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Summer Game Fest 2023: news, announcements, and trailers

Summer Game Fest 2023 news announcements and trailers
Without E3, it could be a big show.

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By Jay Peters, a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium.

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Summer Game Fest is back for another year, meaning Geoff Keighley is set to host yet another big presentation filled with video game news and world premieres. Since there’s no E3 this year, we could be in for an even bigger show than usual — I can’t wait to see what surprises might be in store.

This year, we already know there will be updates on games like Fortnite (which has a new season launching Friday), Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Mortal Kombat 1, and Alan Wake 2 (which will be released on October 17th), so it’s already looking like a promising lineup. Last year, we saw a lot of space-themed games like The Callisto Protocol and Aliens: Dark Descent — hopefully, the 2023 show is a bit more grounded on Earth — as well as news on Marvel’s Midnight Suns, The Last of Us Part I, and Naughty Dog’s standalone multiplayer game in The Last of Us universe (which was just delayed).

The show begins at 3PM ET / 12PM PT on June 8th. Here’s our coverage from the event.

Highlights
  • PinPINNED

    2D side-scrolling Sonic isback, and this time, he’s bringing his friends (and a very old enemy).

    I have remained fixed at Sega’s headquarters, demanding daily that it release Sonic Mania 2. And while my efforts have not yet been recognized, it seems like Sega’s giving me the next best thing. Announced during Summer Game Fest, Sonic Superstars looks like a beautiful mix of 3D graphics and classic 2D Sonic side-scrolling.

    Read Article >
  • After a long period of relative quiet, Alan Wake 2 now seems to be everywhere. The latest: a lengthy clip of gameplay was shown off at this year’s Summer Game Fest live keynote, which shows just how much of a survival horror experience this sequel will really be.

    This fresh look at the game comes not long after developer Remedy Entertainment revealed a new trailer at Sony’s big PlayStation Showcase at the end of May. If you missed it, here’s that clip:

    Read Article >
  • Nic Cage crashes Summer Game Fest

    Nic Cage has lent the unbearable weight of his massive talent to Summer Game Fest to promote his new character in Dead by Daylightwhich will be playable July 25th.

    Image of Nic Cage’s character in Dead By Deadlight
    Image: Behaviour Interactive
  • Sand Land looks like Mad Max meets Dragon Ball.

    Revealed in December as Bandai Namco’s next big multimedia project, we got to see a trailer for the game based on the Akira Toriyama manga at Summer Game Fest. Check it out.

  • Yet another video game news event.

    At Summer Game Fest, a livestream full of video game news, we got news of another livestream full of video game news. Annapurna Interactive is holding its second showcase event on June 29th at 3PM ET — and hey, the first one was pretty good.

  • Dig through the ditches and burn through the witches

    Witchfire, the newest game from the creators of Bulletstorm, Painkiller, andThe Vanishing of Ethan Cartergot its first trailer during Summer Game Fest. Launching September 20th, in Witchfire, witches are engaged in a war with the church, and it’s your job to... slam in the back of my Dragula... err, stop them.

  • Despite the name, Summer Game Fest isn’t entirely about games — case in point, we got a brand-new trailer for The Witcher’s third season. The clip shows off just about everything the series is known for: bloody battles, terrifying monsters, fiery magic, and Geralt looking very awkward at a social affair. And, of course, he spends lots of time talking about how neutral he is.

    Season 3 of The Witcher starts streaming on Netflix on June 29th — or at least, some of it does. Just like Stranger Things before it, the latest season of the fantasy show will be split into two parts. Volume one will debut in June, while the second volume will premiere in July.

    Read Article >
  • Path of Exile 2: our latest look.

    We only got the briefest of teases at Path of Exile 2 during the Summer Games Fest, but it really left me wanting more. I’m especially looking forward to seeing how it stacks up as a free alternative to Diablo IV. We don’t have a release date yet, but the trailer says to expect more information on July 28th.

  • No, robo-Ryu from Street Fighter vs. dinosaur was *not* on my bingo card.

    In fact, Exoprimal wasn’t on my radar at all... but I might have to check this out? The trailer’s age-gated, so you’ll have to click through to watch it on YouTube or see it here via Twitter. The game’s coming July 14th, but the Street Fighter collab won’t arrive till fall. Capcom says Ryu and Guile are “Exosuit skins” your character can wear.

  • Ubisoft just revealed new details about a Prince of Persia game — and no, it wasn’t the long-delayed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake. At Summer Game Fest 2023, Ubisoft kicked off the show with a new side-scrolling action platformer, called Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

    “Dash into a stylish and thrilling action-adventure platformer game set in a mythological Persian world where the boundaries of time and space are yours to manipulate,” according to the game’s website. You’ll be able to access “time powers” for fighting and platforming, and the game will have different biomes that have their own “identity, wonders, and dangers.”

    Read Article >
  • Graphic from Mortal Kombat 1 featuring Fire God Liu Kang standing in front of the Mortal Kombat flaming dragon symbol with Mortal 1 Kombat in words in front of him
    Image: NetherRealm Studios

    During Keigh3, we got our first gory glimpse of gameplay from the latest Mortal Kombat.

    There was a lot of blood and a lot of gory fatalities so you’re gonna have to watch the trailer on YouTube. From the trailer, it also looks like the game’s story might touch on some of the themes that were featured in the recent movie. Series creator Ed Boon also made an appearance to talk more about the game’s new feature — Kameo fighters.

    Read Article >
  • Hate to break it to you...
  • A screenshot of Idris Elba’s character in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.
    We’ll likely see more of Idris Elba’s character in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.
    Image: CD Projekt Red

    Summer Game Fest 2023 is nearly here. Geoff Keighley’s major summer gaming event takes place on Thursday, and this year, it might have some special significance. With E3 canceled, gaming companies wanting to show off their latest projects may turn to Summer Game Fest instead, which hopefully means that we’ll see some major news from the show.

    There are already a few notable things to look forward to. CD Projekt Red has already said that Cyberpunk 2077’s upcoming expansion starring Idris Elba, titled Phantom Liberty, will be playable at the in-person Play Days portion of Summer Game Fest, so I’m guessing it will make an appearance during the live event. Keighley said on Twitter that we’ll see a “world premiere first look” of the new Fortnite season, “Wilds.” And the Summer Game Fest Twitter account has been teasing a “gameplay reveal” of Mortal Kombat 1.

    Read Article >
  • The Game Awards 2019 - Show
    Geoff Keighley at The Game Awards 2019. He’ll be hosting his fourth Summer Game Fest in June.
    Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images

    E3 2023 has been canceled, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have big summer gaming events to look forward to. We’re already aware of at least three things you should mark on your calendar, and it seems like there will be major news of some kind from each one.

    Here’s the 2023 summer gaming events that we’re currently aware of. Given that E3 is now officially not happening, it’s possible this list will grow if more companies want to make a splash in June.

    Read Article >
  • The Game Awards 2019 - Show
    Summer Game Fest host Geoff Keighley at The Game Awards in 2019.
    Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images

    Summer Game Fest is back again in 2023 with its first-ever in-person kickoff show on June 8th, which just so happens to be a few days before E3’s big return.

    For the past three years, Summer Game Fest has served as the gaming industry’s big June blowout while E3 has been in flux due to the pandemic. E3 hasn’t happened as a big in-person event for quite a while; it was canceled in 2020, held as a series of remote events in 2021, and canceled again in 2022. In its place, Summer Game Fest became one of the biggest virtual events of the June gaming season. (In 2021, it was where we saw the first gameplay trailer of Elden Ring.)

    Read Article >
  • Image of Summer Game Fest circular banner with attendees walking in the foreground
    Image: Summer Game Fest

    Geoff Keighley isn’t sure what E3 is anymore. Even before COVID forced the cancellation of the in-person version of the giant video game commercial masquerading as an industry trade show three years running now, the event was already a pale, big-three-publisher-less imitation of its former self.

    E3 is coming back. The organizers said so in a very “for realsies this time, you guys” kind of way. But when I asked Keighley about the prospect of E3 and Summer Game Fest — affectionately known as Not-E3 or, my personal favorite, Keigh-3 — coexisting next year, he just didn’t seem convinced they would need to.

    Read Article >
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