It’s Friday night and another Summer Game Fest has come and gone. This year, Geoff Keighley wowed gamers with trailers that we now know are worth it hundreds of thousands of dollars. But the developers who came along must have gotten their money’s worth, given the high production price and the millions of viewers who follow them on YouTube and Twitch.
When you’re done calculating the total revenue, you’ll no doubt be interested in the main trends that have come through Keighley’s mega-promotional telethon. For the first time since the massive layoffs in the games industry that began in 2023, he acknowledged the continued layoffs, before immediately moving to extol the power of “new, smaller creators,” pointing to Steam’s list of the most popular new games of 2024 (which included similar Balatra, Hades II and Palworld) as a sign of industry health.
“It’s a reminder that developers need to treat their developers right because there are so many paths to sustainability and success,” he boasted.
Sony’s presentation LEGO Horizon Adventuresas a cross-platform Day One release for PC, Steam, and PS5 showcased how PC and Nintendo Switch are attracting more interest from Microsoft and PlayStation, who have spent the last year lowering their platform-exclusive walls.
Firaxis announcement that Sid Meier’s Civilization VII coming to consoles on the same day as PC has also demonstrated the desire of publishers to get games to as many players as possible as quickly as possible.
Innersloth has also emerged to directly acknowledge the industry’s woes and launch a new publishing label called “Externally lazy,” a moment that showed just how much Summer Game Fest—and the industry—needs indie developers to move forward.
What were the biggest Summer Game Fest announcements?
Despite taking place during the week of the now-defunct E3, the broadcast contained several high-profile new game announcements. Still, studios like Sony used the show to pitch a Horizon spin-off, and Take-Two unveiled the next entry in Side Meyers’ Civilization series.
The rest of the broadcast showcased an impressive list of indie and dual tier games. Blumhouse Games and new publisher Outersloth Games have been given time to reveal their first lists of published titles, putting a little more time between promotions for already announced titles.
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LEGO Horizon Adventures – Guerrilla Games/Studio Gobo
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No Room in Hell 2 – Torn Banner Studios
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Harry Potter Quidditch Champions – Unbroken Studios
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Cuff – Two star games
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Star Wars. Outside the law – Ubisoft
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Sid Meier’s Civilization VII – Firaxis games
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The black myth of Ukun – Gaming science
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The metaphor of R.E. Fantasy – Atlas
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Batman: Arkham Shadow – Camouflage
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King of Fighters characters that appear in the Street Fighter VI – Capcom
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DRAGONBALL: Spark! ZERO – Bandai Namco
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Delta Force Hawk Ops – Team Jade
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Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves – SNK
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Mecha Break – Amazing Seasun
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Crisol Idol Theater – Studio Vermil
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Grave Seasons – Perfect garbage
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Fear the Spotlight – A cozy game of friends
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Simulation – Playmestudio
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Mighty morphine power rangers – Rewind Rita – Digital eclipse
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deer and boy – Lifeline Games
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Kingdom Come: Deliverance II – Warhorse Studios
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Slitterhead – Bokeh Game Studio
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Unknown9 Awakening – Reflector
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The first descendant – Nexon
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Mars First Logistics – Shape shop
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Ace battle suit – Trinket Studios
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Mossfield Archives – Anypercent Studios
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Project Dosa – Outerloop games
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Sonic X Shadow Generations – Sega
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Combat aces – Uncut games
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New season Final – Embark Studios
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Downloadable content Alan Wake II under the title Night sources – Means
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Eternal New World – Amazon Games
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Honkai Star Rail -HoYoGames
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Darker and darker – IronMace games
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Kinitsu-Gami The Path of the Goddess – Capcom
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New update for Interball world – Pocket pair
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Debut for the console Assessment – Riot Games
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Wild monster hunters -Capcom]
It’s a lineup that reflects the conundrum the industry is facing right now. The games, above all, look incredible. But that won’t stop the tough economic conditions that are leaving many developers out of work.