annual in-person expositions through streaming.
It’s unknown if this format will recur in the coming years. However, the Summer Game Fest appears to be the safest alternative for crowded gaming conventions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing for proper social distancing.
Whose presentations does Summer Game Fest include?
The Summer Game Fest runs from May through August. Until now, events like the Unreal Engine 5 tech demo and the Future of Gaming PS5 reveal were two of the Summer Game Fest’s biggest events. The former showed an impressive update of the popular Unreal Engine. The latter gave viewers their first in-depth look at the PlayStation 5 and some of the console’s premiere games, including Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Horizon Forbidden West, Resident Evil 8: Village, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, and Gran Turismo 7.
The Summer Game Fest’s other June gaming events included the EA Play Live 2020 event. EA Play Live 2020 saw new titles like Lost in Random and Rocket Arena as well as Star Wars: Squadron, which is the next big Star Wars title. However, one of the biggest surprises of EA’s presentation was the untitled fourth Skate installment, as per fan demand.
More June previews included the Summer Game Fest Developer Showcase, Night City Wire, and Marvel’s Avengers: War Table. July’s most anticipated include Ubisoft Forward and Stadia Connect. Finally, the fest will be capped off in August with Gamescom.
Where can I watch the Summer Game Fest?
The Summer Game Fest’s events are streamed by several platforms. YouTube is one of the most prominent among them, though Twitch, Twitter, Mixer, and others will also host the events.
The events executed until now have proven the Summer Game Fest a success thus far in place of E3. With new games and next-gen consoles to look forward to, it has given gamers some exciting first looks. However, it is far from over, as seen on the Summer Game Fest schedule. As such, there is plenty of content awaiting previews, as well as potential surprises in store for gamers.
Summer Game Fest Demo Event
On July 1, Microsoft announced that it was going to hold a demo event for players to try out more than 60 unreleased Xbox games. The event will run from July 21 through 27, and players can access the games by looking for the special Game Fest Demo tile on the Xbox One Dashboard.
Xbox executive Glenn Gregory said that the games won’t function as normal game demos, which typically are made when a game is either completed or almost completed.
“Many of these demos are early, and some are for games that won’t be out for quite some time. We’ve never done this before; what that means is that you’ll get to experience these games early — some way early — which is awesome, but you should also note that these games will continue to evolve and be polished as they near release,” he said.
Also, the games will only be up on the Xbox Dashboard for a week, he said, and he encouraged players to reach out to developers on social media to offer praise or criticism. There will be somewhere between 75 and 100 games available to demo.
Here’s a list of some of the highlights:
- Cris Tales
- Destroy All Humans!
- Haven
- Hellpoint
- Skatebird
- The Vale: Shadow of the Crown
- Raji: An Ancient Epic
- Welcome to Elk
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