The YouTube Theater, the place the first-ever in-person Summer time Sport Fest Occasion is being held, sits inside an enormous construction that additionally homes SoFi Stadium, residence of the LA Rams and Chargers. The construction appears huge as I stroll round its exterior—stark white and seemingly limitless. A protracted line of individuals snake out of its entrance, a lot of them sporting shirts that includes their favourite video games or present employers—the gang is a mixture of followers (who may purchase tickets to the dwell present) and business individuals, all politely ready their flip to enter the constructing’s foyer.
As soon as inside, everyone seems to be exchanging excited hellos and introducing themselves (somebody I don’t know apologizes to me for not having any drip), as this isn’t only a seminal occasion, it’s the primary time in a very long time that this many sport employees and fans have been collectively beneath one roof. E3 is useless in any case, however Geoff Keighley continues to carry the glitz and glam of Hollywood to the gaming business in its stead.
Summer time Sport Fest within the flesh
The YouTube Theater is gorgeous, and the audio system is so intense I can really feel the bass rumbling in my chest in the course of the pre-show music. Two guys behind me are quickly talking Italian right into a cellphone in what seems to be their Twitch stream and I jokingly surprise if I’ve been sat right here due to my heritage. We trade “piaceres” earlier than we’re informed the present is about to start.
Keighley walks out proper on time to a spherical of applause, sporting a really questionable mixture of brown jacket, blue t-shirt, black pants, and black sneakers. He instantly launches into his internet hosting schtick, a consummate skilled. He talks about how he didn’t count on the model of Summer time Sport Fest he began in a spare bed room in 2020 to show into this—however we all know he did. Throughout the first trailer, a shock announcement of Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown, I catch him bopping and grooving to the hip-hop beat.
The group goes completely loopy for Ed Boon and Mortal Kombat 1, sending grossed-out echoes across the theater in the course of the gratuitous fatality pictures, offering a stereo of disgust on prime of the thumping bass. A weird crossover between Exoprimal and Avenue Fighter 6 bemuses individuals, and when Keighley segues straight into the Nicolas Cage Useless by Daylight collaboration, everybody assumes it’s simply considered one of his intelligent transitions. However then, as Keighley speaks, it’s clear that he’s suggesting Cage himself is about to return out, and an incredulous shout escapes the lips of myself and others. It’s Al Pacino at The Sport Awards, once more.
After which, there he’s: Nicolas Cage within the flesh, his hair slightly too unusually brown, however sporting a lovely mint-green swimsuit that starkly contrasts Keighley’s Males’s Wearhouse-ass match. He hams it up for the gang, without end the eccentric, at one level coughing and clearing his throat earlier than blaming it on allergy symptoms. After he leaves, the vitality appears to go away with him. It doesn’t choose up once more till Lies of P, after which solely slightly.
Keighley runs by an entire host of different “exclusives,” with the gang jazzed over Sam Lake (additionally in a implausible swimsuit) and Alan Wake 2, then almost feral for a Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launch date (although I loudly scoffed at Bryan Inithar’s hoody and denims), earlier than settling yet another right into a quiet lull.
A Closing Fantasy cellular sport coupled with a tacky advert segue from Keighley evokes a couple of “boos” from the gang, earlier than considered one of Keighley’s tried-and-true awards present appearances (Marvel Snap’s Ben Brode) walks on to up the vitality as soon as extra. Brode introduces a weird sketch. “I don’t know what the purpose of that was, nevertheless it was humorous,” somebody behind me says.
A trailer for Fae Farm, a cozy sport due out later this 12 months, elicits a loud, sarcastic roar from a single attendee. A really good-looking man enjoying the lead function in Immortals of Aveum, a sport that feels so very very like a online game™, comes on stage in a really good outfit. Internally, I encourage Geoff to take notes. A trailer for the brand new Fortnite season will get some individuals puffed up, however we’re all clearly ready for one thing extra, one thing higher.
After which there it’s, the massive finale, the rationale for this whole, dragged out occasion: A Closing Fantasy VII Rebirth trailer. I don’t know something about this world, nevertheless it intrigues me, and after the present ends and all of us file out, I hear some individuals questioning about what twists and turns it can present.
Then I notice: Apart from the lady who’s clearly the top of manufacturing dashing on-stage and whispering in Geoff’s ear throughout trailers, there have been no girls highlighted at any level throughout this occasion. Not a single lady walked throughout the YouTube Theater’s stage, as The Verge’s Ash Parrish and I each tweeted inside a half hour of one another. Although Keighley’s Summer time Sport Fest is supposed to focus on the way forward for gaming, it felt, on this sense, like an enormous step backwards.
I head exterior, visibly aggravated, and wait within the too-hot California solar for a Lyft. I sit within the automobile for too lengthy, a sufferer of LA’s site visitors. I stumble, jetlagged, overstimulated, and with ears ringing into my resort room. My ft harm. Tomorrow, Summer time Sport Fest Playdays begins. I hope there are extra girls there.
