Preamble

With not-E3 2022 over, it's clear there were winners and losers. Console manufacturers, gaming press publications, and independent developers all put out their best to a smattering of reactions. If you pressed me, I would say Sony's scant forty-minute State of Play was a highlight, and Microsoft's split presentations and trailer packages were a close second. If I enjoyed fighting games or expected remakes of venerable classics more, maybe I would swap Capcom into Microsoft's slot. Near the bottom of the list of conferences in terms of my enjoyment was the Keighley-led Summer Game Fest. This almost universally derided event became a venerable walking meme that even Microsoft made cracks about on their official Twitter account. Much like the Game Awards, the Summer Game Fest was a bloated and poorly paced experience with massive lulls and went on for two hours and thirty minutes. Included during the event were the expected celebrity cameos, comedic skits, non-video game-based advertisements, and grandiose promises that practically define any occasion led by Keighley. The internet had a field day lampooning the SGF, and many deemed it disappointing.

Before I continue my pontifications on why I did not enjoy Keighley's showcase, I want to clarify a few things. I can tell that Keighley puts a lot of time and effort into organizing his yearly events. He has a knack for production values, and when tasked to assemble a handful of notable names or gaming outfits, he gets the job done. I am also aware that his shows are not shot-gunned one-person productions but involve teams of writers, producers, and directors. Talented people work on The Game Awards and the Keighley-led Summer Game Fest. I pray and hope that the version of Keighley we saw on Twitter, who pled with his audience to have realistic expectations about what would be at the event, was him coming to terms with many of the SGF's shortcomings this year. Plus, important people in the upper echelons of the industry like him. The people in suits trust Keighley, and every industry needs a bland but overly optimistic speakerphone. He's the Ryan Seacrest of video games, and that's okay.

Similarly, I want to preface that I don't understand why people get upset over these conferences. Keighley's format, structure, style, and tone are known quantities, and anyone that expected him to deviate from this tired and true formula set themselves up for disappointment. What is incredibly baffling is when people express dissatisfaction with one conference not having a game that either doesn't exist or ends up being featured as a marquee title in a different presentation. The latter of these has never made sense to me. You got your game announcement or corporate-approved teaser trailer. What the fuck difference does it make if you had to wait an extra day or two? Likewise, I don't know what to say about the internet's ability to get upset over pipe-dream games not happening or known projects being absent because they need more time. 2022 marks the third year the industry has grappled with the COVID pandemic's effects. Everyone associated with this industry has said making shit has been challenging. How often does it need to be noted that AAA productions need more time, given the circumstances? However, please don't take any of these points to mean that I am defending Keighley's 2022 Summer Game Fest; I thought this year's event was terrible.

Please, No More Conferences Over Two Hours Unless You Can Make It Count

I don't want to spend this entire blog examining Keighley's body language and inner machinations like many online bloggers or YouTubers who are desperate to collect article clicks. However, I have to raise my eyebrow ever so slightly at what he was able to assemble during this year's Summer Game Fest. If you go back to when the cancellation of E3 2022 was first announced, you might recall the man was practically gloating on Twitter. This merry posturing was due to his previous disputes with the Entertainment Software Association (i.e., ESA). The ESA hosts E3 and, in 2021, decided to block Keighley from sharing the same floor as their marquee events. Almost immediately after E3 2022 was shit-canned, Keighley set to Twitter to remind everyone that his non-ESA-sanctioned event would go ahead, unimpeded by the demise of E3. Then, he continued to bill the event as a possible replacement for E3 in the future. Yet, on the eve of the event, Keighley took to social media to temper expectations while confirming the event would continue with a two-and-a-half-hour running time. So, when the Rock started shilling shit, or the expected mobile game block lasted far longer than it should, I was not surprised to see an onslaught of negativity directed his way.

What baffles me is how Keighley continually presents himself as an industry pioneer, and yet, the format and structure of his conferences follow THE EXACT TEMPLATE of the 360/PS3/Wii era of E3 conferences. No one is beating to the tune of this drum anymore, non-ironically, except Keighley. Sony this year was perfectly content with a forty-minute showcase, and Microsoft had the common decency of splitting their package into two 90-minute chunks rather than subject viewers to a three-hour slog. Virtually every console manufacturer and then some have innovated on how to present games and gaming culture on a big stage more than Keighley has. The weird out-of-place celebrity cameos? Watch an E3 presentation from EA in the 2010s, and you'll find something similar to the Rock's shameless shilling. Comedy bits that feel awkward and embarrassing? Need I remind you of the clown show that was "peak Ubisoft" during E3? Keighley's events feel like relics of a bygone era, and with all of us growing older, I think we are increasingly becoming aware of that. I don't know about you, but I do not enjoy being seated for more than two hours for these things, especially when there are bolted-in advertisements that barely have anything to do with video games.

Some might point out that the IGN Expo, PC Gaming Show, and Guerrilla Collective 3 clocked in over the two-hour mark. However, are you about to use those three presentations as evidence that Keighley's conferences can justify a two-and-a-half-hour block? Furthermore, the PC Gaming Show is propped up by whatever gaming PC company is willing to pay top dollar to keep the lights on, and the Guerrilla Collective gets most of its bang for its buck on its Steam page. And those events are as long as they are for reasons that do not apply to Keighley. For example, the PC Gaming Show is an excruciatingly long endeavor, so it can ramble about system specs for Big Navi GPUs or raffle off iBuyPower gaming rigs. The only reason the Summer Game Fest is two-and-a-half hours long is that Keighley insists on it being that long. If he knew the event's dossier was bound to disappoint, no one was preventing him from pruning the occasion of its chaff to create a tighter and better-paced experience. You cannot tell me he hasn't seen what Nintendo has been doing with their Direct presentations for the past FIVE YEARS and isn't aware of how to do a conference under two hours that gets people champing at the bit.

Is This Conference Meant To Be An End-All-Be-All Event?

The ESA has announced that they intend to restart E3 in 2023. Say what you will about the ESA, but I can safely say I have no idea what form or shape the 2023 version of E3 will take. I have no confidence that the organization will address all of the event's shortcomings and problems, but at least there's a "wildcard factor" to next year's E3. Nonetheless, I can confidently say I know what structure and format Keighley's event will have this time next year. In the year of our Lord, 2023, Keighley's lack of a filter and general inability to tell people "no" when they ask for air time will result in a bloated event that does not justify the entirety of its running time. I know this because that's how every single one of these has taken shape. That's why I think this year's Summer Game Fest was a lost opportunity for Keighley. If he hopes to create a showcase that rivals E3, then GOD, JESUS, this was NOT THE EVENT that proved that!

Let's role-play for a bit and say you are the CEO of Ubisoft, EA, or Square-Enix. After watching this year's Sumer Game Fest, are you thinking:

a) "Gosh! That Geoff Keighley knows how to run a conference, and I think we should rely on him to showcase our games in the future!"

b) "Huh, I think we can do better than that. Let's call the ESA RIGHT NOW!"

c) "God, these E3 conferences are a complete waste of money."

If you are this CEO, what are you doing in June with developer-led E3 conferences likely to come back next year and probably at a discount? If you answered "a," I want you to pinpoint anything that Keighley did that any other developer or console manufacturer cannot do. This task is impossible because there's nothing unknown or patentable about Keighley's format BECAUSE HE BORROWED IT FROM THOSE SAME COMPANIES! Again, his lack of innovation is not breaking news to developers and publishers. Much of this is by design, so he can quickly make way for larger publishers should they ever have a game they cannot fit elsewhere. However, if all Keighley is going to offer is a platform that is not unique or special, then why work within his constraints? Why not host your own event?

Likewise, what major publisher or developer is Keighley poaching from the field? Microsoft and Sony have "World Premiers" at The Game Awards because there are no other competing conferences or gaming-related events. However, they both have special occasions and platforms during June, whether they are directly tied to an ESA-sanctioned event or not. Nintendo continues to beat to the tune of its own drum, so it's unlikely he will EVER get major first-party games. However, what remaining significant developers does that leave? Bethesda and many other mid-tier studios aren't autonomous anymore. Ubisoft and EA want big flashy independent platforms and are bound to play ball with the ESA come 2023. I think that sentiment will be echoed by other publishers next year. Square-Enix and other major Japanese developers could give two shits about E3 and are happy to stick with game-specific events and the Tokyo Game Show. Therefore, what does that leave? Indie developers? Let's talk about why that's not exactly a match made in heaven.

Is This A Platform For Developers That Can't Get Time Elsewhere?

Let's say you are an indie developer and would be down with your game being present at the Summer Game Fest. Who could blame you? Even in its worst form, the event draws millions of views worldwide. Unfortunately, while indie devs have the most to gain from being present, they are not Keighley's priority. If they were, why did the man give the Rock and exploitative mobile games just as much, if not more, air time than most small-scale video game productions? Keighley's eye is on creating an event that rivals the major developers and saps competition from the ESA. Also, Keighley's event is purposefully inoffensive, so should a developer play ball, he's ready to welcome them with open arms. Look back at his statement regarding workplace harassment during the 2021 Game Awards. Yes, he made a statement, but he did not prohibit developers with known toxic workplaces from showing their wares. His events cater to bigger publishing houses, which is painfully evident at this point.

To return to the issue of Keighley repeating a dated format for this year's Summer Game Fest, while some indie developers are bound to jump at Keighley's stage, most expect better. Developer tolerance for the "Indie Game Highlight Reel" that Microsoft took shit for year after year is at a record low. Furthermore, what most indie devs want out of a conference is not anything Keighley is likely to provide. Sure, some indie games catch a whirlwind of attention after airing ostentatious teaser trailers. Nonetheless, most end up with followers and fans after developer-led game demos where the developer is allowed to detail their thought processes and sources of inspiration. These demos do not mesh well with Keighley's up-tempo tone of wanting to set the world on fire with game announcements audiences did not know about before his event started. Furthermore, an increasing number of small game projects that eventually catch major attention upon release do not showcase in the tried-and-true trailer format that E3 and the Summer Games Fest demands.

Finally, the competition for indie developers with demo-worthy projects during June is fierce. Not only will Keighley have to fend off the major console manufacturers, but there are plenty of other conferences and livestreams that showcase smaller games better. The Day of the Devs event that immediately followed Keighley proved as much. But even after that, this year alone, you had TWO Guerrilla Collective events, a Wholesome Games Direct, and all of the game publication-led events (i.e., IGN, GameSpot, and GamesRadar) that were willing to budget time for slower and more substantial demos. I don't know about you, but I almost always get more out of the IGN and GameSpot showroom demo streams where developers and programmers can talk about their game at their pace than most tentpole E3 presentations. Correspondingly, I'm not sure all of you are aware of this, but a huge portion of the indie gaming scene endlessly dunked on this year's Summer Game Fest as they felt it harkened to a time when E3 barely gave a shit about indie games. Unless Keighley spends a significant amount of time reaching out to these developers and earnestly tries to build bridges by changing his format, these indie devs will continue to look at his events with cynical eyes.

Is This Meant To Be A Generalized Celebration Of Games And Gaming Culture?

I now need to ask a core question in the final section of this blog: who is the intended audience for the Summer Game Fest? If I were to ask Keighley that exact question, I know his answer would be "everyone." However, ask the denizens of any gaming website, forum, or Discord who they think the audience is for the event, and I think you'd see a kaleidoscope of answers. Its third-way big-tent nature is meant to be welcoming to anyone with even a passing interest in video games. In execution, its wide net only pulls a few stray fish rather than any particular school. The event, and every exposition hosted by Keighley in general, has a major identity crisis. The presence of slot-machine mobile games and celebrities suggests it wants to aim for a younger audience. However, the laborious pace and colossal time investment create a barrier to entry that only permits older demographics.

I'll let you in on a bit of my personal life here. I am a full-time middle school teacher, and in a purely anecdotal exercise, I asked multiple classes of mine if they watched the Summer Game Fest. Six did, and the ones that did universally described it as "boring." Even the kids I know who play video games religiously are not tapped into an ecosystem that directs them towards Keighley. This next fact isn't exactly shocking, but most kids are content to watch streamers or commentators discuss highlights of events in bite-sized chunks rather than opt into the beastly marathon sessions Keighley creates. It also does not help that Keighley doesn't make video content with the regularity that can organically build a new community. Additionally, the timing and structure of the SGF discourages younger demographics from watching it. It airs on a weekday and is late enough that some need to worry about not being able to watch it completely. Besides, what would you take if you were a kid presented with a two-hour-long video archive with an unfamiliar name versus a ten-minute highlight reel with your favorite YouTuber?

So, what does that leave? Well, it leaves you and me. An increasingly aging demographic that might remember the "glory days" of Keighley grilling Reginald Fils-Aimé on GameTrailers about fan-perceived grievances or may recall his time on G4. Yet, we are the ones that have continually called on Keighley to rehaul the structure of his conferences and The Game Awards, so they avoid repeating the same pitfalls of previous years. All the same, nothing has changed. Instead, Keighley continues to dig in his heels as he prepares for a possible showdown with the ESA next year. However, if that is the case, I have to question if his Summer Game Fest is a platform for one rather than a platform for all. Increasingly, the person who benefits from throwing their hat into Keighley's arena is himself. Just some food for thought in the single percent chance he ever reads this blog, which I would discourage him from doing.