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Summer Game Fest Event Announced By Former E3 Live Host Geoff Keighley

The four-month event will cover announcements from several major publishers with a showcase coming from iam8bit.

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Geoff Keighley, host of the Game Awards and events like E3 Live and Gamescom Opening Night Live, has announced a digital game showcase to help fill the gap left by the cancellation of E3. Called the Summer Game Fest, the event will last from May through August with several developers and publishers lined up to make announcements.

The event is decentralized in the long timeframe, and individual publishers will be announcing details on their individual showcases in the coming weeks. Steam, Xbox, and unspecified other platform holders will also be offering limited-time demos and trials of game content as digital festival events. The Steam Game Festival: Summer Edition will run June 9-14.

Publishers who have signed onboard include 2K, Activision Publishing, Bandai Namco, Bethesda, Blizzard, Bungie, CD Projekt Red, Digital Extremes, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Private Division, Riot Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Steam, Square Enix, and Warner Bros. Keighley will host pre- and post-show events for publishers and has partnered with iam8bit to produce a games showcase. The company previously pulled out of E3. Keighley will also host Gamescom: Opening Night Live on August 24, which will serve as the end-cap of the Summer Games Festival.

"In these uncertain and challenging times, it’s more important than ever that video games serve as a common and virtual connection point between us all," Geoff Keighley said in the announcement. "SGF is an organizing principle that promises fans a whole season of video game news and other surprises from the comfort of home."

In a separate statement posted to Twitter, Keighley explained how this event is his effort to provide a big summer event to look forward to, in lieu of E3.

E3 2020 was canceled due to coronavirus concerns, and the ESA announced it would not be organizing a digital event, instead leaving announcements up to individual publishers. Gamescom, the German games event in August, has announced it will shift to an all-digital event, and the Game Developers Conference recently announced it will also become all-digital after postponing to the summer.

GameSpot will be hosting its own multi-week summer gaming event called Play For All which will cover the biggest announcements from major publishers as well as previews and interviews. As part of the event, we're teaming up with Direct Relief to provide coronavirus relief for vulnerable populations.

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