Tomorrow evening, the players will meet at 11:00 to follow THE Summer Game Fest Live 2024conference organized and presented by Geoff Keighleya former journalist who is now concerned with punctuating the year with this summer event and the Gaming Awards in december An important conference, especially since the disappearance of theE3but some in the industry are skeptical.
Esquire spoke with several people working in the video game world to to understand the behind the scenes of Summer Play Fest and the work of Geoff Keighley. Of course, the majority remained anonymous, unlike Greg Miller, former journalist forIGN who now produces the podcast Kind of funny and who greets Geoff’s desire to highlight little known gamesespecially during the first edition of the Summer Play Fest. Ash Parrish (The Edge) explains that the events surrounding the conference, especially the Game Days, are great ways to discover other games and meet the developers. For three days, journalists can participate in the event in Los Angeles to test games and do interviews, just like in the days ofE3. Finally, the presentation of Days of the Devswhich takes place in live stream after the Summer Play Festhighlights indie games again.
One thing intrigued Esquire : except Geoff Keighley, it is difficult to know who is behind the organization of these events. The newspaper requested information from the principal in question, who did not respond. In addition, a insider says that organizing such a conference is “really expensive”, while several anonymous professionals explain thisone minute of video for the Summer Game Fest Live 2024 costs $250,000, 1:30 costs $350,000, two minutes costs $450,000 and 2:30 costs $550,000 ! Esquire made the calculation, assuming that the prices were the same, the 2023 edition of the Summer Play Fest reportedly grossed $9.65 million from the videos alone, although it’s hard to put a number on the 30-second trailers and the moments where Geoff is on stage with guests.
Suffice it to sayit’s almost impossible for an independent studio to pay for a trailer at Summer Play Fest, such sums are reserved for large studios with a large marketing budget. Those who succeed still feel a lot about the return on investment, one developer even adds that the popular success of a trailer depends on its length and the moment in which it is broadcast during the conference. Of course, it is the long, and therefore expensive, videos that hold the most attention of viewers.
According to income, the Summer Play Fest can also count on the box office, part of the 6,000 seats at YouTube Theater will be occupied by spectators who will have paid $41 to attend the event, with a theoretical $246,000 more in the organizers’ pockets. It’s less than a minute long trailer, but, anyway, there are plenty of seats available for guests.
Another point that bothers members of the video game industry, Geoff Keighley’s silence on certain subjects. Last year, members of the program Future Classchosen by Geoff himself as part of the Gaming Awards, published an open letter asking him to speak on stage about the massacres in Palestine. Geoff never responded to this request, it must be said that the topic, as serious as it is, is far from the video game world… unlike layoffs. here again, not a word during Gaming Awards on the thousands of programmers laid off in recent months. An anonymous developer quotes theUncle Ben of Spiderman“With great power comes great responsibility,” explaining this Geoff Keighley is “now the de facto voice of gaming”, organizing and presenting the two most watched ceremonies of the year. He could therefore do better, but another programmer has another solution: to leave more time to the guests on stage to express themselves, whatever the subject, thereby removing this thorn in his side.
Greg Miller finally states that Geoff Keighley is very attentive to comments and criticism, regularly reading the comments on social networks and sincerely trying to produce the best possible conferences. Suffice it to say that the articleEsquire will undoubtedly come back to him, it remains to be seen if he will rely on everything that has been said to improve the formula of his events.
Regarding Summer Game Fest Live 2024 tomorrow evening, everything is already closedGeoff Keighley also mentioned several points of the conference during a stream on Twitch. See you tomorrow evening to discover this event. As always, you can find games on sale Game planet.
| Clint008 Editor – Tester |
(tagsTo Translate)Summer Game Fest