Summer Game Fest and E3 Collide — Taking Over This Weekend!

Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest and E3 collide, bringing you this summer’s digital gaming showcases.

If you ever wanted a crash course in what modern video games have become and, at the same time, witness the pomp and circumstance that encompasses the video game industry, then there isn’t a better time than right now. After what felt like a very long year, The Electronic Entertainment Expo (better known as E3) makes its triumphant return after being cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

E3 is an annual 3–4 day video game convention held in June. All of the best and brightest developers and/or publishers attend to celebrate and showcase upcoming games and/or new consoles. From the press side, anybody who’s anybody finds themselves at E3. From top-of-the-food-chain gaming journalists (e.g. IGN), right down to smalltime YouTube and Twitch influencers who have enough of a following to con their way into getting press badges. E3 is that sacred of an event. Or at least it was up until a few years ago (2017) when The ESA (Entertainment Software Association), the video game lobbying group that runs E3, decided to open up the private industry event to the adoring public for a hefty fee.

Last year the absence of E3 was felt by many, but to help fill the void was Canada’s own Geoff Keighley, the host and producer of The Game Awards. The ex-E3 host happily announced his very own E3 of sorts, called Summer Game Fest. This was his answer because E3 was waning and desperately needed to evolve.

On top of that, mega-publishers, PlayStation and Electronic Arts (to name a few), moved on to host their own events, sounding the klaxon and making it known that they no longer need The ESA or E3 to have press conferences.

Nevertheless, E3 was no longer shaking things up, so last year, Keighley created Summer Game Fest, a series of digital gaming live streams that would run all summer long, from May to August. Unlike E3 (3–4 days), Keighley’s event brought forth many important game announcements but spat them out sporadically over a four-month period. The project wasn’t perfect, by any stretch, as many viewers thought that it was way too long. Announcements like these are better consumed within a much shorter window, but suffice to say, Summer Game Fest was born, and it looks like it’s here to stay.

Fast forward to this year, with E3 back in full swing (albeit not in-person, but in a new and virtual form); we now have these two video game events to contend with. E3 can’t afford to be cancelled for two consecutive years in a row, so E3 returns in 2021 and will overlap with Summer Game Fest this year. It’s the old E3 versus Keighley’s new “E3.” Unfortunately, it’s becoming very convoluted now as, for all intents and purposes, these are both pretty much the same event with the same purpose. Some announcements, previews, and panels will be exclusive to each one, but you can watch the major showcases (e.g. Square Enix Presents, Ubisoft Forward, and Xbox/Bethesda Games Showcase) at either event.

Summer Game Fest — Kickoff Live 2021

The Summer Game Fest Kickoff was yesterday (Thursday, June 10th), but you can watch it on-demand.

For the entire Summer Game Fest schedule, you can go to the official website.

IGN Expo 2021

Friday, June 11 at 4:00 pm ET

IGN had a huge Summer of Gaming blowout last year in the wake of E3’s absence. They also return with gaming announcements in partnership with Summer Game Fest.

For the entire IGN Expo schedule, you can go to the official website.

Official E3 2021 Channels

Saturday, June 12 at 1:00 pm ET

Everyone and their mother covers E3. There’s no shortage of places to go to find coverage for this event, but if you want a pure, unbiased experience, then you can watch via The ESA’s official YouTube or Twitch channels.

For the entire E3 schedule, you can go to the official website. There’s also an official app.

Kinda Funny’s E3 2021 Coverage

All weekend as per E3’s schedule

As I said, everyone covers E3. The internet is flooded with tons of internet personalities hosting their very own watch-along live streams. If you’re looking for some cool gamers to experience E3 with, then look no further than the Kinda Funny crew. They’ll be eating pizza and wings, and broadcasting live via Twitch all weekend long!

Fun Fact: Greg Millar, the guy closest to the camera on the left, is actually hosting E3 this year. So you’ll see him no matter which portal you choose to watch from.

Xbox and Bethesda will be the main event

Sunday, June 13 at 1:00 pm ET

All eyes will be on Xbox and Bethesda Games this year. This is undoubtedly the most important showcase happening this weekend, so if you can only watch one presentation, make sure that it’s this one.

A Brief Recap About Xbox and PlayStation

Historically, the two mega-publishers (with the biggest booths at E3) have always been PlayStation and Xbox. They’ve been, inarguably, the two main attractions at the event and rightfully so. They’ve created the must-have, “big boy” consoles that gaming fans will get into knife fights to own. With some exceptions, many consumers can’t even get a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S right now due to (partially) high demand. These two companies are the lifeblood of E3, but with PlayStation choosing to opt out of this top-tier industry event, it leaves Xbox standing as the hero.

Notice that I didn’t say, winner. Just because PlayStation has boughed out of E3 doesn’t automatically make Xbox the champion. In fact, Xbox has always been viewed as second best due to PlayStation setting the benchmark for being the platform with the far-superior exclusive games. To this day, Xbox has still failed to truly deliver exclusives that can go toe-to-toe with the likes of PlayStation’s titles, but the team at Xbox is not giving up. This new console generation is the most interesting, especially with the significant leaps and bounds Xbox has made.

Technically, Xbox has the most powerful console, with the Xbox Series X. They also launched what has to be the most exciting and revolutionary gaming subscription service that the industry has ever seen with Xbox Game Pass. It truly is the best deal in gaming. And last but not least, Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media/Bethesda Softworks, creators of the beloved games Doom and Fallout, for the unbelievable amount of $7.5 billion.

This matters not only because this is one of the biggest entertainment acquisitions of our time, but this acquisition bolsters Xbox’s exclusive offering in a major way with Bethesda games. Any new game by Bethesda will now be exclusive to Xbox. This draws a line in the sand and, seemingly, makes the “Do-I go-with-Xbox-or-PlayStation” question more difficult to answer. PlayStation gamers won’t get to play the next Doom or Fallout game unless Xbox allows it. But why would they? Xbox is in full control. They have what gamers want, and what gamers want are more Bethesda games.

Needless to say, this year’s showcase is highly anticipated. Except for a few opportune articles, this will be the first time that we hear from both Xbox and Bethesda about their upcoming software plans.

Also, fans are desperately waiting to see if there’ll be a new and improved Halo Infinite gameplay trailer to trump the abysmal one shown last year.

Last Call

I know that was a lot of information. If you’re new to E3, then all of these different portals can be daunting. You almost have to choose a team. Do you watch via the Summer Game Fest channel, watch via IGN’s or Kinda Funny’s channel, or do you go for the plain vanilla experience via E3’s channel? But it truly doesn’t matter where you watch. The point is that you have plenty of options to experience the madness.

To make things easier, here’s one consolidated list of the entire E3 schedule. I could’ve just shared this link and saved you seven minutes, but I wanted to give you the full rigmarole.

One More Thing

Lastly, I want to toss in one more thing. Whether it’s digital or in-person, the future of E3 is still a big question for the gaming industry and fans. The impact of COVID-19 is not only to blame. E3 has been struggling for years, but also, with the world adapting the this new normal of doing everything remotely, we may never go back to an in-person E3 ever again. Needless to say, it’s every gamer’s dream to go. It’s a true spectacle of an event, and I, for one, hope to one day experience E3 up close and personal. Only time will tell if this dream will ever come true. Until that day comes, I leave you with this behind-the-scenes look at what E3 once was.

Here’s an incredibly put-together documentary of E3 2019 by former GameSpot host and producer Danny O’Dwyer. This is what E3 used to be, without PlayStation, in all of its slightly diminished glory.