E3 is pretty much dead this year. A combination of COVID-19 and the biggest players in the gaming industry not caring too much for the Electronic Entertainment Expo in an era where they can still get their message out to the masses and not have to pay what can only be imagined as an obscene amount of cash every year to set up a booth inside of the Los Angeles Convention Center has been nothing short of devastating for an event that was once considered the Wrestlemania of gaming.
Nature abhors a vacuum though, especially when said vacuum turns on just as you’re about to hear the plot twist of the latest episode of Columbo, and it looks like Steam is stepping in to fill the June void! The biggest digital distribution platform for PC games has revealed that it’ll be kicking off the Steam Summer Game Festival from June 9 through to June 14, an online show designed to give developers “the opportunity to show off their upcoming releases to a global audience, giving gamers on Steam the chance to try them out, learn more, and add them to their wishlist”.
If you’re a developer who wants in on the action, you better hustle: You only have until April 24 to submit your project, details of which you can find right here. Beyond that, the Steam Summer Game Festival happens to have some proper weight behind it: Gaming’s second best Geoff, Geoff Keighley, has a hand in the show:
It’s a good start! The only negative to the event is that it’s currently locked towards the PC sector, althouh Keighley followed up on his tweets by saying that “the festival will also expand to more platforms”. How Steam plans to pop up on other devices, is something I’d genuinely like to see. But there you go! Something to look forward to in June.
While the lack of an E3 this year may be disappointing to anyone who enjoyed the grand splash of pure enthusiasm that Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft brought with them every year, the lack of a big convention this year has been devastating to indie and mid-budget game developers. E3 gave those games a chance to shine, a platform to stand tall with publishers whose marketing budget for a week was capable of eclipsing the entire development budget for a more humble game experience.
Hopefully with the Steam Summer Game Festival, those developers can reclaim some of the spotlight that has been lost in the panic shuffle of 2020.
Last Updated: April 14, 2020
