With E3 2021 set to begin imminently, the summer season of game announcements kicked off yesterday with Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest Kickoff Live show, which highlighted upcoming releases across all platforms, including one Nintendo Switch.
We live-blogged the broadcast (and Double Fine's Day of the Devs showcase which went out immediately after the SGF Kickoff wrapped up), and while the biggest announcements of the night went to games confirmed only for other platforms, we still enjoyed the show and the wide variety of games highlighted. In our book, you can never have too many Geoffs or Jeffs, either.
But what did you think? Uber Weezer fan, are ya? Can't wait to finally play thatgamecompany's Sky on Switch? Salivating over Elden Ring? Loved the requisite (and admittedly pretty good) Hideo Kojima appearance?
Let us know how you'd rate the Summer Game Fest show in the poll below, and check out all the Switch-related announcements we covered, too:
Summer Game Fest Kickoff Live Switch-related news:
- Wave Break's 'Weezy Mode' Is A Rather Quirky Crossover
- Capcom Reveals New Monster Hunter Stories 2 Trailer At Summer Game Fest
- Annapurna Interactive Locks In Last Stop's Switch Release Date, Launches This July
- 2B From NieR: Automata Is Coming To Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
- Video: See Ash Williams In Action In This Evil Dead Gameplay Reveal
- 2D Action Platformer Metal Unit Locks In A Switch eShop Release Date
- A Stranger Things Cross-Promo Is On The Way To The Godly MOBA Smite
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance Switch Port Is Finally Confirmed
- Among Us To Add New Mode, Roles, Map And More
- Endless Dungeon Is Coming To Nintendo Switch
- Adorable Action-RPG 'Garden Story' Hits Switch This Summer
- thatgamecompany's Sky: Children Of The Light Gets Switch Date, Season Based On 'The Little Prince'
- Two Point Campus Confirmed For Switch, Arrives 2022
Let us know your highlights of the show in the comments below.
Comments (48)
Honestly, there were more Switch announcements than I was expecting. 7/10
I came in wanting games, and that's pretty much what I got even if I didn't really care about most of them. I'd say a 6/10 seems fair.
6 or 7 out of 10 seems appropriate
It wasn’t bad but I expected to be more excited about Elden Ring than I was. Death Stranding was the announcement I was most into.
It was a solid "when are they going to get to the fireworks factory" for me.
The only things I personally cared about were Evil Dead and Two Point Campus which both look like good fun and are coming to Switch.
That's still two more games than I expected to care about though so I'll take it. 6/10 I suppose!
May have been a bit generous with an 8 but if we are including the Day of the devs content then I feel that's about right.
In the context of an appetiser for the wider e3 it did a great job. Had this been the game awards or a stand alone announcement slate I would have been harsher. Elden Ring looks so good though...
Loved finally seeing a release date for Elden Ring, and it pretty much looks like Dark Souls 4 which I have absolutely zero problem with! But overall I’d say a 7 sounds fair, maybe a 6.
3/10 for Switch owners.
10/10 for fans of generic looking games with cars and guns.
MH Stories 2, Weezer, Sonic and the Xbox demo announcement featuring Tunic were the highlights. Overall a meh show though, 5/10.
I guess everyone except Sony saved their big announcements for E3.
Those hype trailers started merging together, they were so boring. Made me appreciate Nintendo's approach of showing things mostly when they're practically ready for release.
And then all those skins as global premieres... all those devs waving their names around with nothing new to show... Snorefest!
That was... very bad in terms of Switch games. There were only 2 or 3 games I actually had some sort of interest in. 3/10, if Nintendo's show is this bad then I'm done.
@RupeeClock "You should be proud, Geoff. Uh, you had a nice stage there."
It was just ever so slightly above average. I didn't expect much from and came away pleasantly surprised that there some actual, meaningful announcements.
Given that Nintendo didn't even sponsor the show, I'd say that it was a decent showing for Switch.
Didn't watch, and I don't think I missed much. I think the only announcement I was interested in was Two Point Campus, which unfortunately got leaked by the Microsoft store. To be fair, I don't normally watch the game awards either; I normally feel like Keighley's shows are very padded out.
For an event that wasn't really tied to the big 3 (Nintendo, XBox, Playstation) during the same time frame as E3, I thought it was pretty solid as far as these things usually go. Very little fluff (I mean the songs tied into games and they had short introductions sometimes), a ton of exclusives (including Elden Ring which had a ton of hype for a lot of gamers), and the developer segment after took time to showcase smaller games too. Personally, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is probably my most anticipated game that will come out of this coming week. It's incredible to me that Geoff has been able to build up these kinds of events.
So yeah, not a lot for Nintendo fans, but as far as just a gaming event, I thought it was more impressive than it had any right to be.
I didn't expect Games Fest to outshine E3. I'm not going to score it.
I will say, it's fun watching presentations live on nintendolife with the chat messenger & the nice nintendolife regulars. Thanks @nintendolife!
Pretty bad, but Elden Ring saved it for me and then some. Looks absolutely phenomenal, that's a day one purchase for me
Felt like a mess to me where there was a lot of filler in between announcements. I mean, the amount of skins and DLC that was announced was too much...
Also, why not do it in sections? Such as a horror section, family section, shooter section. At one time you saw a fairy tale world, the next trailer had some guy killing a bunch of teenagers with a ton of gore. The whole show didn't feel structured in any way at all.
3/10 for me.
I mean the Metal Slug tactics thing looked kinda neat... And even though Axiom Verge 2 visually looks like a massive step down from 1 I'm still interested in playing it and hopefully it'll deliver.
That's about it, so I guess 2 games Equals to 2/10.
1/10 i had, had enough of it after about 30 mins
Thanks to COVID, even E3 is going to be slim pickings this year so when you consider Geoff just gets the scraps leftover, it wasn’t that bad.
Two Point Hospital, Jurassic World Evolution, Metal Slug and Elden Ring are probably all games I would buy, and there were some interesting indies I’ll keep an eye on.
The show, 1/10. The comments, 10/10. They're the only thing that made it worth it.
Also the show just felt like a bombardment of ads, because, well, that's what it was!
5/10. Actually more Switch announcements than I expected, but still most of the games didn't interest me much.
I gave it a 7 just for the Elden Ring trailer alone. Everything was kind of meh. There were some games there that I'm excited about, but I already seen them. There just wasn't really anything beside Elden Ring that I was excited about.
It proved one thing. That the Switch hardware is falling behind fast!
6/10 for me, It was ok but lord they stuck in way to many in-between's
Ending with EVIL DEAD and ELDEN RING definitely got me pumped and was a great way to start "E3."
Is it just me, or does their logo really, reaaaaally need an overhaul?
But yeah, pretty Meh presentation overall, although i loved The Evil Dead.
It was fine. Elden Ring looked good and that's about it.
Pretty decent. Clipped along nicely, more Switch stuff than I expected and some good looking games elsewhere. Good way to whet the appetite for the rest of the week.
7/10
There just wasn't many games (if any that I'll actually buy) that caught my interest other than AV2. Which to me makes it a poor show, but it did get me thinking about what games I would be excited about and the list kept coming up mostly blank.
Despite some whack announcements like a skin for some game, Geoff made a case for an alternative show with no ties to platform or publisher. I think after the Elden Ring drop, publishers will consider this as an alternative to e3 and the “big 3” shows.
A more decentralized “hype season” with Geoff’s show as a de facto E3 stage while he promotes all the independent events is a brilliant possibility going forward and I hope it happens!
Plus Metal Slug Tactics and that Elder game looked pretty cools 10/10
@UndoControl You must be fun at parties, geez. What did you really think about the show?
Pretty good, 8/10!
Things I liked: Metal Slug Tactics, Elden Ring, Death Stranding Director's Cut's trailer (I haven't played the game), and Tales of Arise.
Not to mention, all the interesting indies like: Sable, Planet of Lana, Axiom Verge 2, Lootriver, Death's Door, and Unbeatable.
Metal Slug Tactics is a brill idea and I hope they can pull it off. Elden Ring looked very nice for Souls fans. Though didn't look like it had evolved Souls any further than more polygons. 6/10.
I'm honestly still trying to figure out who this Geoff guy is and why we are suppose to care about him. He seems to be some rich dude bored and needing something to do with his money. Weezer is pretty much an oldies act now (Sweater song is almost 30 years old. Yikes!). And I hate the "I'm hip because Hollywood" schtick. Hollywood isn't hip and it makes me nervous how video games are getting closer and closer to Hollywood. I still watch it and I still watch his award shows, just funny how this guy gets so much attention.
Absolutely not funny for me. 1/10
I saved a couple of hours of my life by playing some games and skimming through at my own pace later. Glad I did.
"Can't wait to finally play thatgamecompany's Sky on Switch?"
Understatement of the past few years. I've been watching this game and waiting for it since it was released in Japan and have been jealous the entire time. So Im glad we're finally getting our hands on it too. For free as well. I didnt catch the entire show but only two games stood out for me. And since my most anticipated game from years ago is finally hitting Switch, I can safetly say that E3 is starting off passible this year. Which is better then other years.
10/10 thanks to Elden Ring.
I don't know, like why does this exist anyway? Or at least, this close to E3. Surely all the really really big announcements are held for then? I didn't follow it but I didn't see any announcements that made me wish I was. Just really seems a bit...trying to upstage E3? Which is petty, if so.
Went with an 8 because there was a little something for everyone. I'm personally excited for Jurassic world evolution 2 and two point campus and metal slug tactics looks fun!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH ELDEN RING
@UndoControl I can give you that the kickoff was undercut by some lame stuff by publishers - skins don’t need trailers - but I prefer this format because its less competitive and condescending and more celebratory, and that’s a better spirit going forward.
They’re cross promoting all these events and nobody is trying to “win” SGF. Say what you will about Geoff but he is clearly a passionate person and trying to elevate devs and players alike. Just the fact the he was as excited to bring fans the Elden Ring trailer as we were to see it says it all for me.
The only thing E3 presentations do better is make me embarrassed to follow gaming events. Watching some fake streamers having fake banter over fake gameplay makes me feel like a chump. Watching Geoff nearly burst presenting the Elden Ring trailer or geeking out like a ***** out over 2 second reveal of Sam Fisher’s design for the Splinter Cell cartoon makes me feel like I have an inside guy.
Maybe I have a lower standard for entertainment, but maybe I have a higher standard for how I want to be communicated with as a player.
The kickoff was (eventually) great, Tribeca Fest was fantastic, and I’m really looking forward to the rest.
Yeah We don’t need Summer Games Fest? We don’t need E3!
I hope more devs opt out of being fodder for platform holders and communicate through Summer Fest and the Game Awards and completely break from the business expo model.
Interested in the Evil Dead game and Metal Slug Tactics but that's about it as far as what really got me excited. New FromSoftware game looks cool but need to play more Bloodborne or get into Dark Souls before I can get hyped for it.
There was 1 relevant reveal, the rest was a long ad for prime gaming....
I'm an all Switch & PC gamer, so it didn't do anything for me.
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