Geoff Keighley has recently shared a statement saying that E3 was the one who canceled itself and not his upcoming rival event, Summer Game Fest.
Summer Game Fest is just around the corner and it is already shaping up to be what E3 was supposed to be. Xbox and PlayStation cooperating, big developers and publishers showcasing its games, and more. Keighley created SGF in the first place because he was uncomfortable with the organizer’s ESA’s plans for E3 and now he has made it on his own terms. One event folded while the other thrived instead. So was it due to Keighley’s event that everyone left behind E3?
Summer Game Fest is the “E3 Killer?”
Keighley was recently interviewed by VGC in its latest VGC Podcast episode asking about how he felt about his reputation being called as the “E3 killer”.
“I think E3 sort of killed itself in a way,” Keighley replied. “I understand why people say [SGF killed E3], but I think if anything, we created Summer Game Fest, and I built Summer Game Fest because I saw the wheels falling off the wagon of E3.
“As someone who loves that time of year… for two decades, E3 was part of my life since I was a 15-year-old kid. [From] the first E3 in 1995, I went to every show. I loved it and it defined my summer.”
“It was so exciting to me, and it was heartbreaking to see that start to fall apart. I think they had a relevancy problem, and then they also had a participation problem over the final years.
“So yeah, I think the question is, if we didn’t do Summer Game Fest what would happen? I think things would have just kind of really splintered apart this summer.”
E3’s Cancelation Was Not Due to Publishers’ Choice
Keighley also denied that E3’s cancelation was due to the publishers deciding to go to the Summer Game Fest instead. He revealed that the partnership they did with the publishers had been in the works for months around the event. The list of their partners did not also change after the cancellation of E3 this year. They were also in talks with ReedPop, E3 2023’s organizers, about the possibility of co-existing because they were more focused on the big trade event and consumer event, which was the opposite of what they were doing at Summer Game Fest.
E3 Plans Doubted
Keighley did question the viability of ReedPop’s plans for E3 2023, but he did accept that if the industry wanted to support it then the community could have done both. And then it happened, the cancelation. The whole process had been like a ‘rollercoaster’ of sorts.
Keighley also said that it really has not been E3 for seven or eight years. It has all changed since then and it has not been the same as the one we all grew up with.
Summer Game Fest starts on June 8, 2023 at 12 PM PT.