The final countdown to a week of game announcements, trailers, updates, in-person activities in Los Angeles, and general shenanigans is upon us. One of the major lynchpins holding it all together is Summer Game Fest, a showcase put together by Geoff Keighley with the aim of uniting the game industry around a summertime shebang of video game news. But as he does every year before this and other hosted events like Gamescom Opening Night Live and The Game Awards, Keighley is trying to temper wild fan expectations by clarifying some of the things we absolutely will not see at Summer Game Fest on Friday.
In a live question and answer session hosted on Twitch over the weekend, Keighley answered some burning questions from fans about the upcoming showcase, including a long list not just of what we should expect to see on Friday, but also what we shouldn’t.
As far as what will be there, Keighley confirmed we’ll see plenty of updates to existing games, such as Palworld and Kingdom Come 2: Deliverance. We’ll also see trailers for already-announced games, including Supermarket Simulator, Monster Hunter Wilds, Metaphor: Refantazio, Batman: Arkham VR, and Dragon Ball Sparking! ZERO. He also confirmed we’ll be getting something from Blumhouse Games, and a new trailer for the Among Us animated series.
But in an interest of keeping surprises to himself, it’s no surprise that the list of what won’t be there is a bit longer:
No new GTA 6 trailer
Sorry, but anyone who was expecting another GTA trailer so soon after the last one needs to bring the expectations waaaaay down.
No Kingdom Hearts 4
Keighley said that a lot of people have been asking him about this for some reason, but that those expecting such a thing are “setting themselves up for failure.”
No The Wolf Among Us 2
No new news on this, but Keighley says it won’t be at SGF. Last we heard, it was delayed, and a collaboration with Deck Nine to work on a pre-production script for the game was cancelled. The game is still in production at Telltale, as of earlier this year.
No Def Jam game
This question came out of nowhere, but no, Keighley won’t be showing one.
No Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
Unlikely from the jump given Keighley’s criticisms of Konami.
No Judas
We saw Ken Levine’s next game revealed at The Game Awards in 2022, but Keighley doesn’t have an update at this year’s show. If you’re hungry to see more of Judas, though, we did run an extensive gameplay overview on IGN this past March.
No Beyond Good and Evil 2
Keighley claims he doesn’t know any more than we do about where this game, announced way way way back in 2017, went. Even if it were going to be announced during this time, Ubisoft has their own show it would almost certainly want it in.
No Five Nights at Freddy’s
Help Wanted 2 came out last year, and non-VR ports are still planned for later in June, so that’s probably the main attraction in that universe for now.
No Hollow Knight: Silksong (probably)
Keighley actually didn’t directly say this, but when it came up on stream, he chuckled and said, “I think it’s gonna be a while.” So that doesn’t sound exactly promising. Don’t get your hopes up.
Probably no Nintendo games
Keighley didn’t specifically say Nintendo wouldn’t have anything in this showcase, but he did chat briefly about Nintendo’s ongoing absence from Summer Game Fest despite historically being interested in The Game Awards, and his tone definitely points to another Nintendo no-show. Nintendo usually has some sort of digital showcase of its own in June, so while we shouldn’t expect anything at SGF, there’s probably plenty to come later this month. And SGF will almost certainly have third-party games that will be available on the Switch…or whatever its successor ends up being.
No music acts, No Josef Fares, no “one more thing”
Though not explicitly games, Keighley confirmed a few other elements SGF would not be using. There won’t be any musical acts (save that for The Game Awards), and the notorious Josef Fares won’t be showing up to make any spicy, clippable remarks. We also won’t get a “one more thing,” an industry tradition of sorts where showcases conclude with a “and now, we have one more thing to show” remark from a host followed by a massive, exciting announcement to wrap things up. Keighley doesn’t care for this trend.
So that’s what we know, leaving four days left to wildly speculate about what we don’t know. For more info on how to watch Summer Game Fest, check out our guide, as well as our guide to all the other events around Summer of Gaming.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
