E3 canceling its physical show and online presence this year left a huge hole in the summer that would usually be filled with video game announcements and CG trailers. However, Valve is stepping up this year and offering the Steam Game Festival: Summer Edition that’ll shine “a spotlight on games set to be released within the next year.” It’s going to take place from June 9 to June 14 (almost the same days E3 2020 was scheduled for) and will even expand to other platforms.
Valve revealed this in conjunction with Geoff Keighley where he revealed his involvement. He had backed out of E3 2020 initially, which was quite damning for the show, citing his wish for the convention to be more “digital, global and inclusive.”
This event seems to hit all three of those points. Players can sign up on Steam and get access to limited demos and will even be able to connect with developers, which is a little vague for now. The inclusive part is how it is also spreading to other platforms. Specific consoles were not mentioned but it’ll likely at least show up on at least some of the current platforms. The site did not list which publishers would be there.
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The Steam Game Festival will also probably be near (or right on top of) IGN’s Summer of Gaming event coming sometime in June. The publication is planning to have such publishers as “2K, Square Enix, SEGA, Bandai Namco, Amazon, Google Stadia, Twitter, Devolver Digital, THQ Nordic, and more” coming to the site for a whole swath of editorial coverage. It’s unclear if both are going to cannibalize one another or coincide with each other. Regardless, it looks like others are stepping up to the plate in an attempt to pinch hit for E3 as it takes a year off.
