Geoff Keighley and his team might be focused on The Game Awards, but they’re also looking ahead to their next gaming event. The fourth edition of Summer Game Fest’s live kickoff show, which will have a live audience for the first time, will take place on June 8th.
Keighley was involved with E3 for 25 years, though he backed out in early 2020 (before the Entertainment Software Association canceled that year’s edition). Three years later, the two events are set to go toe-to-toe.
☀️SAVE THE DATE☀️
June 8, 2023
Join us online or in person for SGF ’23@SummerGameFest kicks off with a spectacular LIVE showcase event from the 6,000-seat @YouTubeTheater in Los Angeles
Stay tuned for more details & public ticket sales! pic.twitter.com/B455Y6AHe8
— Summer Game Fest – Returns June 2023 (@summergamefest) December 1, 2022
The long-running expo hasn’t held an in-person event since 2019. The 2020 and 2022 editions of E3 were called off, though it went ahead as an online-only event in 2021. E3’s partner showcases start on June 11th with the in-person component of the show (which PAX operator ReedPop will run) slated for June 13th to 16th.
The Summer Game Fest showcase will take place at the 6,000-capacity YouTube Theater, a 20-minute drive from E3’s Los Angeles Convention Center home base. As ever, the former will feature world premieres, gameplay demos and other announcements. Unless you want to attend Summer Game Fest in person, you won’t need to buy a ticket as you can watch the event live on the likes of YouTube and Twitch. It’s not yet clear if publishers and studios will offer hands-on demos, as is the case at E3.